REVISION OF GENUS TACHYPORUS — BLACKWELDER 41 



The material available for this study consists of approximately 

 1,100 specimens from our region and a small series of species from 

 Central America, the West Indies, and Europe. These comprise 

 the United States National Museum collections and my own. In ad- 

 dition, the collections of LeConte and Horn have been critically 

 examined. 



1 am indebted to Dr. E. A. Chapin, of the United States Na- 

 tional Museum, for providing facilities for studying the specimens 

 in the Museum's collection and also for many other kindnesses. The 

 Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia and the Museum 

 of Comparative Zoology have greatly aided the study by allowing 

 the examination of the Horn and LeConte collections, respectively. 



Genus TACHYPORUS Gravenhorst 



1802. Tachyporns Gbavenhorst, Coleoptera Microjitera Brunsvicensia . . ., p. 

 124. [Genotype: Staphylimis chrysomelinus Linnaeus (1758), through 

 synonymy with Oxyporus chrysomelinus Fabricius (1792) ; designated 

 in 1810 by Latreille (Considerations g^n^rales . . ., p. 183).] 



Head smooth, inclined, narrower than the prothorax and more or 

 less inserted in the latter, not margined at the sides beneath the eyes ; 

 antennae feebly clavate, 11-segmented, inserted at the sides of the 

 front of the head ; fourth segment of the maxillary palpi subulate ; 

 segments of labial palpi gradually diminishing in thickness; ligula 

 bilobed, paraglossae not projecting; no ocelli. Pronotum smooth; 

 front coxae conical, prominent; trochanters distinct. Elytra longer 

 than the pronotum, minutely and irregularly punctate; epipleurae 

 distinctly limited by a carina. Mesosternum not carinate. Tarsi 

 5-segmented, first segment of hind tarsi moderate or short, posterior 

 coxae free, contiguous, transverse, expanded portion attaining the 

 epimeron ; tibiae with a fringe of unequal spinules at tip. Abdomen 

 narrowly margined; eighth sternite^ of male notched at middle; 

 eighth tergite of female divided into four slender processes. 



Gravenhorst erected Tachyporns in 1802 in his Coleoptera Microp- 

 tera Brunsvicensia for three species of StaphyUnus, five of Oxyporus, 

 and six new species. In 1806 he again described the genus (Mono- 

 g;raphia Coleoptera Microptera), citing his earlier publication of 

 it (p. 1), and listing 26 additional species. Almost every subsequent 

 writer has cited the genus as dating from the later date, though this 

 is certainly erroneous. 



2 The abdominal segments are referred to by their morphological number rather than 

 by the apparent one. The eighth sternite is the sixth visible one. For a complete 

 discussion of this principal, see Blackwelder, Morphology of the coleopterous family 

 Staphylinidae, Smithsonian Misc. Coll., vol. 94, no. 13, 1936. 



