Atheta festinans
Creators: name: Gusarov, Vladimir I.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2003
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Staphylinidae
Atheta
Atheta festinans

description: Atheta festinans (Erichson, 1839)
(Figs. 103–106)
Homalota festinans Erichson, 1839: 112.
Atheta (Microdota) festinans: Bernhauer, 1907: 388 (as valid species).
Atheta festinans: Blatchley, 1910: 356 (as valid species).
Atheta punctata Blatchley, 1910: 355 (publication date: September 20, 1910), syn. nov.
Synaptina merica Casey, 1910a: 131 (publication date: September 24, 1910), syn. nov.
Synaptina consonens Casey, 1910a: 132, syn. nov.
Atheta (Microdota) festinans: Fenyes, 1920: 187 (as valid species).
Atheta punctata: Fenyes, 1920: 187 (as valid species of doubtful systematic position).
Atheta (Synaptina) merica: Fenyes, 1920: 201 (as valid species).
Atheta (Synaptina) consonens: Fenyes, 1920: 202 (as valid species).
Atheta (Microdota) festinans: Bernhauer & Scheerpeltz, 1926: 632 (as valid species).
Atheta (s. str.) punctata: Bernhauer & Scheerpeltz, 1926: 649 (as valid species).
Atheta (Synaptina) merica: Bernhauer & Scheerpeltz, 1926: 629 (as valid species).
Atheta (Synaptina) consonens: Bernhauer & Scheerpeltz, 1926: 628 (as valid species).
Atheta (Microdota) festinans: Moore & Legner, 1975: 361 (as valid species; misspelled as festians).
Atheta (s. str.) punctata: Moore & Legner, 1975: 371 (as valid species).
Atheta (Synaptina) merica: Moore & Legner, 1975: 366 (as valid species).
Atheta (Synaptina) consonens: Moore & Legner, 1975: 357 (as valid species).
Microdota festinans: Seevers, 1978: 264 (as valid species).
Xenota punctata: Seevers, 1978: 269 (as valid species).
Synaptina merica: Seevers, 1978: 261 (as valid species).
Synaptina consonens: Seevers, 1978: 261 (as valid species).
Type material. Lectotype of Homalota festinans (here designated): ♀, “5430”, “ festinans Er. Pensylv. [Pennsylvania] Zimm.[ermann]” (green label), “Typus” (red label), “Zool. Mus. Berlin”, “ Homalota festinans Er. [on red side of the label] / Lectotypus Lohse fix. 1983 [on white side of the label]” [Lohse never published this lectotype designation] (ZMHB). Paralectotypes: 4♀♀, “ Pennsylvania Zimmermann Nr. 5430”, “Typus” (red label), “Zool. Mus. Berlin” (ZMHB).
Lectotype of Atheta punctata (here designated): ♀, “TYPE” (red label), “ Posey Co. Ind. [iana] W.S.B. [Blatchley] 3.vi.1909 ”, “3638 det. A.Fenyes ”, “Purdue Blatchley collection”, “ Atheta punctata sp. nov. ” (PURC).
Lectotype of Synaptina merica (here designated): ♀, “Ia. [Iowa, Keokuk]”, “ Synaptina merica Csy. ”, “TYPE USNM 39185” (red label), “CASEY bequest 1925” (NMNH). Paralectotypes: ♀, “ Iowa City, Ia. [Iowa] Wickham ”, “ merica ­2 PARATYPE USNM 39185” (red label), “CASEY bequest 1925”; ♀, “Ari.[zona, Williams]” (with two black dots after “i”), “? merica ­3 (set apart slightly) PARATYPE USNM 39185” (red label), “CASEY bequest 1925” (NMNH).
Lectotype of Synaptina consonens (here designated): ♀, “R.[hode] I.[sland, Boston Neck]”, “ consonens Csy. ”, “TYPE USNM 39186” (red label), “CASEY bequest 1925” (NMNH). Paralectotypes: ♀, “R.[hode] I.[sland, Boston Neck]”, “ consonens ­2 PARATYPE USNM 39186” (red label), “CASEY bequest 1925”; ♀, “N.[ew] Y.[ork, near New York City]”, “ consonens ­3 PARATYPE USNM 39186” (red label), “CASEY bequest 1925”; ♀, “L.[ong Island]”, “ consonens ­4 PARATYPE USNM 39186” (red label), “CASEY bequest 1925”; 4♀♀, “ Ia. [Iowa, Cedar Rapids]”, “ consonens PARATYPE USNM 39186” (red label), “CASEY bequest 1925”; 4♀♀, “ Ia. [Iowa, Keokuk]”, “ consonens PARATYPE USNM 39186” (red label), “CASEY bequest 1925” (NMNH).
Additional material. UNITED STATES: Connecticut: New Haven Co.: ♀, New Haven, 26.ii.1910 (A.Champlain) (NMNH (Casey collection)); Kansas: Douglas Co.: 36♀♀, 1.5 km N Lawrence, right bank of the Kansas River, 38º58.96'N 95º14.62'W, 200 m, in flood refuse, 1.v.1999 (V.I.Gusarov) (KSEM, SPSU).
Diagnosis. Atheta festinans can be recognized by the black head and abdomen, the brown pronotum, elytra, antennae and mouthparts, yellow legs, strongly transverse antennal articles 8–10, the pronotal pubescence of type II (Benick & Lohse 1974), the mesotibial macroseta thin, short and poorly visible among microsetae; and the distinct shape of the spermatheca (Figs. 105–106).
Discussion. The types of H. festinans, At. punctata, Sy. merica and Sy. consonens are similar in external characters and the shape of the spermatheca. All these names are considered to be synonyms.
Synaptina merica is the type species of the genus Synaptina Casey, 1910a by original designation (Casey first species rule). Casey did not specifically state in his description of Synaptina that Sy. merica was the type species of Synaptina; however, while designating the type species of Noverota Casey, 1910a in the same paper, Casey stated (1910a, p. 90): “The first species may be regarded as the type, as in all other cases where the type is not specifically named”.
When describing the genus Synaptina, Casey (1910a) did not explicitly state in what characters it differed from other athetine genera. In my opinion, all characters mentioned by Casey in the description of Synaptina fit the genus Atheta in the broad sense. The type species of Synaptina is similar to other species of Atheta with pronotal pubescence of type II. I consider Synaptina to be a synonym of Atheta at the rank of genus.
Atheta festinans appears to be a parthenogenetic species. All 53 examined specimens are females.
Distribution. Atheta festinans is known from Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas and Arizona.
description: Published as part of Gusarov, Vladimir I., 2003, Revision of some types of North American aleocharines (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae), with synonymic notes, pp. 1-134 in Zootaxa 353 (1) on pages 72-75, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.353.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/5019783