Harpalus viridanus Motschulsky, 1844

Kataev, Boris M. & Liang, Hongbin, 2007, Contribution to the knowledge of the genus Harpalus in China, with description of new taxa (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Harpalini), Zootaxa 1604, pp. 1-20 : 4

Harpalus viridanus Motschulsky, 1844

Remarks. H. viridanus belongs to the fuscipalpis group which is characterized by the antennae clearly infuscate from first or second antennomere, the pronotum impunctate basally, the abdominal sternites with additional long setae, the last abdominal sternite without distinct sexual dimorphism, the ventroapical tubercle of protibia in male not prominent and the internal sac of the aedeagus with a small median spiny patch and without separate large teeth. The fuscipalpis group is very difficult taxonomically and the number of species to be included has long been a subject of debate among specialists. The last revision of this group was published by Kataev (1989) who recognized within it four species: the Holarctic H. fuscipalpis Sturm , the West Palaearctic H. fuscicornis Ménétriés and H. inexspectatus Kataev , and the Central Asian H. viridanus Motschulsky. H. viridanus is distinguished from the other species by the basal edge of pronotum glabrous, the metafemur with one or several setigerous pores along anterior margin in its apical portion, the protibia usually with two ventroapical spines and the median lobe of the aedeagus more or less straight in dorsal aspect. The colour, body proportions and shape of the terminal lamella of the aedeagus of this species are highly variable both geographically and within populations. This variation was partly described by Mlynář (1974) and Kataev (1989) but no subspecies were recognized. Examination of the additional material from China revealed that at least two forms from the southern boundaries of the species’ geographical range are markedly separated morphologically and geographically and may be treated as subspecies. Further study of variation of H. viridanus is needed.