Adventive species of Quedius ( Coleoptera , Staphylinidae ) in North America : a survey and new Canadian record

Th e adventive rove beetle, Quedius cinctus (Paykull) is recorded for the fi rst time in Canada. Th is discovery provides an opportunity to briefl y survey the distribution and early dates of detection of the seven adventive species in the genus Quedius Stephens in North America.


Introduction
In recent years there has been a considerable interest in adventive species of the genus Quedius Stephens (Staphylinidae: Staphylininae), seven of which have now been recorded in North America.
Quedius mesomelinus (Marsham, 1802) was fi rst reported in North America from the state of Washington by Hatch (1949) from specimens dating as early as 1904.Smetana (1971) subsequently reported it from as early as 1886 from Massachusetts, while Prévost and Bain (2006) found preserved remains of this species in a latrine in Ferryland, Newfoundland that date from circa 1620.It is now widely distributed in North America from Newfoundland and Florida, west to Nevada and British Columbia, and on the Aleutian Islands (Smetana 1971).
Quedius fulgidus (Fabricius, 1793) was fi rst reported in North America by Say (1834) under the name Quedius iracundus Say [synonymized by Smetana (1971)].Th e earliest specimen examined by Smetana (1971) was from 1874 (Iowa).It is now widely distributed in the United States from Massachusetts and Georgia, west to southern California and Washington.Th ere are also records in Canada from southern portions of British Columbia and Manitoba (Smetana 1971).
Quedius curtipennis Bernhauer, 1908 was fi rst collected in North America in 1934 in the state of Washington (Hatch 1957) [reported as Q. parallelus Hatch; synonymized by Smetana (1971)].Th e initial records were from Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia on the Pacifi c coast (Smetana 1971), although there are now records on the Atlantic coast from New Hampshire (Smetana 1990), New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia (Majka and Smetana 2007).
Quedius cruentus (Olivier, 1795) was fi rst reported in North America by Gusarov (2001) based on a single specimen collected in 1998 in New York state.Subsequently Hoebeke (2008) reported many records of this species from Ohio to New Jersey, north to southern Québec and central Maine from as early as 1983.

Results
In the present paper we report Quedius cinctus from New Brunswick, Canada, from three specimens collected in Bouctouche, Kent County (46° 25΄ 39.56˝ N, 64° 45΄ 50.35˝W) on 27 September 2007 (Fig. 2).Th e specimens were recovered on a domestic pig (Sus scrofa) carcass that had decomposed for 22 days in an agricultural fi eld.For a comprehensive description of fi eld characteristics and of the methods used to collect specimens, see Michaud and Moreau (2009).Th ese are the fi rst records of this adventive species in Canada.Th is location is some 700 km from Framingham, Massachusetts, the nearest locality where Q. cinctus has been previously recorded.(Smetana 1971(Smetana , 1990)).A specimen collected in Seattle, Washington, on the Pacifi c coast of the USA is not shown.

Discussion
Bouctouche is a costal community located where the Bouctouche River fl ows into the Gulf of St. Lawrence.It has been settled since 1785 and has a long history of immigration, fi shing, and shipping (Cormier 1984).Lindroth (1957) established that many adventive terricolous beetles were brought to the New World in association with the shipment of dry ballast, a practice that continued from the time of the Napoleonic Wars (1799-1815) until after World War I. Smetana (1971: 167) also noted that, "In Europe this species lives mainly in decaying organic substances of any kind, very often near or directly in human settlements.Th e introduction of this species to North America is therefore not very surprising."Consequently a coastal community such as Bouctouche could have provided a variety of opportunities for the introduction and establishment of a species such as Q. cinctus, either in association with shipping practices, or with the importation of livestock or other agricultural products.It remains to be ascertained how widely distributed this species is in New Brunswick.
It is clear that species such as Q. mesomelinus and Q. fulgidus have been present in North America for centuries, and are now widely distributed on the continent.Th e extensive distribution of Q. cruentus in northeastern North America raises the question of whether it also has been present for a considerable period, or if it is in the process of rapid dispersal.Quedius cinctus and Q. curtipennis have a much more restricted distribution, although both species have been introduced to both Atlantic and Pacifi c coastal areas in North America.Quedius molochinus and Q. fuliginosus appear restricted to portions of eastern Canada.Continued monitoring of these species will be instructive in ascertaining the futuredispersal pathways of these closely related species.

Figure 1 .
Figure 1.Distribution of Quedius cinctus in eastern North America(Smetana 1971(Smetana , 1990)).A specimen collected in Seattle, Washington, on the Pacifi c coast of the USA is not shown.