Scarites Fabricius, 1775

Bousquet, Yves, 2012, Catalogue of Geadephaga (Coleoptera, Adephaga) of America, north of Mexico, ZooKeys 245, pp. 1-1722 : 275-276

Subgenus Scarites Fabricius, 1775

Scarites Fabricius, 1775: 249. Type species: Scarites subterraneus Fabricius, 1775 designated by Andrewes (1929: 225).

Scallophorites Motschulsky, 1857b: 95. Type species: Scarites striatus Dejean, 1825 by original designation. Synonymy established by Jeannel (1946: 240).

Scaritolius Fairmaire, 1905: 115. Type species: Scaritolius politus Fairmaire, 1905 (= Scarites fairmairei Bänninger, 1933) by monotypy. Synonymy established by Bänninger (1933: 104).

Diversity.

About 130 species in the Nearctic (seven species), Neotropical (about 25 species), Oriental (about 45 species), Palaearctic (about 25 species, most of them in Asia), and Afrotropical (about 45 species) Regions. The bulk of the species (about 77% of the world fauna) are found in the tropics of the Old World.

Taxonomic Note.

The taxonomy of the species of the quadriceps group is based on Stephen W. Nichols’ unpublished manuscript entitled "A provisional key to the North American species of the Scarites subterraneus group" as well as his thesis (Nichols 1988a).