Sparedrus Megerle, 1821

Švihla, Vladimír & Dejean, in, 2007, Preliminary revision of the genus Sparedrus (Coleoptera: Oedemeridae) from eastern and southeastern Asia, Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 47, pp. 153-168 : 154-155

Sparedrus Megerle, 1821

Sparedrus Megerle, 1821 , in DEJEAN (1821): 72. Type species: Calopus testaceus Andersch, 1797 , by monotypy.

Sparedropsis Heyden, 1886 , in HEYDEN & KRAATZ (1886): 191, synonymised by ŠVIHLA (1986). Type species: Sparedropsis fuscus Heyden, 1886 in HEYDEN & KRAATZ (1886), by monotypy.

Saloninus Fairmaire, 1891: cxxxii, synonymised by ŠVIHLA (1986). Type species: Saloninus nebulosus Fairmaire, 1891, by original designation.

Ocularium Pic, 1922: 18 , synonymised by ŠVIHLA (1986). Type species: Ocularium rufum Pic, 1922, by monotypy.

Polacus Sasaji, 1985: 10, syn. nov. Type species: Polacus longicornis Sasaji, 1985 , by original designation.

Diagnosis. Body subdepressed to moderately vaulted, coloration yellow to dark brown, light recumbent pubescence on elytra often forming markings.

Male. Both mandibles simple at apex, last maxillary palpomere slender to securiform. Eyes large and often strongly protruding, head across eyes mostly wider than pronotum. Antenna reaching elytral midlength to strongly exceeding elytral apex; antennae almost filiform to strongly serrate, terminal antennomeres mostly more or less flattened. Pronotum longer than wide, subcylindrical. Claws simple. Elytra parallel-sided to slightly dilated posteriorly, nervation absent or very feeble. Pygidium not exceeding last sternite, both rounded or shallowly emarginate apically, urite VIII invisible. Tegmen slightly sclerotized, more or less shorter than aedeagus, sometimes pubescent apically, aedeagus slightly to strongly dorsoventrally flattened, sometimes with lateral longitudinal folds, with or without subapical teeth.

Female. Eyes smaller and less protruding than in male, antenna mostly shorter and less serrate.

Remarks. All characters used to distinguish the species in this paper are more or less variable and it is necessary to combine several of them for exact identification. They are: coloration of elytra and pubescence, width of frons between eyes, length of antenna and length of first three antennomeres and the form of the preapical portion of aedeagus, including the presence or absence of lateral folds. It is possible that some of the characters used in this paper will prove to be too variable in the future, and the status of some species will have to be changed.

SASAJI (1985) considered his new genus Polacus Sasaji, 1985, to be related to Calopus Fabricius, 1775 , on the basis of apically bifid mandibles. I had the possibility to examine the holotype of the type species, Polacus longicornis Sasaji, 1985 , and found that the apices of mandibles are entire, so that P. longicornis does not differ in any essential character from the species of the genus Sparedrus , and Polacus is hereby synonymised with Sparedrus .