9. Parena bicolor species group

This species group contains three species, distributed through nearly all of the Oriental Realm and part of the Australian Realm. The two metallic species are very close to each other and are allopatric in geographical distribution. The third species is widely distributed and highly varied in elytra color pattern. Despite the different appearances, similarity in characters of the endophallic copulatory piece suggest a close relationship of these three species.

Members of this species group differ from all other Oriental-Australian species in two aspects: (1) postgenae with a pair of suborbital setae; and (2) primary sclerite of endophallus linear, without a distinctly flared basal expansion (Figs 51, 52, 54). This group is most similar to the P. stigmatica group from Africa, but in the latter the basal expansion of the primary sclerite of endophallus is distinctly flared.