Hydnobius Schmidt, 1841

Hoshina, Hideto, 2012, Review of the tribes Sogdini and Leiodini from Japan and North Chishima Islands. Part II. Genera Hydnobius and Leiodes (Coleoptera: Leiodidae), Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae (suppl. 1) 52, pp. 1-168 : 7

Genus Hydnobius Schmidt, 1841

Hydnobius Schmidt, 1841:193 .

Hydnobius: HATCH (1929) : 6 (synonymy and references); VOGT (1961): 142 (diagnosis of the genus, key to Central and North European species); DAFFNER (1983): 27 (key to Palaearctic species); DOWNIE & ARNETT (1996): 329 (key to the Northeast American species); PECK & COOK (2009): 11 (diagnosis of the genus, key to North and Central American species).

See HATCH (1929) for complete synonymy and respective references, and VOGT (1961) and PECK & COOK (2009) for the diagnosis of the genus.

Type species: Anisotoma punctatum Sturm, 1807 , designated by THOMSON (1859)

Diagnostic morphological characters in Hydnobius

The shape of the male metafemur is considered an important taxonomic character for the species-level taxonomy of Hydnobius ( VOGT 1961, DAFFNER 1983). In contrast, male aedeagus of almost all species shares the similar triangular pyramid-shape, and usually does not show remarkable differences between related species although parameres are often used as a diagnostic character in identification keys. Moreover, the inner sac of the aedeagus usually does not have any distinct sclerites (for example, see the aedeagus of H. akitsuensis , Figs. 3A, 3B ), and therefore, also, does not provide useful taxonomic characters. PECK & COOK (2009) found that mandibles, female abdominal sternite 8, female coxites, male metafemora, and the aedeagus are useful taxonomic characters at specific level. In this study, I examined two species of Hydnobius occurring in Japan and the North Chishima Islands, and confirm that especially the female abdominal sternite 8 shows morphological differences between these species.

Figures

Fig.3.Hydnobius akitsuensis Hoshina & Sunada, 2003.A – aedeagus, dorsal view; B – ditto, lateral view; C – female abdominal sternite 8; D – coxite and stylus. Scale I: 0.5 mm for A and B; II: 0.2 mm for C and 0.1 mm for D.