Paederus

Li, Xiao-Yan & Zhou, Hong-Zhang, 2009, A review of Chinese species of the subgenus Paederus s. str. (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Paederinae) with description of a new species, Zootaxa 2083, pp. 46-64 : 47-48

Subgenus Paederus s. str. Fabricius, 1775

Paederus Fabricius, 1775: 268 (as a genus); Scheerpeltz, 1957: 461 (as nominotypical subgenus); Coiffait, 1982: 32 (character, key); Frank, 1988: 141 (catalog); Smetana, 2004: 613 (catalog).

Type species: Paederus riparius ( Linnaeus, 1758) (by subsequent designation; Latreille, 1810: 427).

Synonyms: Geopaederus Gistel, 1848 : x (type species: Geopaederus riparius ( Linnaeus, 1758) , by original designation); Blackwelder, 1952: 169 (as objective synonym of Paederus s. str.).

Neopaederus Blackwelder, 1939: 97 (type species: Paederus morio Mannerheim, 1830 , by original designation); Blackwelder, 1952: 260 (as synonym of Paederus s. str.).

Paederillus Casey, 1905: 62 (type species: Paederus littorarius Gravenhorst, 1806 , by subsequent designation); Bernhauer & Schubert, 1912: 203 (as synonym of Paederus s. str.); Blackwelder, 1952: 285 Paederognathus Wendeler, 1928: 37 (type species: Paederus turrialbanus Wendeler, 1927 ; by original designation); Blackwelder, 1939: 120; 1952: 286 (as objective synonym of Paederus s. str.).

Diagnosis. This subgenus can be easily distinguished from the other subgenera of Paederus by the brownish yellow mandibles and tibiae, antennae usually with basal three segments brownish yellow and the rest brown, elytra with parallel margins, about 1/5longer than broad ( Scheerpeltz 1957; Coiffait 1982; Boháč 1985). The aedeagus is broad and thick, the internal armature relatively complex, with teeth strongly sclerotized and slightly curved ( Scheerpeltz 1957; Coiffait 1982). Compared to the subgenus Harpopaederus Scheerpeltz, 1957 , in Paederus s.str. the dorsal plate of the median lobe is different: the median surface (rather than the edges) is depressed (in dorsal view), the apex of the plate is with a short and thin carina, whereas Harpopaederus lacks the depression and has the apex of the dorsal plate with a long carina. The same characters of the male genitalia can serve to separate Paederus s. str. from the subgenus Eopaederus Scheerpeltz, 1957 .