Orphnebius MOTSCHULSKY, 1858

Assing, Volker, 2017, On the Lomechusini fauna of the East Palaearctic and Oriental regions, with a focus on the genera Orphnebius and Amaurodera (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae), Beiträge Zur Entomologie = Contributions to Entomology 67 (1), pp. 63-106 : 65

3.2 Genus Orphnebius MOTSCHULSKY, 1858

3.2.1 Diversity and systematics of Orphnebius in the East Palaearctic and Oriental regions

The East Palaearctic and Oriental Orphnebius fauna is currently represented by 175 species, at least 13 of them of doubtful identity. In the majority of species ( O. hauseri group), the male sexual characters are crucial for a positive identification at the species level; the spermatheca may be suitable for an identification of the respective subgroup, but is insufficient for the diagnosis of species. For more details see ASSING (2016b). Two main lineages are identified within Palaearctic and Oriental Orphnebius . The more speciose of them is the O. hauseri group (76 species), which again is composed of several subgroups ( ASSING 2016b). At some point, this group name will be replaced by one of the existing subgeneric names proposed by BERNHAUER (1929). However, not all of the type species of these names have been revised yet; for a discussion of the problem see ASSING (2016b). The second lineage is formed by the species now assigned to the subgenus Deroleptus (69 species), which can be divided into three sub-lineages (for details see ASSING 2016b), the O. draco group (3 species), the O. niger group (18 species), and the O. siwalikensis group (35 species). The subgroup affiliations of the remaining 13 Deroleptus species is unclear, as they have not been revised and their respective original descriptions are insufficient for a positive assignment. The same is true of the species listed as Orphnebius incertae sedis (30 species). They need to be revised in order to attribute them to either the O. hauseri group or Deroleptus (and the respective subgroups).