Tetracha carolina carolina (Linnaeus, 1763)

Bousquet, Yves, 2012, Catalogue of Geadephaga (Coleoptera, Adephaga) of America, north of Mexico, ZooKeys 245, pp. 1-1722 : 208-209

Tetracha carolina carolina (Linnaeus, 1763)

Cicindela carolina Linnaeus, 1763: 395. Type locality: «Carolina» (original citation). Two possible syntypes in LSL (Lindroth 1957b: 336).

Megacephala carolinensis Latreille, 1805: 175. Unjustified emendation of Megacephala carolina (Linnaeus, 1763).

Megacephala mexicana Gray, 1831: 263. Type locality: «Mexico» (original citation). Syntype(s) location unknown. Synonymy established by Cresson (1861: 8).

Megacephala boisduvalii Gistel, 1837: 7. Type locality: «Mexico» (original citation). Syntype(s) lost. Synonymy established by Horn (1903b: 220). Etymology. The specific name honors the French naturalist and physician Jean Baptiste Antoine Déchauffour de Boisduval [1801-1879] who for some time was employed by count Dejean as curator of his collection. Boisduval is primarily known for his work on Lepidoptera . Among other things he published with John Eatton LeConte an iconography of the Lepidoptera and caterpillars of North America between 1829 and 1834.

Distribution.

The range of this subspecies, also known as the "Pan-American Big-headed Tiger Beetle" (Pearson et al. 2006: 57) or the "Carolina Metallic Tiger Beetle" (Erwin and Pearson 2008: 70), extends from Maryland to southeastern California, south to Nicaragua (Naviaux 2010: 70) and the Florida Keys [see Pearson et al. 1997: Fig. 3]; two specimens from San Diego County in California are also known (Moore 1937: 3). The records from the Bahamas, Cuba, Cayman Islands, and Jamaica refer to Tetracha carolina occidentalis . The records from “Colorado” (Wickham 1902: 228), “Connecticut,” “Indiana,” "New Jersey," and "New York" (see Bousquet and Larochelle 1993: 54) are probably in error or based on strays; that from Nebraska (Bruner 1901: 97) needs confirmation (see Spomer et al. 2008a: 11).

Records.

USA: AL, AR, AZ, CA, DC, FL, GA, IA, IL, KS, KY, LA, MD, MO, MS, NC, NM, NV, OK, SC, TN, TX, VA [NE] - Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua

Note.

Three more subspecies are recognized by Naviaux (2007: 40): Tetracha carolina chevrolatii Chaudoir from the Yucatán Peninsula and Belize, Tetracha carolina moraveci Naviaux from the state of Mexico, and Tetracha carolina occidentalis (Klug) from the West Indies.