Amara (Zezea), Csiki, 1929

Bousquet, Yves, 2012, Catalogue of Geadephaga (Coleoptera, Adephaga) of America, north of Mexico, ZooKeys 245, pp. 1-1722 : 599-600

Subgenus Zezea Csiki, 1929

Triaena LeConte, 1847: 365 [junior homonym of Triaena Hübner, 1818]. Type species: Feronia angustata Say, 1823 designated by Chevrolat (1849: 643). Etymology (original). From the Greek triaina (trident), alluding to the trifid protibial spur of the adults (" tibiisque anticis calcare trifido terminatis ") [feminine].

Zezea Csiki, 1929: 402. Replacement name for Triaena LeConte, 1847. Etymology. Unknown [feminine].

Pseudotriaena Minsk and Hatch, 1939: 216. Type species: Amara glabrata Minsk and Hatch, 1939 (= Amara longula LeConte, 1855) by original designation. Synonymy established by Lindroth (1968: 735). Etymology. From the Greek pseudos (fallacy, lie) and the generic name Triaena [q.v.] [feminine].

Diversity.

Twenty-five species (Hieke 2007) in North America (nine species, all endemic), Asia (six species, only one endemic), Europe (13 species, six endemic), and northern Africa (four species, two endemic).

Identification.

Lindroth (1968: 735-741, as pallipes group) covered all the North American species except Amara belfragei . Three new species have been described subsequently (Hieke 1990, 2000) and one of Lindroth’s species ( Amara angustata ) was found to consist of two species (Hieke 2000). Hieke (2000) revised the species of the angustata group.