The subfamily Pselaphinae (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae) of Southwestern Bulgaria II: Belasitsa Mts

Abstract

New data about the Pselaphinae fauna of South-Western Bulgaria (Belasitsa Mts) are presented. Bythinus angustioculus sp. n. is described. The genus Protamaurops Müller, 1944 and the species Plectophloeus nubigena (Reitter, 1877) and Bryaxis leonhardi Reitter, 1902 are reported for the first time in Bulgaria.

New data about the distribution of Plectophloeus fischeri (Aubé, 1833) and Dicentrius biroi Besuchet, 1999 (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Pselaphinae) in Bulgaria

“…Later, Karaman added another record from the vicinity of Varna (Karaman, 1969). In the last decade, a few more findings were accumulated, some of them already published, they are from Vitosha, Belasitsa, Western Rhodopes, and Pirin (Bekchiev, 2008(Bekchiev, , 2011Bekchiev & Kostova, 2022;Bekchiev & Shishiniova, 2007). Despite the increasing information of its distribution, the species is rare and reported in relatively low number of localities at least on the territory of Bulgaria.…”

“…In accordance with the framework outlined above, it can be assumed that the alternation during the Pleistocene of cold glacial periods and hot and dry interglacial periods played a fundamental role in the specific differentiation between species in this group, which is reflected in the different affinity levels between them and in their current geographic distribution. In this regard, the finding of Dicentius biroi Besuchet, 1999 in Rila Mountains, known before only from Osogovo and Stara Planina Mountains (Bekchiev, 2008), raises many interesting questions about the phylogenetic relationships within the genus.…”