Tinotus Sharp, 1883

Gusarov, Vladimir I., 2003, Revision of some types of North American aleocharines (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae), with synonymic notes, Zootaxa 353 (1), pp. 1-134 : 10-11

Tinotus Sharp, 1883

Tinotus Sharp, 1883: 170 (type species: Tinotus cavicollis Sharp, 1883 , designated by Fenyes, 1918; in group Myrmedoniina (tribe Myrmedoniini Thomson, 1867 )).

Exaleochara Keys, 1907: 102 (type species: Aleochara morion Gravenhorst, 1802 , by monotypy; in subtribe Aleocharina ).

Acrimea Casey, 1911a: 14 (type species: Acrimea resecta Casey, 1911a , designated by Fenyes, 1918; in tribe Aleocharini ), syn. nov.

Tinotus: Fenyes, 1918: 19 (as valid genus; in tribe Hoplandriini Casey, 1910a ).

Acrimea: Fenyes, 1918: 20 (as valid genus; misspelled as Acrimaea; in group Microglottae Fenyes, 1918 of tribe Oxypodini Thomson, 1859 ).

Tinotus: Fenyes, 1920: 311 (as valid genus; in tribe Hoplandriini ).

Acrimea: Fenyes, 1920: 382 (as valid genus; misspelled as Acrimaea; in tribe Oxypodini ).

Tinotus: Bernhauer & Scheerpeltz, 1926: 713 (as valid genus; in subtribe Hoplandriina ).

Acrimea: Bernhauer & Scheerpeltz, 1926: 771 (as valid genus; misspelled as Acrimaea; in subtribe Oxypodina ).

Acrimea: Seevers, 1978: 74 (as valid genus; in Acrimea group of subtribe Oxypodina ).

Tinotus: Seevers, 1978: 142 (as valid genus; in tribe Hoplandriini ).

Tinotus: Ashe in Newton et al., 2000: 360 (as valid genus; in tribe Hoplandriini ).

Acrimea: Ashe in Newton et al., 2000: 361 (as valid genus; in tribe Oxypodini ).

Tinotus: Klimaszewski & Pelletier, 2002: 284 (in tribe Aleocharini ).

Tinotus: Hanley, 2002: 456 (in tribe Aleocharini ).

(Other references are omitted)

Diagnosis. See Klimaszewski & Pelletier (2002).

Type species. Tinotus cavicollis Sharp, 1883 , by subsequent designation ( Fenyes, 1918).

Discussion. The genus Tinotus Sharp, 1883 currently includes about 30 valid species ( Klimaszewski & Pelletier 2002; Hanley 2002). Recently Hanley (2002) published a world catalogue of the genus. Klimaszewski and Pelletier (2002) revised the types of Nearctic species of Tinotus , synonymized some species names and provided a key for identification of Tinotus of America north of Mexico.

Casey (1911a) described the genus Acrimea , including three species described in the same paper. He placed Acrimea in the tribe Aleocharini and considered it related to Thiasophila Kraatz, 1856 and Ischnoglossa Kraatz, 1856 . Subsequently Acrimea was considered to be a member of the tribe Oxypodini ( Fenyes 1918, 1920; Bernhauer & Scheerpeltz 1926; Seevers 1978; Newton et al. 2000).

My revision of the types of the three species of Acrimea revealed that in all three the tarsal formula is in fact 4­5­5 and all three belong to the genus Tinotus . The type species of Acrimea , Acri. resecta , is a synonym of Ti. acerbus (see below). Therefore, Acrimea is a junior synonym of Tinotus .

Because Acrimea was erroneously considered to have the tarsal formula 5­5­5, the genus was incorrectly listed in key B to the Nearctic genera of aleocharines ( Newton et al. 2000: 303). Couplet 19 should be deleted from key B, and couplet 18 should be modified as follows:

18(16). Mesosternum carinate medially at base .............................................................. 20

­ Mesosternum not at all carinate medially ............................................................ 21