Eustilicus tristis (Melsheimer, 1844)

Brunke, Adam J. & Marshall, Stephen A., 2011, Contributions to the faunistics and bionomics of Staphylinidae (Coleoptera) in northeastern North America: discoveries made through study of the University of Guelph Insect Collection, Ontario, Canada, ZooKeys 75, pp. 29-68 : 38

Eustilicus tristis (Melsheimer, 1844)

Materials.

United States: VA:Giles Co., Ripplemead, Rte. 460 at bridge, flood debris, 11 to 25-V-2008 (6) A. Brunke.

Diagnosis.

Eustilicus tristis is the only northeastern member of the genus and its distinct habitus will readily identify it as a Eustilicus (Fig. 5).

This species is rarely collected and at the time of the most recent revision, it was only known from scattered localities in District of Columbia, Kentucky, New Jersey, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas ( Herman 1970), Arkansas, and South Carolina ( Sanderson 1947). Eustilicus tristis was described from ‘Pennsylvania’ by Melsheimer (1844) but no locality was given. Sanderson (1947) stated that it had been recorded from Ohio but we could find no mention of this in the literature. We here newly record it from Virginia (Map 14). This species appears to be a specialist in stream and river drift/flood litter, although it is occasionally found in caves ( Peck and Thayer 2003). Watrous (2008) recently recommended Eustilicus tristis for S3 ranking in Missouri based on its specialized, sensitive habitat and general rarity over its known distribution.