Checklist of Beetles of the British Isles, 2008 Edition

Checklist of Beetles of the British Isles 2008 Edition Edited by A.G. Duff with an Introduction by D.A. Lott and a chapter on Subfossil Beetles by P.I. Buckland Checklist of Beetles of the British Isles, 2008 edition Copyright © A.G. Duff, 2008. Published by A.G. Duff in Wells, Somerset, United Kingdom. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without written permission from the publisher. Although every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher and authors assume no responsibility for errors or omissions. Neither is any liability assumed for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein. A.G. Duff 64 Kings Castle Road Wells Somerset BA5 3LT United Kingdom E-mail: [email protected] Cover: Pilemostoma fastuosa (Schaller, 1783) (Chrysomelidae) © Roger Key Acknowledgements Acknowledgements I would like to thank everyone who has helped to create and maintain the Checklist of Beetles of the British Isles. During the early part of this project I was greatly assisted by draft checklist manuscripts written by Roger Booth and Eric Philp. For keeping track of new and deleted species, published updates to the British list were invaluable (Lott, 1995, 1998; Mann, 2000b, 2002; Owen, 1993a, 1994c). Recent published checklists were also very helpful covering the Irish fauna (Anderson, Nash & O'Connor, 1997; Nash, Anderson & O'Connor, 1997), water beetles (Foster, 2004, 2005), Carabidae (Luff, 2007), Leiodidae (Cooter, 1996b), Dermestidae (Peacock, 1993), Nitiduloidea (Cooter, 1995), Kateretidae and Nitidulidae (Kirk-Spriggs, 1996), Ciidae (Orledge & Booth, 2006), seed and leaf beetles (Cox, 2007) and weevils (Morris, 2003). Derek Lott deserves a special mention, not only as section author for the very large family Staphylinidae, but also for writing his stimulating introduction to the project, and for his unstinting encouragement. With his encyclopaedic knowledge of the British fauna, and nomenclatural issues in particular, a great debt is owed to Roger Booth for undertak- ing to author many individual families and for answering numerous questions. All the family authors are to be warmly thanked: Keith Alexander (Cantharidae), Max Barclay (Tetratomidae and Tenebrionidae), Roger Booth (numerous families), Jon Cooter (Leiodidae), Mike Cox (Megalopodidae, Orsodacnidae and Chrysomelidae), Garth Foster (water beetles), Colin Johnson (Ptiliidae, Clambidae, Monotomidae, Cryptophagidae, Corylophidae and Latridiidae), Brian Levey (Buprestidae, Mordellidae and Scraptiidae), Derek Lott (Staphylinidae), Martin Luff (Carabidae), Darren Mann (Scarabaeoidea), Howard Mendel (Elateroidea), Mike Morris (Curculionoidea), Glenda Orledge (Ciidae) and Martin Rejzek (Cerambycidae). Many thanks also to Phil Buckland for his chapter on beetles known only as subfossils. Several coleopterists have reviewed all or part of the checklist. Tony (A.J.) Allen helped with literature, reviewed numerous drafts of the complete checklist and suggested several formatting improvements. Max Barclay reviewed the arrangement of Otiorhynchus. Martin Collier spotted several errors and suggested some format changes. Peter Hammond is thanked for correcting several errors, for some formatting suggestions and for thoroughly reviewing the entire checklist. Peter Hodge assisted with literature. Mark Telfer is to be thanked for his comments on various drafts of the Carabidae section. Finally, the Board of Governors of The Coleopterist journal are to be thanked for allowing the checklist to be hosted on the journal's website at www.coleopterist.org.uk. Andrew Duff 1 Introduction Checklist of Beetles of the British Isles Introduction D.A. Lott ince publication of the Coleoptera volume of the second edition of Kloet & Hincks' S checklist of British insects (Pope, 1977), a large number of additions and deletions to the list have been published, as well as numerous nomenclatural changes. In addi- tion, recent advances in our understanding of the phylogeny of Coleoptera have led to major modifications of higher classification in checklists and catalogues that have been published more recently in Europe and North America. In the absence of any widely accepted, modern checklist of the British fauna, British workers have been using binomial names taken from a variety of often conflicting sources. It is intended that this checklist should have a wider currency and be suitable for use in future conservation reviews, survey reports and taxonomic dictionaries for biological recording. It is, therefore, vital that the nomenclature used should be widely accepted by coleopterists working on the British fauna. It is also important that the checklist should be as useful as possible to those working at larger scales ranging from Euro- pean through Palaearctic to the world fauna. It is envisaged that the checklist will be updated annually to keep abreast of published changes and suggested amendments from correspondents. To this end, comments on the checklist are welcome and should be addressed to the Editor by e-mail to [email protected]. Scope The checklist aims to include all species that have been reliably recorded from the British Isles as possible residents. Exotic species which are only known from casual importation, and have never formed established populations, are listed in an appendix. The British Isles is here taken to include Great Britain and Ireland, including the Isle of Man but not the Channel Islands. The checklist aims to be comprehensive in its listing of subfamilies, genera and species. Tribes and subtribes are only listed when supported by a recent, authoritative review. Contemporary checklists vary in the extent to which they include subgenera and many subgeneric classifications are old and in need of review. Consequently, subgenera have only been listed when they enjoy current and widespread usage. Rationale It is considered that there are two main uses for a checklist: to provide current standard names for species, genera, families and any other levels that are in common usage to enable other commonly used names to be interpreted as current standard names. It is also recognised that checklists have several subsidiary functions including: an inventory of biodiversity in a particular region the ordering of names into a standard sequence. Three areas are considered to be outside this checklist's remit. Firstly, the exhaustive listing of old synonyms is more properly the job of a catalogue rather than a simple checklist. Secondly, new names and new approaches to classification should appear in comprehensive taxonomic reviews rather than checklists. Thirdly, the correction of 2 Introduction errors is not the primary function of a checklist, although correctness will be an important factor in evaluating any recently proposed changes to classification or nomenclature; misspelt names which have become widely used, for example, are listed here in order to draw attention to the correct usage. As far as possible, therefore, this checklist uses a classification that already exists in the current literature, although the opportunity has been taken, through the coopera- tion of several correspondents, to include some changes in advance of publication, in order to ensure future currency. There is, of course, no universally agreed classification because of differences in approach between regions and between individual workers. Inevitably, choices between conflicting practices have had to be made. The main objective in making these choices has been to construct a list of binomial names, whose content and arrangement will be broadly acceptable, or at least comprehensi- ble, for the next ten to twenty years. In order to meet this aspiration, it has been necessary to address four factors that work against the stability of checklists fossilised at one moment in time. They are: Additions and deletions of species These changes are essentially unpredictable and will be communicated in future edi- tions as they arise. Nomenclatural changes Replacement names for British taxa are frequently published in various notes, taxonomic reviews and foreign checklists. These changes arise from new synonymies, discoveries of senior homonyms and corrections of misidentifications. Corrections of misidentifications can result in the transfer of a misapplied name from one species to another. For example, Fauvel (1862) misidentified Aleochara punctatella Motschulsky as A. obscurella Gravenhorst and renamed the true A.obscurella Gravenhorst as A. algarum Fauvel. This error persisted for over 100 years until its discovery (Lohse, 1985b) led to the transfer of the name A. obscurella Gravenhorst back to the original species. Consequently the name A. obscurella Gravenhorst has been applied to two different species at different times. It is very easy to misinterpret such names in old publications. The older the published list, the more difficult becomes the task of interpreting names. This checklist aims to provide the means for interpreting names used since around 1950 when Joy (1932) was the standard British identification guide. It must be recognised that the interpretation of names in older publications and manuscripts requires specialist knowledge that cannot be substituted by a simple checklist. Indeed the same can be said for any work dealing with taxonomically confused groups or using outdated

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