New teratological examples in Neotropical Staphylinidae (Insecta: Coleoptera), with a compilation of previous teratological records

Abstract

TERATOLOGY IS THE STUDY OF MALFORMATIONS THAT AFFECT VARIOUS ORGANISMS AND MAY CAUSE TAXONOMIC CONFUSION. THE GOAL OF THIS WORK IS TO COMPILE THE PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED INFORMATION ABOUT MALFORMATIONS IN SPECIES OF STAPHYLINIDAE, TO DESCRIBE 10 TERATOLOGICAL CASES THAT HAVE NOT BEEN PREVIOUSLY RECORDED IN NEOTROPICAL SPECIES OF THIS FAMILY, AND TO POINT OUT THE HIGH FREQUENCY OF THESE MALFORMATIONS IN THE STUDIED SPECIMENS. THE PREVIOUSLY RECORDED CASES WERE OBTAINED FROM REVIEW OF 13 PAPERS, AND THE STUDIED SPECIMENS WERE OBTAINED ON LOAN FROM SEVERAL COLLECTIONS. IN TOTAL, 43 TERATOLOGICAL CASES WERE COMPILED FOR STAPHYLINIDAE, BELONGING TO 39 SPECIES FROM 8 SUBFAMILIES. TEN TERATOLOGICAL CASES ARE DESCRIBED FOR SPECIMENS FROM BELONUCHUS, AGRODES AND PLOCHIONOCERUS. ONE OF THEM OCCURS IN B. APICIVENTRIS, 2 IN A. ELEGANS, 3 IN P. HUMERALIS, 3 IN P. FULGENS AND 1 IN P. SPLENDENS. MOST OF THE ANOMALIES AFFECT THE ANTENNAE (7 CASES), BUT TERATOLOGIES THAT AFFECT MANDIBLES (1 CASE), MIDLEGS (1 CASE) AND PRONOTUM (1 CASE) ARE ALSO PRESENTED.