Rhytisternus Chaudoir, 1865
Feronia (Rhytisterna) liopleura Chaudoir, 1865
On a Collection of Carabidae from Timor Leste, with Descriptions of Nine New Species (Insecta: Coleoptera, Carabidae)
Baehr, Martin
Reid, Chris A. M.
Records of the Australian Museum
2017
2017-11-22
69
6
421
450
8KYRG
Chaudoir, 1865
Chaudoir
1865
[973,1333,911,938]
Insecta
Carabidae
Rhytisternus
Animalia
Coleoptera
6
427
Arthropoda
genus
Rhytisternus Chaudoir, 1865: Essai sur les Féronides de l’Australie et de la Nouvelle-Zélande: 106. Typespecies: Feronia (Rhytisterna) liopleura Chaudoir, 1865, by subsequent designation (Britton, 1940).
Diagnosis. Medium-sized to rather large species (in Pterostichini), characterized by bifid mental tooth, transversely striolate proepipleura, absence of the scutellary stria but presence of the scutellary pore on the elytra, usually incomplete striation of the elytra, absence of discal punctures and setae on the 3rd interval, and not transversely sulcate abdominal sterna. The latter character distinguishes the genus from the New Guinean genus Rhytiferonia Darlington, 1962, that likewise possesses transversely striolate proepipleura. The genus Rhytisternuspresently includes 24 described species that are distributed through the whole of Australia, but have not been recorded elsewhere (Moore et al., 1985, Lorenz, 2005). The genus has not been recently revised, therefore the actual number of species may be considerably larger. Several species of Rhytisternusoccur in the Northern Territoryof Australiaopposite the island of Timor. The genus is characterized by presence of several transverse strioles on the proepisternum, a character that is similarly present only in the New Guinean genus Rhytiferonia Darlington, 1962which, however, probably is not very closely related to RhytisternusChaudoir ( Darlington, 1962)(see discussion below). In Australia, most species of Rhytisternushave been sampled near water, at river banks and at or near the shores of lakes and lagoons, preferably if these are grown with some vegetation. The single species described in the present paper was collected in dwarf Eucalyptuswoodland with grass and moss at high altitudes.