Hesperus

Li, Liang & Zhou, Hong-Zhang, 2011, Revision and phylogenetic assessment of the rove beetle genus Pseudohesperus Hayashi, with broad reference to the subtribe Philonthina (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Staphylinini), Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 163 (3), pp. 679-722 : 690

THE GENUS HESPERUS

The genus Hesperus Fauvel, 1874 is a species-rich group with over 200 species described worldwide ( Herman, 2001). This genus shows remarkable morphological diversity and its limits have become very hard to fix ( Cameron, 1932; Shibata, 1990, 2002; Smetana, 1995; Schillhammer, 2002; Li, Zhou & Schillhammer, 2010a). Smetana (1995) supported the monophyly of Hesperus based on the limited Nearctic species in his phylogenetic analysis. Schillhammer (2002) doubted the monophyly of Hesperus and argued that it might be split into several genera when a revision based on the world fauna is carried out. Our phylogenetic analysis provided no evidence that Hesperus is monophyletic. The representatives of Hesperus were mixed with Actinus Fauvel, 1878 , Hesperomimus Cameron, 1937 , Mysolius Fauvel, 1878 , and Orthidus Mulsant & Rey, 1876 . This result was consistent with the speculation of Schillhammer (2002). The limited taxon sampling in our study was not adequate to address either the systematic changes needed in this large genus or the phylogenetic relationships to the Hesperus -like genera Actinus , Hesperomimus , Hesperopalpus Shibata, 1973 , Leucitus Fauvel, 1878 , Mysolius , Neoleucitus Wendeler, 1924 , or Trachyphilonthus Scheerpeltz, 1965 in the subtribe Philonthina . However, these were not the purposes of this limited paper. A phylogenetic study focused specifically on the genus Hesperus based on much broader representation and covering a much larger scale is needed to address these problems.