Family Agyrtidae Thomson, 1859. Coleoptera: Staphylinoidea

Please tell me what sources did you use to identify the beetle?
Have you noticed a characteristic (for this genus) prong (or more often two prongs) on the top of the mandibles?
Have you seen this article?
http://fle.czu.cz/~ruzickajan/pdf/Ruzicka_...oloma_China.pdf
In the description of Apteroloma in American Beetles v. 1, page 247, for example, it is said that beetles of this genus resemble ground beetles in appearance and in the pictures (please see, for example, in the specified article) their elytra are striated (like ground beetles) and not pitted. The definition table for this family also states that the elytra of beetles in this family are simply striated, with 9 or 10 striations on each nadcr. (although the striations may be dotted). There are also tables for 6 (out of a total of 8 known) genera of this family.
Then I found a description of this genus (9 thinly dotted grooves) in Beetles of the Far East, volume 1, pp. 331-334, and there is also a drawing.
Maybe your beetle is still something equally interesting?
Although, I later thought, maybe you're right, and this is such an evasive look, I'm not an expert, and I've never held such beetles in my hands.

This post was edited by amara - 15.01.2008 11: 48

I haven't seen this article, thank you!
Determined by the above-mentioned monograph of Nikolaev and Kozminykh (2002).
There is a prong at the top of the mandibles, in the amount of one piece.
A characteristic and sharp difference between this species is the very large dots on the elytra and the elongated shape of the body.
In general, I am 99% sure that this is exactly the same view

I can only congratulate you on such a rare sight. I also looked at the photos and drawings of other species of this genus (for example: http://www.myrmecos.net/insects/Apteroloma2.html[/url]
and other genera of this family (when determining the furrow frequency of elytra), I began to think that you have something else.
But as I see it now, you have already taken this into account. So once again with a rare find.
Interestingly, In the article I gave (2004) links to the specified (and placed on the ZIN page, sorry that I didn't find it right away) Your monograph (2002) is not available (probably, as always, Russian is poorly read).

This post was edited by amara - 15.01.2008 13: 06

Interestingly, In the article I gave (2004) links to the specified (and placed on the ZIN page, sorry that I didn't find it right away) Your monograph (2002) is not available (probably, as always, Russian is poorly read).

Thank you for your congratulations!:)

Monograph here is this one:
G. V. Nikolaev, V. O. Kozminykh.
Dead-eating beetles (Coleoptera: Agyrtidae, Silphidae) Kazakhstan, Russia and a number of neighboring countries. Determinant.
Almaty: "Kazak universitet", 2002, 159 p.
http://www.zin.ru/Animalia/Coleoptera/rus/nikkoz02.htm

This post was edited by Bad Den-15.01.2008 13: 01

By the way, I just noticed that in the above article there is a species of Apteroloma bearing your name (Apteroloma potanini (Semenov, 1893).
Maybe not by chance ))

Not by accident
In honor of G. N. Potanin http://www.hrono.ru/biograf/bio_p/potanin_gn.html
We are not related