| Research Abstract |
In this research, field surveys were conducted in the various districts of Japanese Archipelago. Based on the specimens collected during these surveys in addition to those deposited in the museum collection, several taxonomic studies on the genus Sepedophilus and other staphylinids were carried out. By comparison of the structure of aedeagus in detail, 14 new species and 2 new subspecies of the genus Sepedophilus (subfamily Tachyporinae) which are indigenous to the Japanese Archipelago, and 1 new species of the genus distributed in the Nansei Islands and Taiwan, were discovered and described. I addition, 3 known Sepedophilus -species were redescribed.
This distributional pattern of Staphylinidae in Japan are generally classified into 4 types as follows: East-Japan type, West-Japan type, Nansei-Islands type, and Broad-distribution type. When judging 15 new Sepedophilus described in this research from the viewpoint of distributional pattern, they belong to East-Japan type (1 species), West-Japan type (6 species), Nansei-Islands type (6 species), and Broad-distribution type (2 species). Previously I studied how the present distribution of staphylinid beetles, which are indigenous to the Japanese Archipelago, has been established in my paper (Naomi, 1991, Bulletin of the Biogeographical Society of Japan, Volume 46: 1-20). Thus, I herein discussed whether or not the data of Sepedophilus I gained in this research support my hypothesis.
Concerning the genus Stenus (subfamily Steninae), I studied the morphology of aedeagus in detail. As the results, 2 new species belonging to the species group of S. indubius were discovered from Kanto-district, and 2 new species belonging to the species group of S. syugen were also done from Chubu-district. These 4 species will be described as new in the near future.
|
