SYSTEMATICS, DISTRIBUTION, AND HOST-SPECIFICITY OF AMBLYOPINUS SOLSKY1875 (COLEOPTERA STAPHYLINIDAE) IN MEXICO AND CENTRAL-AMERICA

The Mexican and Central American species of Amblyopinus Solsky 1875, a dults of which are usually found in the fur of rodents, are revised. A ll species are fully described, and keys and illustrations of diagnost ic features are provided to aid in their identification. A substantial quantity of new host and distributional data is provided. Five specie s, one of which consists of two subspecies, are known from Mexico and Central America. Amblyopinus emarginatus Seevers 1955 (sanborni group) occurs in the montane regions of northwestern Panama and Costa Rica w here it occurs on Oryzomys albigularis. In addition, four species and two subspecies of the jelskii group occur in Central America and Mexic o: A. isabellae Barrera 1966, Sierra Madre del Sur in Mexico (host[s] various species of Peromyscus and Neotoma); A. barrerai Zaragoza Cabal lero & Sanchez Hernandez 1993, Sierra Madre de Oaxaca in Mexico (host[ s], Peromyscus species, especially P. melanocarpus); A. schmidti schmi dti Seevers 1944, highlands of Chiapas and Guatemala (host, primarily Peromyscus guatemalensis); A. schmidti bolivari Barrera et al. 1960, T ransvolcanic Sierra of Mexico (host, primarily Microtus mexicanus); A. titoni Barrera 1966, highlands of northwestern Panama and Costa Rica (host[s], Peromyscus nudipes and Reithrodontomys creper). The hosts of A. emarginatus in both Central and South America are complex-penis cr icetines, primarily Oryzomys albigularis. However, the Mexican and Cen tral American members of the jelskii group exhibit two major host tran sfers: to simple-penis peromyscine rodents (A. isabellae, A. barrerai, A. s. schmidti, A. tipitoni); and, to microtine rodents of the genus Microtus (A. s, bolivari). All five taxa of the jelskii group have all opatric ranges in different mountain systems. Only A. tiptoni and A. e marginatus have sympatric ranges in the montane regions of northwester n Panama and Costa Rica, but these two species are in different specie s groups and live on different hosts.