Pseudomedon obsoletus ( NORDMANN 1837)

Assing, V., 2009, On the Pseudomedon species of the Palaearctic region (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Paederinae), Linzer biologische Beiträge 41 (2), pp. 1175-1189 : 1181

Pseudomedon obsoletus ( NORDMANN 1837) (Figs 3, 19)

Lathrobium obsoletum NORDMANN 1837: 146 .

Sunius marginalis STEPHENS 1839: 407 .

Sunius unicolor STEPHENS 1839: 407 .

Sunius unicolor CURTIS 1840: 277 .

Lithocharis opaca FERRARI 1858: 987.

Lithocharis aterrima SAUCLY 1863: 36 .

M a t e r i a l e x a m i n e d [see also ASSING 2008b]: Turkey: 2 exs., Samsun, 15 km NW Bafra, Karaboğaz Gölü , 41°41'N, 35°48'E, 0 m, beach, flood debris, sifted, 30.III.2009, leg. Assing (cAss) ; 1 ex., Samsun, 9 km WNW Bafra, 41°35'N, 35°50'E, 55 m, mixed deciduous forest with oak, Hedera and Rubus undergrowth, 30.III.2009, leg. Assing (cAss). Kazakhstan: 2 exs., Ural river , Bogatskoe, 16.X.1980, leg. Kastcheev (cAss) .

C o m m e n t: None of the above synonyms has been revised. Due to the history of taxonomic confusion of P. obsoletus and P. obscurellus , it does not seem unlikely that some of these synonyms in fact refer to P. obscurellus .

The distribution of this species is apparently much less extensive than indicated by SMETANA (2004). Confirmed records have become known only from the Western Palaerctic region (including Middle Asia), from the Iberian peninsula eastwards to Kazakhstan ( ASSING 2008b). Owing to the fact that P. obsoletus was either confused or confounded with P. obscurellus at least until 1970, the distribution of this species requires revision and the records from regions other than the Western Palaearctic are probably based on misidentifications. For further explanations and a discussion see the comments in the section on P. obscurellus .