The collection of type specimens of the families Dytiscidae, Histeridae, Hydraenidae and Staphylinidae (Coleoptera) hosted in the Natural History Museum of Barcelona, Spain

Abstract

The collection of type specimens of the families Dytiscidae, Histeridae, Hydraenidae and Staphylinidae (Coleoptera) hosted in the Natural History Museum of Barcelona, Spain.-The type collection of the families Dytiscidae, Histeridae, Hydraenidae and Staphylinidae (Coleoptera) deposited in the Natural History Museum of Barcelona, Spain, has been organised, revised and documented. It contains 130 type specimens belonging to 66 different taxa. Of note is the presence of a considerable number of hypogean species of the Staphylinidae family thanks to the descriptions by Enri Coiffait and Francesc Español. In this paper we provide all the available information related to these type specimens, so for any single taxon, species or subspecies, the following information is given: the original and current taxonomic status, original citation of type materials, exact transcription of original labels, and preservation condition of specimens. Moreover, the differences between original descriptions and labels are discussed. When a taxonomic change has occurred, the references that examine those changes are included following the description of the taxa.

The collection of type specimens belonging to the subfamily Pimeliinae (Coleoptera, Tenebrionidae) in the Natural Sciences Museum of Barcelona, Spain

“…A decade ago we began to study the type specimens as part of an on-going effort to publish the types of all of the MCNB arthropod collection. The first collections to be revised were: Ptinidae (Coleoptera): 8,854 specimens and 498 taxa (Viñolas & Masó, 2013); Carabidae (Coleoptera): 431 specimens and 156 taxa ; Dytiscidae, Histeridae, Hydraenidae and Staphylinidae (Coleoptera): 130 specimens and 66 taxa ; and the superfamilies Scarabaeoidea, Buprestoidea, Byrrhoidea, Elateroidea, Cleroidea, Cucujoidea, Tenebrionoidea (except Tenebrionidae), Chrysomeloidea and Curculionoidea (Coleoptera): 533 specimens and 170 taxa (Viñolas et al, 2016a).…”