PROCEEDINGS OF THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



issued iMlaNvA- S )^ wi ^ ^ 



SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 



U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Vol, 87 WMhington : 1939 No. 3069 



A GENERIC REVISION OF THE STAPHYLINID BEETLES 

 OF THE TRIBE PAEDERINI 



By Richard E. Blackwelder 



^ A RECENT attempt to classify a large number of Paederini from the 

 West Indies led to the recognition of the necessity for a complete 

 revision of the genera and subgenera. Such a study was undertaken 

 and brought as near to completion as the available materials will 

 permit. Although this was first planned as a supplement to the 

 study of the West Indies fauna, it now seems advisable to pubUsh 

 the revision separately because of its application to faunas of other 

 parts of the world. An examination of the material available has 

 showed that 219 generic or subgeneric names have been proposed in 

 this tribe and that genotypes of 100 of these are available with other 

 species of 25 more. With the primary synonyms that are recognized 

 as such, it has been possible to place 147 of the names in this revision. 

 Of the remaining 72 names, 42 are monobasic, and none of the others 

 are suJEciently well known to be of special importance. 



This revision is divided into three parts: A key to the genera and 

 subgenera of the Paederini, a proposed systematic arrangement, and a 

 list of the genotypes on which the foregoing are based. 



The key is entirely artificial, although an attempt is made to use 

 characters of greatest significance in the primary separations. Several 

 characters are employed that have not to my knowledge been pre- 

 viously noticed. Each one has been worded carefully and must be 

 taken literally, and it is quite essential to the satisfactory use of the 

 key that each character be examined with considerable care. Several 

 new genera and subgenera are proposed in the key. These are 

 described in footnotes with descriptions of their type species, if new. 



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