Ocypus (Pseudocypus), Mulsant & Rey, 1876

Published, First, 2007, Contributions to the knowledge of the “ Staphylinus-complex ” (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Staphylinini) of China. Part XX. The genus Ocypus Leach, 1819, subgenus Pseudocypus Mulsant & Rey, 1876. Section 1, Zootaxa 1421, pp. 1-72 : 6-7

Subgenus Pseudocypus Mulsant & Rey, 1876

Pseudocypus Mulsant & Rey, 1876: 291 (as subgenus of Ocypus ).

Atlantogoerius Coiffait, 1956: 185 .

Fortunocypus Coiffait, 1964: 82 (as subgenus of Pseudocypus ).

Pseudocypus ; Smetana & Davies, 2000: 31 (as subgenus of Ocypus ).

Pseudocypus ; Smetana, 2004: 677 (as subgenus of Ocypus ).

Type species of Pseudocypus : Ocypus mus Brullé, 1832 , subsequently designated by Tottenham, 1939, 229.

Type species of Atlantogoerius : Ocypus sylvaticus Wollaston, 1865 , originally designated by Coiffait, 1956, 185.

Type species of Fortunocypus : Ocypus fortunatarum Wollaston, 1871 , originally designated by Coiffait, 1964, 82.

Descriptive notes. The taxonomic information on Pseudocypus was provided by Smetana & Davies (2000). However, the concept of Pseudocypus changed subsequently by exclusion of Protocypus J. Müller, 1923 as a separate genus ( Smetana, 2003), and by moving Nudabemus Coiffait, 1982 as a synonym of Ocypus ( Smetana, 2004) . Despite this, the main characters defining Pseudocypus in that paper remain valid, therefore only additional information is presented here.

A rather surprising discovery concerning the pronotal hypomeron was made during the study. The species studied could be divided into two groups, one with pronotal hypomeron microsetose and the other one with pronotal hypomeron asetose. It was believed until now that the microsetose pronotal hypomeron was a character state shared only by the species of the genus Protocypus . This obviously is not the case and the character state of microsetose pronotal hypomeron may be more widely distributed within Staphylinini . The extent of the microsetation in the Chinese species of Pseudocypus varies considerably, from just a few microsetae to pronotal hypomeron extensively microsetose ( Figs. 213–215). The presence of microsetae on pronotal hypomeron in some species of Pseudocypus affects the key to the Chinese genera of the “ Staphylinus -complex” ( Smetana, 2003) in that the character state of microsetose pronotal hypomeron used in couplet 10 is valid for Protocypus only in combination with the characteristic configuration of the mandibles (see there for details). Also, as a result of this finding, Protocypus puer Smetana, 2005 turned out to be a species of Pseudocypus and is hereby transferred to Ocypus , subgenus Pseudocypus (new combination).

The configuration of the gular sutures varies, they may be variably separated leaving exposed gula ( Figs. 208, 211), or they may be subcontiguous ( Fig. 207) to contiguous ( Fig. 210). The density of the punctation of postgenae varies from being sparse ( Figs. 209, 212) to dense ( Fig. 211).

The pubescence of the abdominal tergites is either uniformly dark, or the visible tergites 4 and 5 each bear a patch of dense yellowish tomentose pubescence in the middle ( O. puer ), or the tomentose patch is not dense and covers almost the entire tergite ( O. neocles sp. nov.). The character state is rather constant, specimens with or without yellowish tomentose patches within the populations of one species occur only rarely (e.g., O. zetes sp. nov.).

The shape of sternite 9 of the male genital segment varies, but the narrow basal portion is almost always present and is located laterally, rarely it is located centrally (Fig. 109), or in one species it is entirely missing ( Fig. 115); the apex of apical portion is usually variably emarginate ( Figs. 1, 24, 45), less frequently solid ( Figs 81, 88). Tergite 10 of the male genital segment tends to be simple, of variably triangular shape, with simple setation ( Figs. 2, 46, 177), rarely with apical portion strongly sclerotized (Fig. 96). The aedoeagus is extremely variable in shape and size ( Figs. 11, 71, 129, 157). It is asymmetrical, the asymmetry affecting both the median lobe and the paramere, which in addition is situated on median lobe more or less asymmetrically. The sensory peg setae on the underside of the paramere are black in most species and their number varies tre- mendously ( Figs. 7, 36, 60), rarely they are not pigmented and brownish in color ( Fig. 55), or they are missing entirely ( Figs. 22, 79).

The shape of tergite 10 of female genital segment varies considerably from a fairly simple, triangular shape ( Fig. 31) to a tergite with the apical portion more or less differentiated ( Figs. 15, 37) or a tergite of quite characteristic shape ( Figs. 61, 133, 188). The apical portion of the tergite is often strongly sclerotized ( Figs. 56, 121, 139).

Comment. The subgenus Pseudocypus in the redefined concept includes two main lineages of species which I am tentatively calling the fuscatus-picipennis lineage and the semenowi lineage. The first lineage includes mainly west Palaearctic species (some of them, e.g. O. picipennis Fabricius, 1793 , being distributed across the Palaearctic region), with a cluster of species in the eastern portion of the Palaearctic Region, including China. These are the species of the “classical” concept of Pseudocypus that are of the appearance of the two well known species O. fuscatus Gravenhorst, 1802 and O. picipennis . The second lineage includes strictly east Palaearctic species (at present all occurring in China), that are of the appearance of O. semenowi and alike, i. e. of a “classical” Ocypus . At present, I am not prepared to present morphological characters separating these two groups, this should be possible after the revision of the Chinese species of the east Palaearctic cluster of the “classical” Pseudocypus , which will follow this paper.

The species treated in this paper are in general quite similar to each other in external characters and although some of them may form clusters of apparently related species (e.g. O. neocles sp. nov., O. puer and O. rhinton sp. nov.), I found it impossible to designate and characterize meaningful species groups, at least not for the time being.