Miobdelus taiwanensis subsp. taiwanensis taiwanensis Smetana 2001
Creators: name: Hu, Fang-Shuo
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Staphylinidae
Miobdelus
Miobdelus taiwanensis
Miobdelus taiwanensis taiwanensis smetana, 2001

description: Miobdelus taiwanensis taiwanensis Smetana, 2001
(Fig. 9)
Material examined. TAIWAN: Taichung City: 1 male, Anmashan [= Daxue Mt. (±ũƜ)], 1/ V /1990, C.C.Chiang, Sweeping net [NMNS ENT 583-288] (NMNS).
Diagnosis. In Taiwan, M. taiwanensis is similar to M. insularis Smetana, 2001 and M. choui Smetana, 2001 but can be distinguished by presence of the patch of yellow tomentose pubescence in the middle of tergite 6. Miobdelus taiwanensis taiwanensis can be distinguished from the subspecies M. taiwanensis apicalis Smetana, 2001 by the relatively narrower median lobe, especially on the apical portion and presence of a rounded apical emargination as well as the fact that M. taiwanensis taiwanensis is restricted to Daxue Mt.
Bionomics. Most specimens of M. taiwanensis were collected by yellow pan trap set on higher mountains in mature broadleaved forests or by sifting forest floor litter or moss on fallen trees (Smetana 2001). The collection of the specimen in this study by sweep net was probably accidental.
Distribution. All known specimens of the subspecies were collected from central Taiwan at the type locality on Daxue Mt. (Smetana 2001 and this study).
Remarks. Smetana (2001) indicated there were two paratypes deposited in NMNS and two paratypes in NHMW, but these paratypes were not found in these two institutions at the moment.
Smetana (2001) described two subspecies of M. taiwanensis as well two similar species, M. insularis (including three subspecies) and M. choui; all of them were collected from high mountain areas on Taiwan island but on different mountains. However, the species or subspecies status need to be reassessed. Pleistocene glacial oscillations and the resulting geographic isolation on mountains can be major drivers of speciation in animals on Taiwan island, especially animals living in high mountain habitats (see following references). Such research has been applied many times to the family Lucanidae Latreille, 1804, where highly morphologically different beetles can either be treated as different subspecies (etc., Lucanus kanoi kanoi Kurosawa, 1966 and L. k. piceus Kurosawa, 1966; L. ogakii ogakii Imanishi, 1990 and L. o. chuyunshanus Sakaino & Yu, 1993; Prismognathus davidis cheni Bomans & Ratti., 1973 and P. d. nigerrimu Sakaino & Yu, 1993 in Tsai & Yeh 2016) or one species (L. formosanus Planet, 1899 in Huang & Lin 2010; Neolucanus swinhoei Bates, 1866 in Tsai et al. 2014; P. piluensis Sakaino, 1992 in Tsai & Yeh 2016). In such cases, the definition of species or subspecies should combine genetic study and biogeography. Miobdelus in Taiwan is a good topic for the study of speciation but this is outside of the scope of this paper.
description: Published as part of Hu, Fang-Shuo, 2020, New distributional records of Staphylinina in Taiwan, including a new species of Miobdelus Sharp (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Staphylininae: Staphylinini), pp. 334-360 in Zootaxa 4768 (3) on page 341, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4768.3.2, http://zenodo.org/record/3784036