Identifying species of Atomaria subgenus Anchicera (Cryptophagidae) using pronotal hair-patterns

摘要

The key to Atomaria by Colin Johnson (1992) has been the most important identification reference to this genus for British coleopterists, covering all the British species as well as the other central European species. It is a relatively large and difficult genus, and the key often relies on small comparative differences in shape and antennal structure which may be hard to appreciate, especially in the absence of reliably-determined reference specimens. RGB discovered that the species in subgenus Anchicera exhibit a variety of hair-patterns on the pronotum which provide clear and definitive identification characters for some species. These are analogous to the pronotal hair-patterns used in the identification of Athetini (Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae) which were introduced by Victor Hansen (1954).