Matskási István (szerk.): A Magyar Természettudományi Múzeum évkönyve 98. (Budapest 2006)

Makranczy, Gy.: Systematics and phylogenetic relationships of the genera in the Carpelimus group (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Oxytelinae)

LEE HERMAN redefined the subfamily Oxytelinae (HERMAN 1970). The two major changes within the subfamily he introduced were the elevation of Anotylus to generic rank (resulting in new combinations of some 400 species-group names) and the break-up of Trogophloeus (now a junior synonym to Carpelimus) and placement of species of Trogophloeus into Carpelimus and Thinodromus (and some small genera), again resulting in changes of names for hundreds of taxa. The limitations of his work resulted from the facts that in the 1960s it was still difficult to obtain museum specimens via mail; dissections of type specimens, especially extraction of genitalia were often not permitted or were discouraged. Dr. HERMAN went to great lengths to visit as many collections as possible at the time. He studied at least the tarsal segmentation, usually by removing one leg from the types and studying that under high magnification to verify generic placement. The new generic system he created has stood the test of time. It is mostly his arrangement that is the basis of current classifications. A relatively few erroneous placements and omissions were corrected later either by him or other workers. His second big project dealt with the Bledius group, carried out over a span of 16 years, it resulted in four major revisions (HERMAN 1972, 1976, 1983a, 1986), which still provide the standard of excellence for anyone interested in the subfamily. PETER HAMMOND invested much time to the study of the genus Anotylus (HAMMOND 1976a, b, HAMMOND et al. 1979), but his works usually contain references to classification of the whole subfamily. He redefined Anotylus and treated many species of the Platystethus, Anotylus and Oxytelus lineages in comprehensive works (HAMMOND 1971, 1975). His works were unusual for being based on the study of a vast number of museum specimens, many of which were also collected and observed by himself throughout the world. The species-group concept did not gain much popularity until about twenty years ago, and HAMMOND was amongst the first to apply it to Oxytelinae. Further milestone works in use of species-groups to organize species in very large genera were LEE HERMAN'S aforementioned revisions of species groups in Bledius, culminating in the 1986 book, which subdivided the whole 400-plus taxon into species groups on a worldwide basis. ALFRED NEWTON discovered a strange beetle, which he later named Oxypius (NEWTON 1982) which he first thought to be a piestine. He immediately recognized that the taxon was closely related to Euphemias, another controversial taxon then placed in the subfamily Piestinae. Later he realized that they both in fact belong to Oxytelinae, but the characterization of the subfamily and the interpretation of some characters had to be changed in order to accomodate these taxa. These results sparked his interest in the phylogeny of the basal lineages of Oxytelinae. Based on his reanalysis of evidence regarding presence of a complete second ster-