Moriomorphina (Mecyclothorax), Sharp

Liebherr, James K., 2018, Taxonomic review of Australian Mecyclothorax Sharp (Coleoptera, Carabidae, Moriomorphini) with special emphasis on the M. lophoides (Chaudoir) species complex, Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 65 (2), pp. 177-224 : 177

Subgenus Mecyclothorax Sharp

Diagnosis.

This subgenus comprises over 350 species ( Liebherr 2018), and so morphological variation among the species is the most extreme observed among the various Mecyclothorax subgenera. However, throughout taxa of this subgenus, the labrum is emarginate apically, either distinctly and angularly as in M. goweri Moore of Lord Howe Island ( Liebherr 2018, fig. 1A), or less so as in M. aeneipennis Liebherr of Haleakalā, Maui, Hawaiʻi ( Liebherr 2015, fig. 7). The ligular margin is generally truncate with the ligular setae well separated ( Liebherr 2018, fig. 1G), though as exceptions, the ligula is apically rounded in the Papuan taxa M. brispex and M. andersoni ( Liebherr 2017, 2018, fig. 7). The prosternum exhibits a smooth to distinctly punctate anteapical groove, though never any other punctures, such as in the median depression observed among species of subgenus Eucyclothorax . The parascutellar striole is present, and may be smooth or punctate, with up to 8 punctures along its length (Fig. 6). Among the mainland Australian species, the pronotal median base is depressed relative to the disc, and punctate; a distinction noted by Blackburn (1889).

The male aedeagus has an internal sac with an apical flagellar plate surrounding the gonopore (Fig. 15E). The female reproductive tract most often has the spermathecal duct entering the bursa copulatrix mediodorsally (Fig. 17 C–D), however the sister-species pair M. lateralis + M. minutus (Fig. 1A) revert to the plesiomorphic configuration wherein the spermathecal duct basally joins the juncture of the common oviduct and the bursa copulatrix (Fig. 17 A–B).

Member species.

This subgenus is represented by four species in mainland Australia. Numbers of taxa in the substantial radiations from Hawaii, the Society Islands, New Guinea, New Zealand, the Sundas, and Lord Howe, Norfolk, and St. Paul and Amsterdam Islands are summarized in Liebherr (2018: 15).