Oxypoda (Deropoda), BERNHAUER 1902

Assing, V., 2012, On the taxonomy and zoogeography of some Oxypoda species of the West Palaearctic region (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae), Linzer biologische Beiträge 44 (1), pp. 365-399 : 375

Subgenus Deropoda BERNHAUER 1902

The distribution of Deropoda is confined to the West Palaearctic region, with most species distributed in the south. Including the new species described below, the subgenus now includes 25 species, the vast majority of which is distributed in the Mediterranean. The subgeneric placement of two species, O. rugulosa and O. nemrutica , is doubtful. Oxypoda bimaculata BAUDI DI SELVE 1870 , which was previously attributed to Deropoda , is excluded from the subgenus and treated as incertae sedis; neither the external nor the male sexual characters support a close relationship with other Deropoda species.

Deropoda species apparently reproduce in a cryptic subterranean habitat and are found rarely. Several species are currently represented only by their respective type specimens. Oxypoda spaethi seems to be nidicolous (associated with gopher burrows), O. gontarenkoi is probably myrmecophilous (associated with Messor sp.).