The Staphylinidae of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh (Coleoptera)
Authors: Assing Volker , Schülke Michael 
Published: December 2020

The previously largely neglected and poorly known staphylinid faunas of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh are addressed. Based on a study of more than 31,000 Staphylinidae recently collected in various habitats and using different methods, and on a critical evaluation of previous literature records, a checklist of the faunas of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh is compiled. The fauna of Armenia currently includes 675, that of Nagorno-Karabakh 198 named species. Nevertheless, it is concluded that the species inventory of both regions, especially that of Nagorno-Karabakh, is still far from complete. As many as 262 and 183 species are reported from Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, respectively, for the first time. A list of 99 species erroneously or doubtfully recorded from the study region is provided. A comparison with the species number and systematic composition of the faunas of other Caucasian countries and regions revealed that (a) their known diversities are significantly lower than should be expected and (b) a remarkably high proportion (nearly 40 %) of Aleocharinae in the faunas of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, with the genus Atheta Thomson, 1858 alone accounting for approximately 10 % of the total diversity in Armenia. The faunas of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh are primarily composed of widespread species, many of them Caspian (Caucasian) and Iranian elements, and remarkably few endemics. Only 23 species, thirteen of the Aleocharinae (most of them belonging to the genus Geostiba Thomson, 1858), four of the Pselaphinae, five of Scydmaeninae, and one of Staphylininae are classified as regional endemics, and one species of Aleocharinae from the peak region of Mount Khustup is classified as a local endemic. The distribution of one addititional species is confined to South Armenia and adjacent parts of North Iran. A number of species is currently known only from Armenia, but of doubtful taxonomic status or unlikely to represent endemics. Records of some species in Armenia and/or Nagorno-Karabakh revealed some remarkably discontinuous distributions with gaps of up to approximately 2,800 km; three of these distributions are mapped. Fourteen species are newly described: Omalium kociani Zanetti spec. nov. (Armenia: Jermuk) of the Omaliinae, Proteinus baculatus Assing spec. nov. (Armenia; Northeast Turkey) of the Proteininae, Bryaxis armeniacus Brachat spec. nov. (Armenia: NW Hrazdan) and B. meghruicus Brachat spec. nov. (South Armenia: Meghru range) of the Pselaphinae, Atheta (Paralpinia) meghruica Assing spec. nov. (South Armenia: Meghru range), Bellatheta khustupica Assing spec. nov. (South Armenia: Mount Khustup), Calodera alticola Assing spec. nov. (Armenia: Mount Karkar), and Tachyusa unguis Assing spec. nov. (South Armenia) of the Aleocharinae, Anotylus hamatoides Schülke spec. nov. (Armenia) of the Oxytelinae, Euconnus (Tetramelus) longilaminatus Meybohm spec. nov. (North Armenia), E. (T.) tavushus Meybohm spec. nov. (North Armenia), E. (T.) karabakhus Meybohm spec. nov. (Nagorno-Karabakh), Neuraphes (Paraphes) gomarantsus Meybohm spec. nov. (South Armenia: Meghru range), and N. (P.) syunikus Meybohm spec. nov. (South Armenia) of the Scydmaeninae. Eight synonymies and one revalidation are established: Dialycera minuta Luze, 1906 = Phyllodrepa armena Iablokoff-Khnzorian, 1959, syn. nov.; Mycetoporus silvaticus Iablokoff-Khnzorian, 1962 = M. dispersus Schülke & Kocian, 2000, syn. nov.; Aleochara subtumida (Hochhuth, 1859) = Aleochara khnzoriani Amiryan, 1999, syn. nov.; Platystethus cephalotes Eppelsheim, 1878, revalidated (previously synonym of P. laevis Markel & Kiesenwetter, 1848) = P. oblongopunctatus Roubal, 1911, syn. nov.; Euconnus lalvarensis Iablokoff-Khnzorian, 1964 = Euconnus pseudorobustus Franz, 1986, syn. nov.; Astenus rufopacus Reitter, 1909 = A. baali Coiffait, 1960, syn. nov.; Heterothops dissimilis (Gravenhorst, 1802) = H. armeniacus Coiffait, 1977, syn. nov.; Heterothops praevius Erichson, 1839 = Heterothops montanus Iablokoff-Khnzorian, 1966, syn. nov.

Taxonomic acts
Omalium kociani Zanetti spec. nov. – urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:5F24413E-6AB4-4D1C-B567-AB93C38380C9Proteinus baculatus Assing spec. nov. – urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:3DDB2D69-A000-4FFA-AAC7-48CE4BAB7020Bryaxis armeniacus Brachat spec. nov. – urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:01F595CB-9F3B-4DEE-8A4D-C97F39DE26E1Bryaxis meghruicus Brachat spec. nov. – urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:AA6E7E2A-4450-48E8-8048-8061C3C6DF5CAtheta (Paralpinia) meghruica Assing spec. nov. – urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:4673F1AA-F8C1-4524-AFA3-99E4E7F502FFBellatheta khustupica Assing spec. nov. – urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:C342B3DE-9EE5-4950-85BD-817DBEE6FE3ECalodera alticola Assing spec. nov. – urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:3BF46F7B-FBDB-4F1B-B0D0-89D669B021C2Tachyusa unguis Assing spec. nov. – urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:A4B4E5C2-EEB2-4146-B6F2-27D5873D5AEBAnotylus hamatoides Schulke, spec. nov. – urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:0167E052-EBAB-421A-BB72-39E33C1EDC97Euconnus (Tetramelus) longilaminatus Meybohm spec. nov. – urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:96692EB3-A82F-4ADB -A278-EC1B64040C82Euconnus (Tetramelus) tavushus Meybohm spec. nov. – urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:7F2BBD70-A7F8-4272-8195-02884B90F2DDEuconnus (Tetramelus) karabakhus Meybohm spec. nov. – urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:A60B66A1-20EB-4341-9950-B6485B1A3853Neuraphes (Paraphes) gomarantsus Meybohm spec. nov. – urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:102F7EEC-B2A5-458F-B271-E3582970195FNeuraphes (Paraphes) syunikus Meybohm spec. nov.– urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:2972F28B-0968-4810-B9F5-471E93F97F43