Dyschirius Bonelli, 1810

Bousquet, Yves, 2012, Catalogue of Geadephaga (Coleoptera, Adephaga) of America, north of Mexico, ZooKeys 245, pp. 1-1722 : 293-294

Genus Dyschirius Bonelli, 1810

Dyschirius Bonelli, 1810: Tabula Synoptica. Type species: Scarites thoracicus Rossi, 1790 designated by Curtis (1831: plate 354). Etymology. Possibly from the Greek dis (twice, double) and cheiros (hand), alluding to the presence of a curved spine laterally and a movable spur medially on the protibia of the adult [masculine].

Dischirius Duponchel, 1844: 151. Unjustified emendation of Dyschirius Bonelli, 1810.

Dyschiridius Jeannel, 1941b: 260. Type species: Dyschirius arenosus Stephens, 1827 (= Scarites thoracicus Rossi, 1790) by original designation.

Diversity.

About 245 species (Lorenz 2005: 151-154) in the Nearctic (about 60 species, one of them adventive), Neotropical (about 20 species, five shared with North America), Oriental (about 25 species), Palaearctic (about 140 species, many shared with the Oriental and Afrotropical Regions), and Afrotropical (about 30 species) Regions.

Identification.

The North American species have never been revised. Bousquet (1988a) published a key to all species found in the area and briefly discussed each species-group. Subsequently five new species have been described by Bousquet (1997a) and Dajoz (2004), an adventive species has been detected ( Dyschirius globosus ) in North America, two species have been treated as junior synonyms ( Dyschirius filiformis with Dyschirius sublaevis and Dyschirius integer with Dyschirius dejeanii ), and two species had their names changed ( Dyschirius nigricornis for Dyschirius melancholicus and Dyschirius integer for Dyschirius dejeanii ).

Taxonomic Note.

Fedorenko (1996) recognized two genera within Dyschirius (minus Akephorus ): Dyschirius with about 20 Palaearctic species and Dyschiriodes for the remaining species. However, there seems to be no consistent character state that separates the two “genera” except possibly for the basal sclerite of the endophallus which is "strongly sclerotized" in Dyschirius and "poorly sclerotized" in Dyschiriodes . In addition there is no solid evidence presented suggesting that the genus Dyschirius of authors is polyphyletic or that Dyschirius sensu Fedorenko and Dyschiriodes are sister-taxa. The genus Dyschirius sensu auctorum (prior to Fedorenko 1996) is a well-defined taxon and I see no reason to recognize Dyschiriodes as generically distinct. A similar approach was adopted by Balkenohl (2003: 223-230) in the Catalogue of Palaearctic Coleoptera , Lorenz (2005: 151-154), and Erwin (2011b: 97-128).

Fedorenko (1996) recognized five subgenera within " Dyschiriodes :" Antidyschirius Fedorenko, 1996 [type species: Dyschirius laevifasciatus Horn, 1878], Eudyschirius Fedorenko, 1996 [type species: Dyschirius lafertei Putzeys, 1846], Chiridysus Fedorenko, 1996 [type species: Dyschirius strumosus Erichson, 1837], Dyschiriodes Jeannel, 1941 [type species: Clivina punctata Dejean sensu Jeannel, 1941 (= Clivina minuta Dejean, 1825)], and Paradyschirius Fedorenko, 1996 [type species: Dyschirius parallelus Motschulsky, 1844]. In my opinion there are several other species groups actually recognized within Dyschirius that deserve a subgeneric name. For that reason I have listed the North American species under species-group names and did not retain Fedorenko’s subgenera until further studies are done on the North American fauna. For information, the species of the laevifasciatus group belong to Antidyschirius ; those of the tridentatus, ferrugineus, and brevispinus groups, as well as Dyschirius globosus (classified here in the dejeanii group), Dyschirius comatus (placed here in the pilosus group), Dyschirius criddlei and Dyschirius edentulus (both included here in the politus group) belong to Eudyschirius ; those of the analis and quadrimaculatus groups to Paradyschirius ; and those of all remaining North American groups to Dyschiriodes sensu stricto .