Rove beetles of the open plains of the South European Russia: a review with the key to genera and annotated species checklist (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae)

Abstract

Based on the exhaustive literature survey we provide the annotated catalogue with 874 species of Staphylinidae beetles relevant for the fauna of the open plains of the South European Russia (PSER). PSER is a convenience study region with some ecological integrity as it coincides with the Russian part of the Eurasian belt of steppe and semi-desert biomes. Longitudinally it stretches from the border with Donbass in the west to southern Fore Urals in the east. Latitudinally it is extended from the southern border of the forest-steppe zone in the north to the Sea of Azov, Black Sea, northern foothills of the Caucasus, northern shores of the Caspian Sea and the border with Kazakhstan in the south. Along with the zonal grasslands, PSER is a network of intra-zonal riverine woodlands, wetlands, as well as anthropogenic landscapes. It covers, fully or partly, several administrative regions of the Russian Federation. Our review shows the more complete knowledge of the rove beetle fauna for the western areas of PSER and for the Volga River basin, while several large regions like Republic of Kalmykia, Stavropol or Orenburg regions, on the contrary, are extremely poorly known. Taxonomic groups like Paederinae, Oxytelinae or Staphylininae are better explored, while many taxa including entire big subfamilies like Aleocharinae are hardly known in PSER. To facilitate further investigation of the PSER fauna, we provide keys to all rove beetle genera either recorded or expected in this territory.

Keywords

• staphylinidae
• faunistics
• systematics
• russia
• plains