A first list of

Histeridae

from Brazil was drawn up by Schmidt (1896) (Table 1), with a list rich in taxa, but still restricted to the Southeast region of the country, with species records only for the state of Rio de Janeiro (Petrópolis, city of Rio de Janeiro, “ Boa Sorta ” [currently a municipality of Cantagalo, state of Rio de Janeiro] and “ Santa Rita ” [current location uncertain, but probably within the state of Rio de Janeiro].

Costa Lima (1952), in his classic work on the Brazil insects, described the general aspects of the family’s morphology, presented their habits and some lifestyles. Finally, he addressed the classification, citing more than 3,000 species throughout the world and little more than 1,000 species for the Neotropical region.

The second compilation record on the fauna of Histeridae from Brazil was presented by the Brazilian Jacintho Guérin (1953). He mentioned a few species occurring in Brazil, in a lower richness than presented by Schmidt (1896), but pointing species distribution to the North, Center and South of the country (Table 1).

*Not accounting for the species cited for “South America” which may be present in Brazil.

For six decades, these lists of Histeridae species occurring in Brazil were not updated, and just much time later from Guérin, a regional list of species occurring in southern Brazil (states of Paraná, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul) was published, being the first most complete regionalized list of species for the country (Gonçalves and Leivas 2017). Recently, information on taxa occurring in southern Brazil was substantially improved by the work of Leonel and Leivas (2023), in which authors presented an update of the regional list of Histeridae species, a list of species that are inside Conservation Units in southern Brazil, and biotic (biome, ecoregion and associations/affinities) and abiotic information (altitude and month of occurrence) for each species.

Other regional compilations for Histeridae, although on a smaller scale, were limited to the work of Leivas et al. (2013) (about the species present in the vegetation formation of “ Campos Gerais ” from Paraná), Rafael et al. (2017) (on species present in Conservation Units under the Caatinga biome) and Leivas et al. (2024) (the first list of Histeridae from the state of Acre, Brazil)

Our data (Bicho et al. 2023) indicate that so far six subfamilies, 16 tribes, 132 genera and 607 species and one subspecies are known to Brazil (Table 1). These numbers represent an increase of 37% of genera and 43% of species in relation to Costa (2000).

Checklist of known current biodiversity of Histeridae from Brazil

Recent works by Zhou et al. (2020) and Lackner et al. (2023) suggested considerable changes in the internal classification of Histeridae, bringing a modern proposal for definitions of subfamilies and tribes, which we adopt in the present publication.

The Appendix 1 presents the complete list of Histeridae taxa recorded in Brazil until December 31, 2023 (Bicho et al. 2023). The most diverse genera in Brazil are the Exosternini Phelister (69 spp.) and Operclipygus (57 spp.) but several genera are known by just one species.

Regarding knowledge of the biodiversity of Histeridae in Brazilian states, for all Brazilian states, excepted for Alagoas and Sergipe, there is at least one record of the family. The southern region of Brazil has better knowledge of species, with Paraná having the largest number of species recorded among the States, while the northeast has the greatest deficiency: Acre (16 spp., including data from Leivas et al. 2024), Amapá (9 spp.), Amazonas (18 spp.), Bahia (7 spp.), Ceará (3 spp.), Distrito Federal (5 spp.), EspÍrito Santo (7 spp.), Goiás (5 spp.), Maranhão (4 spp.), Mato Grosso (29 spp.), Mato Grosso do Sul (5 spp.), Minas Gerais (15 spp.), Pará (35 spp.), ParaÍba (1 sp.), Paraná (75 spp.), Pernambuco (2 spp.), PiauÍ (2 spp.), Rio de Janeiro (17 spp.), Rio Grande do Norte (3 spp.), Rio Grande do Sul (10 spp.), Rondônia (7 spp.), Roraima (1 sp.), Santa Catarina (48 spp.), São Paulo (10 spp.) and Tocantins (3 spp.).

Authors of Brazilian taxa, Collections, and depositories of type specimens

Forty one authors contributed describing species that occur in Brazilian territory (Table 2). In the 19 th century, the most significant researcher was the French Abbé S.-A. De Marseul (118 described species) contributing enormously to the subfamilies Abraeinae (Acritini, Plegaderini and Trypanaeini), Dendrophilinae (Paromalini), Haeteriinae (Haeteriini), Histerinae (Exosternini, Histerini, Hololeptini and Omalodini) and Saprininae (Euspilotini and Saprinini).

During the transition from the 19 th century to the 20 th century, we highlight the British G. Lewis (83 described species) contributing to the description of many Abraeinae (Teretriini and Trypanaeini), Dendrophilinae (Bacaniini and Paromalini), Haeteriinae (Haeteriini and Nymphisterini), Histerinae (Exosternini, Hololeptini, Omalodini and Platysomatini), Saprininae (Euspilotini) and Tribalinae.

In the 20 th century, A. Reichensperger made an important contribution (71 described species) to the myrmecophiles of Haeteriinae (Haeteriini and Nymphisterini) and a few Histerinae (Exosternini).

In the 21 st century, Belarusian A.K. Tishechkin is in the spotlight (124 described species) from Haeteriinae (Haeteriini and Nymphisterini), Histerinae (Exosternini), this is the researcher who most described species of Histeridae occurring in Brazil; the North American M. S. Caterino (110 described species), mainly with Histerinae (Exosternini and Histerini); and the French N. Dégallier (33 described species) including Dendrophilinae, Haeteriinae (Haeteriini and Nymphisterini), Histerinae (Exosternini) and Tribalinae.

The contribution of Brazilian researchers to the description of the biodiversity of Histeridae started a little over 10 years ago, so it is still not very significant in the country, being represented by only three researchers: D.P. Moura (three species described) L.M. Almeida (two species described), and F.W.T. Leivas (two species described). It is worth noting that, before these researchers, no Brazilian taxonomists had ever dedicated themselves to studying the family.

As a reflection of the history of the contribution of foreign researchers (Marseul, Lewis, Reichensperger, Schmidt, Erichson and Bickhardt) much of the type material of Brazilian species of Histeridae is deposited in foreign collections (Horn et al. 1990), the main ones being: Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris (MNHN), Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin (ZMHB) and British Museum, London (BMNH).

In relation with general collections around the world, a good representation of specimens of Neotropical Histeridae, including species known for Brazilian territory, can be accessed in the Histeridae collection at The Field Museum of Chicago (FMNH), being an important collection for any study on the Neotropical fauna of Histeridae. This collection was extensively worked on by R.L. Wenzel (1916–2006) (Gomy 2014a, 2014b), and is the largest Histeridae dataset in the world, with more than 40 thousand specimens (GBIF 2023).

† Deceased researcher.

Regarding Brazilian collections, few biological collections have their Histeridae collections digitized (Fig. 2), which makes it difficult to track the main repositories that serve as a basis for the development of any area of Biological Sciences. However, important collections of Histeridae can be found in the following regions of Brazil: North: Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia, Manaus (INPA) and Museu Paraense EmÍlio Goeldi, Belém (MPEG); Northeast: Coleção Entomológica da Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco, Recife (CERPE); Center West: Coleção Entomológica de Mato Grosso Eurides Furtado da Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso, Cuiabá (CEMT); Southeast: Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo (MZUSP); South: Coleção Entomológica Pe. J.S. Moure, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Curitiba (DZUP), and the largest collection in Brazil Coleção Entomológica do Setor Palotina, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Palotina (CESP).

Taxonomic revisions and ability to identify species from Brazil

To date there is no identification key that covers the recognition of suprageneric taxa occurring in Brazil, and information for species identification is also scattered. In order to meet an immediate demand, we present in Appendix 2 a review of the main works that may be useful to identify Histeridae taxa occurring in Brazil. Clearly, when compared to Appendix 1, the urgent need for taxonomic revisions of the genera occurring in Brazil is noticeable, as only 45 genera (26% of the total) present some more robust taxonomic information to identify the species, although several of them need updating.

Biological associations known and collecting methods

The breadth of environments in which the Histeridae occur, as well as the wide geographical distribution of the family, demonstrate that they are very successful predatory carnivorous beetles.

Many groups are associated with nest or burrows of vertebrates, abandoned or live nests of several bird families, ant nests (~400 spp. of Abraeinae, Chlamydopsinae [not registered for Brazil], Dendrophilinae, Haeteriinae, Histerinae, Onthophilinae [not registered for Brazil], Saprininae, and Tribalinae), termites nest (decaying trees infested by termites, living colonies of arboreal and subterranean nests, abandoned nests, as well as detritus piles produced by termites), hymenopteran nests (stingless bees and Africanized honeybees) and egg sacs of theraphosid spiders (Dégallier et al. 2020, Iannuzzi et al. 2021).

However, we still know little about the affinities and ecological associations for the species in the family in Neotropical region. Leonel and Leivas (2023) presented the first compilation of ecological associations/affinities of species of Histeridae with animal carcass, association with dung, with live plants, decaying fruit, decaying tree, litter, ants and termites. Papers like this are important, as it is rich in information to feed the TCBF. A compilation of the Histeridae associated with the carcass can be accessed in Correa et al. (2020a, 2020b).

Regarding how to collect Histeridae in the face of a large occupation of environments, several active and passive collection methods can be applied, and the choice of the most appropriate method is related to prior knowledge of the natural history of the group. Certainly, for ecological work, pitfall and flight interception traps can be great choices, as they allow the capture of specific groups (in the case of pitfall, depending on the attraction used) or a random diversity of species that are in flight (in the case of FIT), in addition to both enabling standardized field efforts. More information about these capture methods can be accessed in the specialized works of Dégallier and Gomy (1983), Dégallier (2004), Leivas et al. (2013) and Iannuzzi et al. (2021), or general bibliography of Almeida et al. (1998, 2012, 2024).

About the conservation of the species

Sixty-two species (10.1% of the total) are recorded inside of CUS from Brazil:Área Especial de Interesse TurÍstico (AEIT) do Marumbi was the richest (25 spp.), followed by Parque Estadual de Guartelá (14 spp.), Parque Nacional de Sete Cidades (11 spp.), Parque Estadual Mata São Francisco (10 spp.), Area de Proteção Ambiental Serra de São José (9 spp.), Refúgio da Vida Silvestre Libélulas da Serra de São José (9 spp.), Adolpho Ducke Forest Reserve (5 spp.), Reserva Particular de Patrimônio Natural Fazenda (5 spp.), Almas Parque Nacional de Ubajara (4 spp.). Estação Ecológica da Ilha do Mel, Parque Ecológico Samuel Klabin, Parque Estadual do Marumbi, Parque Estadual Turvo, Parque Mata dos Godoy, Reserva Estadual de Vila Rica and Parque da Ferradura had only one species (Appendix 3).

Until now, the Atlantic Forest is the best-known biome (148 spp., Vieira et al. 2018, Leonel and Leivas 2023), followed by Cerrado (21 spp., Vieira et al. 2018, Leonel and Leivas 2023), Amazon (17 spp., Mise et al. 2010, Leivas et al. 2012, Leivas et al. 2024), Caatinga (16 species, Santos et al. 2014, Rafaela et al. 2017), Pampa (14 spp., Leonel and Leivas 2023) and no information for Pantanal (Fig. 3). Certainly, this is not the real diversity of Histeridae present in Brazilian biomes. The underestimated data, especially for the Pantanal, Cerrado, Caatinga and Amazon, reflects the lack of compilation of regional data.