A Taxonomic Study On The Genus Stenus (Coleoptera:Staphylinidae:Steninae) From Zhejiang And Shanghai Area, China.

Staphylinidae is one of the largest family in Coleoptera, they occupy a wide variety of habitats and have a wide range of food-habits. They are essentially carnivorous (insect feeder), but some groups have become evolved as mycophagous, coprophagous, carpophagous, pollinophagous and so on. Some species have adapted to a parasitism of mammals. Their prosperity is inevitably causing direct interaction between them and mankind.Stenus is one of the largest genera of the subfamily Steninae in the family Staphylinidae. It was established by Latreille in 1797. Paykull (1800) designated Staphylinus juno Paykull as the type species for the genus. Up to the present 2170 species of the genus have been known from the world. They are mainly distributed in the Palaearctic, , Oriental, Neotropic Region. There are 140 species known in China, of which 128 in the Mainland, 31 in Taiwan and 11 in both Mainland and Taiwan.In China, however, taxonomic study on this genus is relatively behind and only some of scholars separately studied on this field. Up to the present, systematic works concerning Chinese Stenus has not been made, 95 percent of the Chinese known species were described by foreign scholars and the type specimens were deposited in foreign countries. For these reasons, it became difficulty for us to study Chinese Stenus fauna.As a part of Chinese Stenus fauna, this study was based on the examinations of 1,078 specimens, which were collected from a lot of places in Zhejiang and Shanghai area such as Mt. Tianmu National Conservation, Baishanzu National Conservation, Wuyanling National Conservation, Mt. Longwang Conservation, Jiangwan Conservation and so on. The results of my research is summarized as follows:1. This paper was the first revisional study of the genus Stenus of Zhejiang and Shanghai area.2. In the present paper, 25 Chinese species of the genus were recognized, of which 6 species were described as new to science, and 1 was new to China. The male of S. cirrus was found and described for the first time.3. All the species were described in detail, and their sexual characters were illustrated. The color photos for every species were also provided. The history review, collecting techniques, and major diagnostic characters of the genus were discussed.4. The keys to the subgenera and the species of the genus were presented.5. A catalog of the genus Stenus of China was given.6. A database of all the known species of the genus Stenus in the world was built.Abstracts of the New Species in This Paper 1. Stenus (Stenus) tianmushanensis sp. nov. (Fig. 4, Plate I-D)This new species is similar to S. puberulus Sharp, but it is separable from the latter by the following characters: 7th sternum of male with a weak emargination at the posterior margins; genitalia with a median longitudinal suture in apical sclerotized part of median lobe.Holotype (?), Mt. Tianmu National Conservation, Linan City, Zhejiang Prov., 6~ 11-VIII-1998, Li Li-zhen leg. Paratype 1 (?) , 3(?), same as Holotype; 1 (?), Mt. Tianmu National Conservation, Linan City, Zhejiang Prov., 15-VIII-2002, Tang Liang leg.; 27 (?), 45(?), Mt. Tianmu National Conservation, Linan City, Zhejiang Prov., 15 - 28-VIII-2003, Hu Jia-yao and Tang Liang leg.; 11 (?) , 9(?), Mt. Longwang Conservation, Zhejiang Prov., 2~3-X-2003, Li Li-zhen, Hu Jia-yao and Tang Liang leg. ; 13 (?), 12 (?), Mt Tianmu National Conservation, Linan City, Zhejiang Prov., 20-VIII-2004, Li Li-zhen leg.2. Stenus (Hypostenus) macrobicolorus sp. nov. (Fig. 14, Plate IV-B)This new species is very similar to that of S. wuyanlingenus sp. nov., but can be distinguished from the latter by the following characters: pronotum with a median longitudinal depression; elytra spots very large; spermathca without coiled part.Holotype (?) , Wuyanling National Conservation, Zhejiang Prov., alt. 700 m, 23-VIII-2004, Hu Jia-yao, Tang Liang and Zhu Li-long leg. Paratype 1 (?), Wuyanling National Conservation, Zhejiang Prov., alt. 700 m, 9-V-2004, Hu Jia-yao, Tang Liang and Zhu Li-long leg.3. Stenus (Hypostenus) bicolorus sp. nov. (Fig. 15, Plate IV-C)This new species is very similar to 5. macrobicolr sp. nov., but can be distinguished from the latter by the following characters: smaller in body size; smaller in elytra spots; spermatheca with coiled part.Holotype (?), Baizhanzu National Conservation, Zhejiang Prov., alt. 1050 m, 19-VI1I-2004, Hu Jia-yao, Tang Liang and Zhu Li-long leg. Paratype: 1 (?), Baizhanzu National Conservation, Zhejiang Prov., alt. 1050 m, 4-V-2004, Hu Jia-yao, Tang Liang and Zhu Li-long leg.4. Stenus (Hypostenus) wuyanlingus sp. nov. (Fig. 16, Plate IV-D)This new species is similar to S. cactiventris described by Puthz (2003) from Fujian, China, but can be distinguished from the latter by the following characters: apical sclerotized part of median lobe more acute; shape of inner hooks of genitalia are different.Holotype (?) , Wuyanling National Conservation, Zhejiang Prov., alt. 700-850 m, 10-V-2004, Hu Jia-yao, Tang Liang and Zhu Li-long leg. Paratype: 5 (?) , 9(?),same as holotype; 3 (?) , 2 (?), Wuyanling National Conservation, Zhejiang Prov., alt. 700 m, 9-V-2004, Hu Jia-yao, Tang Liang and Zhu Li-long leg.5. Stenus(Hypostenus) zhejiangensis sp. nov. (Fig. 17, Plate V-A)This new species is very similar to S. guangxiensis Rougemont from Guangxi Province, which can be distinguished from the latter only by the the shape of inner hooks in genitalia.Holotype (?) , Wuyanling National Conservation, Zheijang Prov., alt. 700-800 m, 10-V-2004, Hu Jia-yao and Tang Liang leg.6. Stenus (Hypostenus) bigucephalus sp. nov. (Fig. 21, Plate VI-A)This new species is similar to S. decern Puthz, but can be distinguished from the latter by the following characters: head much broader than elytra; apical sclerotized part of median lobe without point; parameres aren't swollen in apex; 8th sternum entire.Holotype (?) , Baizhanzu National Conservation, Zhejiang Prov., alt. 1250-1650 m, 21-VIII-2004, Hu Jia-yao, Tang Liang and Zhu Li-long leg. Paratype: 1 (?), same as holotype.All of the type specimens are deposited in the Insect Collections of Department of Biology, Shanghai Teachers University, Shanghai, China.