Quediina

Quediina View in CoL – Microsaurus lineage

This diverse lineage of Quediina was also recovered by Brunke et al. (2016) based on molecular data only (as clade A). It is composed of Quedius -like beetles with generalized morphology (as subgenus Microsaurus ) and apomorphy-rich, visually striking beetles currently placed in the genera Velleiopsis Fairmaire and Korgella Özdikman and subgenera Quedius (Velleius Leach) and Quedius (Megaquedius Casey).

All taxa in this lineage share the following unique combination of character states: head with genal puncture; elytra with at least asetose punctures on disc in addition to macrosetal rows and with basal puncture doubled. The genal puncture, otherwise unique in Quediina to the Microsaurus lineage , also occurs in Queskallion and some generalized Quedionuchus (e.g. Quedionuchus ollin Smetana ). Based on the present results and those of Brunke et al. (2016), Quedius (Microsaurus) is paraphyletic with respect to other taxa of this lineage. This is expected, because Microsaurus does not possess any unique character states, but instead it lacks specialized states, such as the pronotal marginal setae removed from the margin [ Quedius (Velleius) ] or the evenly punctate head ( Korgella ). The ‘giant’ species of Nearctic Quedius (Megaquedius) and Palaearctic Velleiopsis are rather similar to each other and might be best placed in a single genus. Neither has been included in a molecular phylogeny. A greater taxon sampling is needed in order to revise the definition of Quedius (Microsaurus) , but it is likely that most supraspecific taxa of the Microsaurus lineage should be treated as separate genera.