Estimates of global biodiversity and costs of biodiversity research revisited, with a review of Sabah Scaphisoma Leach and descriptions of 56 new species (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Scaphidiinae)

Abstract

The present paper provides a review of the species of the genus Scaphisoma Leach, 1815 from Sabah, Malaysia. World-wide, nearly 800 species and subspecies of Scaphisoma are currently recognized as valid (Löbl 2018a and subsequent papers), but only a few of them are known from Sabah. Obviously, the small Scaphisomatini, though quite common, have been often overlooked by workers of the 19th and the first half of the 20th centuries. Unlike the larger and often varicoloured members of Scaphidiini Latreille, 1806, only three Scaphisoma species have been described from Sabah prior to my studies, all from Banggi Island and incorrectly assigned (published as Pseudoscaphosoma ruficolle Pic, 1915, P. rufipenne Pic, 1916 and Amalocera suturalis Achard, 1920. Besides, two varieties, Pseudoscaphosoma ruficolle var. maculipenne Achard, 1920 and P. nianese var. distinctipenne Pic, 1920, also based on specimens from Banggi Island, have been placed already in synonymy of P. ruficolle by Löbl (1975). While Sabah members of most of the genera of Scaphisomati Casey,