Toward the unknown region

Another warm August night, light trap beetle had me scratching my head. On first look I thought it was going to be a Cryptophagus. I had planned to dissect and card and put to one side to look at when I have more comparative material. Cryptophagus are what is technically known as a f**king nightmare. Possibly my least favourite genus that I have encountered so far.

But on looking down the microscope I was greeted with the above sight which, whilst similar, was definitely not a Cryptophagus. However, I was fairly clueless after that fact.

Some help on Facebook pointed me at Cryptophilus, an erotylid. The only species listed in the latest Duff is C. propinquus but in the last checklist there is only C. integer. NBN also only has the latter. What's going on? 

So it turns out that Cryptophilus propinquus is one of the two species that until recently had been known collectively under the name Cryptophilus integer.

But someone worked out that the beetles identified as Cryptophilus integer were in fact actually two different species! So there had been confusion.  I guess this might happen when beetles are a bit boring and not much to look at. The type specimen of Cryptophilus integer was examined to see which of the two species would be assigned the original name, but then it turned out that the type specimen of Cryptophilus integer was actually not a Cryptophilus at all, but a junior synonym of Micrambe abietis.

Yes, I'm confused too.

Anyway these shenanigans resulted in the resurrection of two other species names, to fill the gap for the two species previously known as C. integer.

• Cryptophilus propinquus 
• Cryptophilus angustus (this one after some further drama).

My one is propinquus and was first described in the wild in the UK from a Vane trap in Richmond Park in 2006. It has been expanding rapidly and has been found in piles of rotting vegetation as well as to light.