Agonoderus (Anthracus), Motschulsky, 1850

Bousquet, Yves, 2012, Catalogue of Geadephaga (Coleoptera, Adephaga) of America, north of Mexico, ZooKeys 245, pp. 1-1722 : 682

Subgenus Anthracus Motschulsky, 1850

Anthracus Motschulsky, 1850a: 21. Type species: Carabus consputus Duftschmid, 1812 by original designation. Etymology. From the Greek anthrax (coal), probably alluding to the color of adults of the sole species Motschulsky had before him [masculine].

Balius Schiødte, 1861: 184 [junior homonym of Balius Guérin-Méneville, 1857]. Type species: Carabus consputus Duftschmid, 1812 by monotypy.

Diversity.

Thirty-two species in the Nearctic (two western species), Australian (five species), Oriental (five species), Palaearctic (15 species), and Afrotropical (eight species) Regions.

Identification.

The two North American species have never been compared and the specific independence of the two not tested.

Taxonomic Note.

This taxon is considered a distinct genus by several authors, including Jaeger and Kataev (2003: 399). However, the main character state separating members of Anthracus from those of Acupalpus is the shape of the pronotum which is cordiform with the sides sinuate in basal half and the posterior angles well distinct, right (see Jeannel 1948a: 714; Basilewsky 1951: 232; Habu 1973a: 301-302). However this character is not constant. Antoine (1959: 453) reported that adults of Acupalpus (Acupalpus) cantabricus cantabricus Piochard de la Brûlerie in Morocco have the sides of the pronotum arcuate and the posterior angles rounded while those of Acupalpus cantabricus zaerensis Antoine (these two taxa are now considered separate species) have the sides sinuate and the posterior angles right and that some specimens greatly resemble adults of Anthracus . Basilewsky (1951: 237) separated Acupalpus (Acupalpus) angulatus Jeannel from most other species in his key to Afrotropical Acupalpus by the clearly sinuate sides of pronotum with the posterior angles markedly acute. Other character states usually reported, such as the mandibles and antennae relatively longer, the prosternum with small setae, and the median line of the pronotum deeper, more or less sulciform in Anthracus are also variable and not at all diagnostic of Anthracus . Until the relationships between members of the acupalpine complex are better known, I prefer to follow Ball (1960b: 147), Lindroth (1968: 925), Noonan (1976: 24), and Ball and Bousquet (2000: 94) and treat Anthracus as a subgenus of Acupalpus .