The genus Calodera Mannerheim in Canada ( Insecta , Coleoptera , Staphylinidae , Aleocharinae )

Th e Holarctic genus Calodera Mannerheim, 1830 is reported from Canada for the fi rst time. Two species are identifi ed. One of them is probably undescribed; the other, C. parviceps (Casey, 1893), is redescribed and illustrated. A key to the North American representatives of the genus is provided.


Introduction
Th e distribution of the oxypodine genus Calodera Mannerheim, 1830 appears to be confi ned to the northern and temperate parts of the Holarctic region.Th e generic placement of species described and recorded from other zoogeographic regions and currently attributed to Calodera is probably incorrect.So far, all the revised species from these regions have proved to refer to other genera (Assing 2003a).At present, nineteen species are known from the Holarctic region, sixteen of them from the Palaearctic (including a species of uncertain status) and three from the Nearctic region.While the Palaearctic representatives have been revised recently (Assing 1996(Assing , 2003a(Assing , 2003b(Assing , 2004)), the North American species have never been studied comprehensively.Up until a few years ago, only one Nearctic species had been attributed to Calodera, C. infuscata Blatchley, 1910 from Indiana.Recently, two additional species were transferred to the genus from Amarochara Th omson, 1858, C. parviceps (Casey, 1893) from Rhode Island and C. caseyi Assing, 2002 -a replacement name for the secondary homonym C. humilis (Casey, 1893) -from Pennsylvania (Assing 2002).Calodera species were previously unknown from Canada (Gouix and Klimaszewski 2007).Almost all the Calodera species are rare and local.Th ey generally inhabit moist habitats such as swamps, moist leaf litter near water (rivers, streams, lakes, etc.), and fl oodplain forests.At least the Palaearctic species are mostly collected in early spring.Occasionally, several species may occur syntopically.In Germany, for example, as many as six species have been recorded in the same locality (Assing 1996).
Identifi cation of Calodera species is generally diffi cult.Within most species groups a reliable determination is possible only based on the internal structures of the aedeagus.External characters and the spermatheca are subject to considerable intraspecifi c and, at the same time, little interspecifi c variation (Assing 1996).
On the occasion of a recent visit to Laurentian Forestry Centre in Québec, Jan Klimaszewski drew my attention to Oxypodini specimens on loan from the Canadian National Collection of Insects, Arachnids, and Nematodes, Ottawa.Th is material also included specimens of Calodera, the fi rst records of the genus from Canada.

Material and methods
Th e material referred to in this study is deposited in the following collections: CNC Canadian National Collection of Insects, Arachnids, and Nematodes, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Ottawa, Canada cAss private collection V. Assing, Hannover, Germany Th e morphological studies were carried out using a Stemi SV 11 microscope (Zeiss Germany) and a Jenalab compound microscope (Carl Zeiss Jena).For the photographs a digital camera (Nikon Coolpix 995) was used.
Head length was measured from the anterior margin of the frons to the posterior mar gin of the head; elytral length at suture from the apex of the scutellum to the posterior mar gin of the elytra.
Th e map was generated using the online generic mapping tool (GMT) of the Geomar website at www.aquarius.ifm-geomar.de/omc.
Head approximately as long as wide, with a posterior constriction of about 0.6 times the width of head (Fig. 2); eyes approximately as long as postocular region in dorsal view; punctation fi ne and of variable density; integument with or without shallow microsculpture; antenna as in Fig. 3.
Pronotum approximately as wide as long and approximately 1.15 times as wide as head (Fig. 2); punctation fi ne and dense, but density subject to pronounced variation; dorsal surface with or without shallow microsculpture.
Elytra approximately 1.4 times as wide as pronotum and at suture slightly shorter than pronotum, with or without microsculpture (Fig. 2); punctation fi ner than that of pronotum.Hind wings fully developed.
Abdomen approximately as wide as elytra; tergites III-VI with pronounced and coarsely punctate anterior impression; remainder of tergal surfaces with fi ne and dense punctation (Fig. 4); integument with or without microsculpture.
Comparative notes.Calodera parviceps is distinguished from C. rufescens by the shape of the apical internal structures of the aedeagus, which are somewhat spoonshaped and apically crossed in C. rufescens.For illustrations of the genitalia of C. rufescens see Assing (1996).For characters separating C. parviceps from other North American representatives of the genus see the key below.
Comment.Unfortunately, the single syntype in the Casey collection is a female (Assing 2002).Th erefore, the identifi cation of the additional material listed above, which is based on external characters, must be regarded as somewhat tentative.Males from Rhode Island would be required to verify the specifi c identity of the Canadian material.
Distribution and bionomics.At present, the species is known from several localities in eastern Canada and from Rhode Island (Map 1).As can be inferred from the labels attached to the above specimens and from the ecological preferences of closely related congeners, C. parviceps is probably an inhabitant of the litter layer of moist Comment.In external morphology, this probably undescribed species is similar to C. parviceps, but is distinguished by somewhat shorter antennae with more transverse antennomeres IV-X.Since only two females are available, however, a description of this species would be premature and inadequate.

Key to the Nearctic species of Calodera
Repeated requests for a loan of the type material of C. infuscata, which is deposited in the Purdue Entomological Research Collections (Lafayette, Indiana), have remained unanswered, so that the diagnosis of this species relies exclusively on the (few) details specifi ed in the original description.Th e possibility that C. infuscata and C. caseyi are, in fact, conspecifi c cannot be ruled out.

Map 1 .
Distribution of Calodera parviceps (fi lled circles) and Calodera sp.(open circle) in eastern North America.Hudson Bay Atlantic Ocean