Microlestes Schmidt-Gobel, 1846

Rasool, Iftekhar, Abdel-Dayem, Mahmoud S., Felix, Ron F. F. L. & Aldhafer, Hathal M., 2018, The Dromiusina Bonelli, 1810 of southwestern Saudi Arabia with description of a new species (Coleoptera, Carabidae, Lebiini), ZooKeys 771, pp. 73-103 : 73

Microlestes Schmidt-Gobel, 1846

Type species.

Microlestes inconspicuus Schmidt-Göbel, 1846

The genus Microlestes is the largest genus of Dromiusina encompass about 130 species all over the world ( Lorenz 2005, Anichtchenko 2017), distributed in Palaearctic (Middle East and Asia), Nearctic, Afrotropical, Oriental and Neotropical regions ( Mateu 1971, Bousquet 2012). Kabak (2003, 2017) in his catalogue, mentioned 63 Microlestes species from Palaearctic region. The members of Microlestes can be distinguished from other related genera in Dromiusina by the combination of the characters: small sized beetle ranges from 2.30-3.40 mm; labrum truncate at anterior margins; mentum without median tooth; pubescence of antennae starts from antennomeres III; lateral margins of pronotum sinuated posteriorly, base of pronotum weakly incised and curved towards hind angles and rounded in the middle; basal tarsomere of hind legs distinctly longer than last, claws sparsely dentate; elytra parallel sided and transversally truncated at apex ( Lindroth 1974, Bousquet 2010). So far eight species have been known from Saudi Arabia ( Mateu 1979, 1986, Kabak 2003, 2017). Only two species Microlestes infuscatus fragilis Mateu, 1956 and Microlestes glabrellus ( Reitter 1901) are occuring in the southwestern part of the country ( Mateu 1986). In the present study, Microlestes discoidalis ( Fairmaire 1892) is also newly recorded from the southwest of Saudi Arabia.