Literature-based checklist

In preparation for working with the Chicago Wilderness area staphylinid and silphid fauna, in 1995 I began to gather information already available on what species had been collected where, with the aim of assembling a list of potential species for the area. This involved searching for local records in numerous North American revisions of particular groups, a few unpublished regional studies, and the one synthetic work for North America -- on distribution of Silphidae. In an effort to be inclusive, I used a slightly broader scope (all counties labeled in the map below) than the usual Chicago Wilderness area; in fact, relatively few records turned up from the additional counties (Illinois: Kendall, Grundy; Michigan: Berrien, Cass, Van Buren).



The oldest of the works consulted was published in 1893, and naturally there have been many taxonomic changes made since that and many other references were published. Changes include placement of species in different genera, correction of wrongly-used names, discovery of synonymy between species (i.e., two names existing for the same actual species), and sometimes recognition that prior records were based on misidentifications or on mislabeled specimens. I have worked to update the names used in the lists provided here and to eliminate records that seem likely to be based on misidentification or mislabeling. Since it was not possible to examine the specimens on which the records were based, however, some errors no doubt remain. My database from which the area checklist is derived indicates if a species was recorded under a different name from that used in the list, but I did not attempt to incorporate that information (nor specific page number citations) into the list.

Species in the checklist are arranged by family, subfamily, (and sometimes tribe), then alphabetically by genus and species. Some records of unidentified species of a genus are included, as {undet.}. For each species, a summary line lists the states and/or counties of the Chicago Wilderness area from which it has been recorded. Below that summary line (in smaller type) are the individual records taken from references listed by number on the right. A list of the source references is provided in a separate file.

Species recorded only from parts of Chicago Wilderness states that are outside the Chicago Wilderness area are generally not included unless it seems likely that they might also occur here, but species reported from these states without any more specific indication generally are included.