Tinotus Sharp, 1883

Tinotus Sharp, 1883: 170 (type species: Tinotus cavicollis Sharp, 1883, designated by Fenyes, 1918; in group Myrmedoniina (tribe Myrmedoniini Thomson, 1867)).

Exaleochara Keys, 1907: 102 (type species: Aleochara morion Gravenhorst, 1802, by monotypy; in subtribe Aleocharina).

Acrimea Casey, 1911a: 14 (type species: Acrimea resecta Casey, 1911a, designated by Fenyes, 1918; in tribe Aleocharini), syn. nov.

Tinotus: Fenyes, 1918: 19 (as valid genus; in tribe Hoplandriini Casey, 1910a).

Acrimea: Fenyes, 1918: 20 (as valid genus; misspelled as Acrimaea; in group Microglottae Fenyes, 1918 of tribe Oxypodini Thomson, 1859).

Tinotus: Fenyes, 1920: 311 (as valid genus; in tribe Hoplandriini).

Acrimea: Fenyes, 1920: 382 (as valid genus; misspelled as Acrimaea; in tribe Oxypodini).

Tinotus: Bernhauer & Scheerpeltz, 1926: 713 (as valid genus; in subtribe Hoplandriina).

Acrimea: Bernhauer & Scheerpeltz, 1926: 771 (as valid genus; misspelled as Acrimaea; in subtribe Oxypodina).

Acrimea: Seevers, 1978: 74 (as valid genus; in Acrimea group of subtribe Oxypodina).

Tinotus: Seevers, 1978: 142 (as valid genus; in tribe Hoplandriini).

Tinotus: Ashe in Newton et al., 2000: 360 (as valid genus; in tribe Hoplandriini).

Acrimea: Ashe in Newton et al., 2000: 361 (as valid genus; in tribe Oxypodini).

Tinotus: Klimaszewski & Pelletier, 2002: 284 (in tribe Aleocharini).

Tinotus: Hanley, 2002: 456 (in tribe Aleocharini).

(Other references are omitted)

Diagnosis. See Klimaszewski & Pelletier (2002).

Type species. Tinotus cavicollis Sharp, 1883, by subsequent designation (Fenyes, 1918).

Discussion. The genus Tinotus Sharp, 1883 currently includes about 30 valid species (Klimaszewski & Pelletier 2002; Hanley 2002). Recently Hanley (2002) published a world catalogue of the genus. Klimaszewski and Pelletier (2002) revised the types of Nearctic species of Tinotus, synonymized some species names and provided a key for identification of Tinotus of America north of Mexico.

Casey (1911a) described the genus Acrimea, including three species described in the same paper. He placed Acrimea in the tribe Aleocharini and considered it related to Thiasophila Kraatz, 1856 and Ischnoglossa Kraatz, 1856 . Subsequently Acrimea was considered to be a member of the tribe Oxypodini (Fenyes 1918, 1920; Bernhauer & Scheerpeltz 1926; Seevers 1978; Newton et al. 2000).

My revision of the types of the three species of Acrimea revealed that in all three the tarsal formula is in fact 4­5­5 and all three belong to the genus Tinotus . The type species of Acrimea, Acri. resecta, is a synonym of Ti. acerbus (see below). Therefore, Acrimea is a junior synonym of Tinotus .

Because Acrimea was erroneously considered to have the tarsal formula 5­5­5, the genus was incorrectly listed in key B to the Nearctic genera of aleocharines (Newton et al. 2000: 303). Couplet 19 should be deleted from key B, and couplet 18 should be modified as follows:

18(16). Mesosternum carinate medially at base .............................................................. 20

­ Mesosternum not at all carinate medially ............................................................ 21