Pseudomesolestes Mateu, 1956

Rasool, Iftekhar, Abdel-Dayem, Mahmoud S., Felix, Ron F. F. L. & Aldhafer, Hathal M., 2018, The Dromiusina Bonelli, 1810 of southwestern Saudi Arabia with description of a new species (Coleoptera, Carabidae, Lebiini), ZooKeys 771, pp. 73-103 : 73

Pseudomesolestes Mateu, 1956

Type species.

Mesolestes brittoni Mateu, 1956

The genus Pseudomesolestes is a small genus that contains only seven species, distributed in Palaearctic, Oriental, and Afrotropical regions ( Anichtchenko 2017). Three species have been recorded from Palaearctic region, two of which are documented from Arabian Peninsula ( Kabak 2003, 2017). This genus can be distinguished from other genera in subtribe Dromiusina by the following combination of characters: antennae stout, antennomeres II as long as III; pubescence starts from antennomeres II; mentum without median tooth; labrum rounded at anterior margins; maxillary palpi fusiform; pronotum constricted and sinuate posteriorly, base of pronotum straight in the middle, making 45° angle to hind angles; elytra broadened posteriorly, apex of elytra transversally truncates; basal boarder of elytra is complete up to scutellum ( Mateu 1956, 1984). In Arabian Peninsula, this genus is represented by two species P. brittoni Mateu, 1956 described from Yemen and also recorded from Saudi Arabia, and P. quadriguttatus Matue, 1979 is endemic to Saudi Arabia only.