Quedius (Raphirus) pseudoumbrinus Lohse, 1958

Salnitska, Maria & Solodovnikov, Alexey, 2022, New species and records of Quedius rove beetles (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Staphylininae) from Middle Asia, European Journal of Taxonomy 823, pp. 141-157 : 147

Quedius (Raphirus) pseudoumbrinus Lohse, 1958

Remarks

According to the molecular data, partially supported by the shape of the paramere ( Salnitska & Solodovnikov 2021), the former single species Q. umbrinus Erichson, 1839 (for example, sensu Salnitska & Solodovnikov 2018a) is divided into three species, Q. volkeri Salnitska & Solodovnikov, 2021 , Q. umbrinus and Q. pseudoumbrinus . The first species is a local endemic of the Western Caucasus, while Q. umbrinus and Q. pseudoumbrinus are widespread West Palaearctic species with largely overlapping distributions. Unfortunately, neither the material of the former ‘ Q. umbrinus ’ from Middle Asia reported in Salnitska & Solodovnikov (2018a), nor the material from this region used in Salnitska & Solodovnikov (2021) are of DNA-grade. Among the material from Middle Asia studied in Salnitska & Solodovnikov (2021), only the male specimens from Chilik River of Kungey Alatau in Kazakhstan can be identified as Q. pseudoumbrinus based on the more parallel-sided, not apically rhomboid paramere. The shape of the paramere in males from the Dzhungar Mountains in Kazakhstan and from N of Issyk Kul Lake in Kyrgyzstan in Salnitska & Solodovnikov (2021) does not allow their confident identification as either Q. umbrinus or Q. pseudoumbrinus . Based on the shape of the paramere, the material reported as ‘ Q. umbrinus ’ in Salnitska & Solodovnikov (2018a) is likely to be Q. pseudoumbrinus ( Salnitska & Solodovnikov 2021) , though this needs to be tested with molecular data. It is noteworthy that all material of ‘ Q. umbrinus ’ from Middle Asia from both of our abovementioned studies with precise bionomic data was collected at higher elevations in the mountains. Thus, the Middle Asian populations of the Q. umbrinus complex may be somewhat isolated from the main ranges of Q. umbrinus and Q. pseudoumbrinus . To properly shed light on the identity of ‘ Q. umbrinus ’ in Middle Asia in view of the data in Salnitska & Solodovnikov (2021), DNA-grade material is needed.