A review of the genus Oosternum Sharp of the West Indies (Coleoptera: Hydrophilidae: Sphaeridiinae)

Abstract

The representatives of the genus Oosternum Sharp, 1882 occurring in the West Indies are revised. Ten species are recorded, of which seven are here described as new: Oosternum andersoni sp.

A review of the Cercyon Leach (Coleoptera, Hydrophilidae, Sphaeridiinae) of the Greater Antilles

“…Cercyon nigriceps can be distinguished from other species in the region by its small size and the presence of complete femoral lines on the metaventrite. It may be confused with representatives of the genus Oosternum by the small body size and coloration, but differs from them by presence of femoral lines (absent in Oosternum ), absence of anterolateral ridge on mesoventrite (present in all Oosternum ) and by very narrow mesoventral plate (1.7–2.8× as long as wide in Oosternum , see Deler-Hernández et al 2014). …”

“…Nevertheless, recent taxonomic studies have brought to light many new species and new country records in this region e.g. in genera Berosus Leach (Deler-Hernández et al 2013a), Enochrus Thomson (Deler-Hernández and Delgado 2010; Short 2005), Oosternum Sharp (Deler-Hernández et al 2014), Phaenonotum Sharp (Deler-Hernández et al 2013b) and Tropisternus Solier (Spangler and Short 2008). However, many other groups still await a comprehensive treatment, which includes Cercyon , the most speciose genus within the subfamily Sphaeridiinae.…”

A review of Himalcercyon stat. nov., with description of a new species from the Chinese Himalaya and an updated key to Asian genera of Megasternini (Coleoptera, Hydrophilidae)

“…Megasternini is the largest clade of terrestrial water scavenger beetles, containing approximately 580 described species currently classified in 52 genera (Jia et al 2011(Jia et al , 2019Ryndevich 2011;Short and Fikáček 2011;Fikáček et al 2012aFikáček et al , 2015bFikáček and Rocchi 2013;Makhan 2013;Deler-Hernández et al 2014;Arriaga-Varela et al 2017, 2018aRyndevich and Prokin 2017;Shatrovskiy 2017;Szczepański et al 2018). Since the 1980s, 20 new genera of Megasternini have been described from the Afrotropical, Australian, Oriental, and Neotropical regions by Hansen (1989Hansen ( , 1990Hansen ( , 1999a, Hebauer (2002aHebauer ( , 2003, Arriaga-Varela et al (2018a).…”

Larval chaetotaxy and morphometry of Oosternum costatum (Coleoptera: Hydrophilidae) including a discussion of larval characters with phylogenetic relevance

“…Oosternum is a genus of minute beetles, including 35 described species (SHORT & FIKÁČEK 2011;DELER-HER-NÁNDEZ et al 2014), and many more await description (e.g. DELER-HERNÁNDEZ et al 2014). These beetles live in a variety of habitats such as leaf-litter, dung and rotting animal carcasses with adults collected via Berlese funnels, fl ight intercept traps, and also with dung traps mixed with fermenting malt (SMETANA 1978;ARCHANGELSKY 1997;DELER-HERNÁNDEZ et al 2014).…”

“…DELER-HERNÁNDEZ et al 2014). These beetles live in a variety of habitats such as leaf-litter, dung and rotting animal carcasses with adults collected via Berlese funnels, fl ight intercept traps, and also with dung traps mixed with fermenting malt (SMETANA 1978;ARCHANGELSKY 1997;DELER-HERNÁNDEZ et al 2014). Developmental information for Oosternum costatum (LeConte, 1855) was published by ARCHANGELSKY (1997).…”