Ophonus Dejean, 1821

Bousquet, Yves, 2012, Catalogue of Geadephaga (Coleoptera, Adephaga) of America, north of Mexico, ZooKeys 245, pp. 1-1722 : 686

Genus Ophonus Dejean, 1821

Ophonus Dejean, 1821: 13. Type species: Carabus sabulicola Panzer, 1796 designated by Guérin-Méneville (1827: 244) (see ICZN 1990). Etymology. Uncertain, possibly from the Greek prefix ob- (to, toward, against, opposite) modified by the elision of the " b " and phonos (to slaughter, murder) [masculine]. According to Desmarest (1851: 125), the name derives from the mythological name Ophioneus . The name was proposed by Franz Anton Ziegler and made available by Dejean.

Diversity.

About 70 Palaearctic species arrayed in six subgenera: Brachyophonus Sciaky (two species), Hesperophonus Antoine (16 species), Incisophonus Sciaky (one species), Macrophonus Tschitschérine (three species), Metophonus (about 40 species), and Ophonus s.str. (ten species). A single species is found in the Far East and two species are adventive in the Nearctic Region.

Identification.

Lindroth (1968: 756-758, as rufibarbis group) reviewed both species found in North America and provided a mean for their identification through his key to Harpalus . Both species are also included in Noonan’s (1991: 20-45) key to the North American species of Harpalus excluding the subgenera Pseudoophonus and Glanodes .