62 Accepted by J. Klimaszewski: 2 Apr. 2012; published: 15 May ZOOTAXA ISSN 1175-5326 (print edition) ISSN 1175-5334 (online edition) Copyright © 2012 · Magnolia Press Zootaxa 3313: 62–68 (2012) www.mapress.com/ zootaxa/ Article Taxonomic status of Allohoraeomorphus Franz (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Scydmaeninae) PAWEL JALOSZY SKI Museum of Natural History, Wroclaw University, Sienkiewicza 21, 50-335 Wroclaw, Poland. E-mail: scydmaenus@yahoo.com Abstract Following the examination of the type material, the generic name Allohoraeomorphus Franz, 1986 is placed as a junior objective synonym of Horaeomorphus Schaufuss, 1889. The only species included in Allohoraeomorphus, Horaeomor- phus calcarifer (Franz, 1986), comb. n., is redescribed and its diagnostic characters, including the aedeagus and modified male metatrochanters are illustrated. Key words: Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Scydmaeninae, Cyrtoscydmini, Allohoraeomorphus, Horaeomorphus, new syn- onym, Pacific, Fiji Introduction The genus Allohoraeomorphus was described by Franz (1986a) for a single species, A. calcarifer Franz, 1986a from Viti Levu, the largest island of the Republic of Fiji. Franz (1986a) stated that the new genus is most similar to Horaeomorphus Schaufuss, 1889 and based the generic diagnosis on two characters: the mesoventral process sank deeply between mesocoxae (in Horaeomorphus the process distinctly separating coxae), and the pronotum lacking posterolateral corners (in Horaeomorphus present). All other characters mentioned in the genus and species description, including structures associated with the aedeagus, seem very similar to those characteristic of Horaeo- morphus. The type species of the latter genus, H. eumicroides Schaufuss, 1889, occurs in Singapore and Borneo (Jaloszy ski 2006); later numerous species of Horaeomorphus were described from South and Southeast Asia, the Himalayas, Australia, New Caledonia, Tasmania, Madagascar, Mauritius and the Comoro Islands (summarized by Jaloszy ski, 2006). All 33 currently known Asian species of Horaeomorphus were revised or described in a series of recent papers (Jaloszy ski 2002, 2003, 2004a, 2006, 2009; Jaloszy ski & Nomura 2004, 2008; Jaloszy ski et al. 2007; Vít 2004); this work resulted also in transferring two species originally placed in this genus to Stenichnus Thomson, 1859 and Syndicus Motschulsky, 1851 (Jaloszy ski 2003, 2004b). A preliminary study of selected spe- cies from other than Asian localities revealed that at least part of them (and nearly certainly all from Madagascar and adjacent islands) is not conspecific with H. eumicroides; they rather resemble Sciacharis Broun, 1893 or Euconnus Thomson, 1859 (Jaloszy ski 2006). Therefore, the distribution of Horaeomorphus is not clear, but Asian or Australasian distribution seems most plausible at the current stage of knowledge. Horaeomorphus, Syndicus Motschulsky, 1851 and Loeblites Franz, 1986b seem to form a group of closely related genera within Cyrtoscydmini (Jaloszy ski 2005, 2006). Loeblites includes only three Oriental species, while Syndicus is about as large as Horaeomorphus and distributions of these two genera largely overlap. Syndicus co-occurs with Horaeomorphus in the Himalayas and subtropical areas of South and Southeast Asia, possibly also in eastern Australia, but the status of Australian Horaeomorphus remains unclear. Horaeomorphus is also known from the western part of Melanesia (Papua New Guinea), while Syndicus has never been reported from this area. Allohoraeomorphus may be important for phylogeographic study, being possibly the only Horaeomorphus-like scydmaenine genus known from the eastern part of Melanesia. Therefore, verification of its status and supplement- ing the inadequate original description with important morphological details are prerequisites for reconstructing the phylogeny of this group.