Oodes, Bonelli

Guéorguiev, Borislav & Liang, Hongbin, 2020, Revision of the Palaearctic and Oriental representatives of Lachnocrepis LeConte and Oodes Bonelli (Coleoptera: Carabidae), with special account on Chinese species, Zootaxa 4850 (1), pp. 1-89 : 8-9

Oodes generic group

Diagnosis. The species of this group share the following character states:

(1) Labrum with six setiferous punctures;

(2) Labrum not appreciably shortened, with flat or slightly convex surface;

(3) Pronotum with or without basal setiferous punctures. If present, the punctures are medially remote from the posterior angles; usually they are quite small (in many cases setae have fallen off and punctures themselves are hardly visible);

(4) Elytral interval 3 with two setiferous pores, adjacent to stria 2;

(5) Elytral intervals 6 and 7 do not join the basal margin;

(6) Elytral interval 8 in anterior half approximately as wide as intervals 1-7 (never significantly constricted, like species of Brachyodes Jeannel, 1949 );

(7) Elytral interval 9 completely disappeared, transformed in marginal furrow;

(8) Apical part of median lobe of aedeagus tubular (not flattened dorsoventrally, as in members of Miltodes Andrewes, 1922 , and Protopidius Basilewsky, 1949 ).

Monophyly and relationships. This group includes 48 species, 23 of them classified in the genera Pseudoodes , Sundaoodes , Oodes , and Nothoodes , as well as 25 Oodes species incertae sedis. The last category includes species still not taxonomically revised. The species from the above mentioned genera have a high degree of morphological similarity. Most of its diagnostic characters (1–2, 4, 6, and 8) are plesiomorphic, and the rest seem to be homoplastic characters shared with other unrelated Oodini . Representatives from the first three genera have the basal bulb of median lobe closed dorsally and well-developed, elongate spermatheca with spermathecal gland connected near the apical third of the seminal canal, which suggests that they are more closely related to each other than to Nothoodes . The relationships among the former three genera are difficult to assess. Despite sharing two derived features, Oodes and Sundaoodes are probably not adelphotaxa (see “Monophyly and relationships” under Sundaoodes ) and together with Pseudoodes could be separate lineages that arose from a common ancestor. Alternatively, Pseudoodes and Sundaoodes may be adelphotaxa (see “Monophyly and relationships” under Pseudoodes ) and the clade formed by these two genera might be the adelphotaxon to Oodes .

Notes. The species from the above four genera can be distinguished from those of the genus Simous Chaudoir, 1882 , by the following characters: (1) labrum relatively long and not convex, with anterior angles moderately rounded; (2) mentum tooth nearly as long as wide, with apex rounded (most species), rarely truncate (most Pseudoodes spp.) or emarginate ( Pseudoodes vicarius , P. rambouseki ); and (3) basal setiferous punctures of pronotum, if present, medially remote from posterior angles. The species of Simous have a labrum two or more times shorter than the clypeus whereas the two structures have similar lengths in the species dealt with here. Also, the species of Simous have a mentum tooth considerably shorter (considering distance from paramedial border to apex) and wider, with apex emarginate or truncate, as well as basal setiferous punctures of the pronotum situated near posterior angles. A few still undescribed species of this genus have lost their basal punctures of the pronotum, and are thus distinguishable from those of the generic group of Oodes only by the first two features listed above. Moreover, all Simous species studied have a submentum with one pair of setae. Among taxa considered, this state is present only in species of Oodes , which are distinct however from Simous by their rounded mentum tooth and proportionally longer labrum.

Also, the species treated in this paper are distinct in character states 4 and 7 from those belonging to another group of Oriental oodines that are currently classified in Oodes and Pseudosphaerodes Jeannel, 1949 . The taxa from the latter group have the elytra without setiferous punctures in interval 3, and the interval 9 is not or incompletely transformed into a marginal furrow. Furthermore, the taxa from this still unrevised taxonomic group have three other characteristics: (1) basal bulb of the median lobe open dorsally (a trait present in species of Nothoodes ); (2) male protarsomere 3 semicircular with the medial side rounded; and (3) interval 8 (and 9, if present) flat and situated laterally, in contrast with adjacent medial intervals which lie dorsally. Interval 8 in the species dealt with here is usually more convex than the medial intervals and occupies an intermediate position between the lateral and dorsal surfaces.