Thamiaraea brittoni Gusarov 2003, comb. nov.
Creators: name: Gusarov, Vladimir I.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2003
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Staphylinidae
Thamiaraea
Thamiaraea brittoni

description: Thamiaraea brittoni (Casey, 1911a), comb. nov.
(Figs. 11–14, 20– 23 in Hoebeke 1988 (as Th. lira); Figs. 1–8 in Hoebeke 1994 (as Th. paralira); Figs. 127–134 in this paper)
Sableta (Fusalia) brittoni Casey, 1911a: 145.
Atheta (Sableta) brittoni: Fenyes, 1920: 221 (as valid species).
Atheta (Sableta) brittoni: Bernhauer & Scheerpeltz, 1926: 666 (as valid species).
Atheta (Sableta) brittoni: Moore & Legner, 1975: 356 (as valid species).
Fusalia brittoni: Seevers, 1978: 260 (as valid species).
Thamiaraea lira Hoebeke, 1988: 21, syn. nov.
Thamiaraea paralira Hoebeke, 1994: 1, syn. nov.
Fusalia brittoni: Ashe in Newton et al., 2000: 370 (as valid species).
Type material. Lectotype of Sableta brittoni (here designated): ♀, “Westville Ct.[Connecticut] 27 July 1905 W.E.Britton ”, “ Fusalia brittoni Csy. ”, “TYPE USNM 39146” (red label), “CASEY bequest 1925” (NMNH).
Holotype of Thamiaraea lira: UNITED STATES: Pennsylvania: Adams Co.: ♂, Arendtsville, 24.v.1927 (S.W.Frost) (CUIC). Paratypes: UNITED STATES: Pennsylvania: Adams Co.: ♀ (allotype), Arendtsville, 10.v.1927 (S.W.Frost); ♀, ditto but 18.iii.1927; ♂, ditto but 7.vi.1927; ♂, ditto but 2.vi.1927; ♂, ditto but 10.v.1927; ♂, ditto but 24.v.1927 (CUIC).
Holotype of Thamiaraea paralira: UNITED STATES: New York: Westchester Co.: ♂, Yonkers, in flowers of Calycanthus fertilis, 29.v.1938 (H.Dietrich) (CUIC). Paratypes: UNITED STATES: New York: Westchester Co.: 4♂♂, same data as the holotype; Mississippi: Pontotoc Co.: ♂, 1 mi. SE Ecru, pitfall trap in deciduous woods, 18.xii.1980 (W.H.Cross) (CUIC).
Additional material. UNITED STATES: Connecticut: New London Co.: ♂, molasses trap, 9.vi.1974 (L.E. Watrous) (FMNH); Kansas: Douglas Co.: ♂, ♀, 7 km S Lawrence, ex fermenting sap flow, 30.viii.1992 (J.S. Ashe) (KSEM); New Jersey: Middlesex Co.: 5♂♂, 4♀♀, Avenel (FMNH); Ohio: Clark [?] Co.: ♂, “ Shadywilde Selma ”, Malaise trap, center of big woods, 19.v.1972 (R.S.Boone); ♂, ditto but corner of big woods, 1.vi.1971; ♀, ditto but 23.ix.1971; ♂, ditto but by creek, 3.ix.1968; ♂, ditto but 9.vii.1968; ♂, ditto but 6.vii.1968; ♀, ditto but 7.vii.1968; Franklin Co.: ♂, ♀, Columbus, Ohio State University woods, ex banana trap, 20–27.x.1979 (L.E.Watrous); 2♂♂, ♀, ditto but 28–31.x.1979 (FMNH); Pennsylvania: Northampton Co.: ♀, Easton, 30.ix.1932 (J.W.Green) (FMNH); CANADA: Ontario: Wentworth Co.: 2♂♂, 2♀♀, Stoney Cr., on rotted bananas in pitfall, 2.vi.1973 (H.Frania) (KSEM); Québec: ♀, Downey, 19.vi.1995 (SPSU).
Diagnosis. See Hoebeke (1988 (as Th. lira), and 1994 (as Th. paralira )).
Discussion. According to Hoebeke (1994), Th. paralira differs from Th. lira only in having a smaller body size, shorter teeth at the posterior margin of the male abdominal tergum 8, and a weaker medial swelling in the posterior half of the tergum. My examination of the types of both species confirmed that they are identical in the shape of the aedeagus. In one paratype of Th. paralira and in several specimens fitting the description of Th. lira (in details of the male tergum 8) the internal sac was everted, and rather elaborate sclerites of the internal sac (Figs. 133–134) were examined. No difference between the specimens was found. Within species, the shape of the aedeagus and the sclerites of internal sac are usually less variable than the shape of the male tergum 8. It is a common phenomenon in many groups of aleocharines for smaller male specimens to have less prominent secondary sexual features (e. g., in Stethusa dichroa (Gravenhorst, 1802) (cf. Figs. 24–26 in Gusarov 2003d); in Tropimenelytron americanum Gusarov, 2002e and Tr. californicum Gusarov, 2002e (Gusarov 2002e)). Considering that 1) the types of Th. lira and Th. paralira are identical in the shape of the aedeagus; 2) there is no gap between the male specimens with the sexual features fitting Th. lira on one side, and Th. paralira on the other (Figs. 127–132); 3) it is the smaller male specimens of Thamiaraea that have less pronounced sexual features on the tergum 8; 4) both morphs are sympatric and even were collected in the same samples (Hoebeke 1994); I synonymize Th. lira and Th. paralira.
My examination of the lectotype of Sableta brittoni revealed that it in fact belongs to Thamiaraea and is conspecific with both Th. lira and Th. paralira. Thamiaraea brittoni is the valid name for this species. Unfortunately, Casey (1911a) misplaced this species in Sableta Casey, 1910a, a genus unrelated to Thamiaraea, and when Hoebeke (1988) published his review of Thamiaraea, he had no means of knowing that one species of Thamiaraea had already been described by Casey.
Distribution. Thamiaraea brittoni is widely distributed in the eastern United States and Canada. It is known from Ontario, Québec, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin (Hoebeke 1994), Kansas, North Carolina (Hoebeke 1994) and Mississippi.
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 96-98, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.353.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/5019783