Mecyclothorax (Phacothorax) punctipennis subsp. subgenus, Phacothorax Jeannel, 1944

Liebherr, James K., 2018, Cladistic classification of Mecyclothorax Sharp (Coleoptera, Carabidae, Moriomorphini) and taxonomic revision of the New Caledonian subgenus Phacothorax Jeannel, Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 65 (1), pp. 1-63 : 13-14

publication ID	https://dx.doi.org/10.3897/dez.65.21000
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:73DEE0F3-2BB0-4A21-B445-5E168FE50F54
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/B4434817-3139-7858-CCF0-D198892B7284
treatment provided by	Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift by Pensoft
scientific name	Mecyclothorax (Phacothorax) punctipennis subsp. subgenus
status

Treatment

subgenus Phacothorax Jeannel, 1944

Diagnosis.

The species comprising this subgenus exhibit a remarkable diversity of body forms (Figs 9 View Figure 9 , 16 View Figure 16 , 20 View Figure 20 ), but all species share a reduced or absent parascutellar striole ( Jeannel 1944). The elytra either lack evident discal striae (Figs 9D-E View Figure 9 , 16A, C View Figure 16 ), or the striae are shallow and smooth to only indistinctly punctate (Figs 9A-C View Figure 9 , 16B-D, E View Figure 16 , 20 View Figure 20 ). The scutellum is narrow, less than twice as broad as long. As in the ground-plan for Mecyclothorax , the lateral elytral setae are arrayed in an anterior series of seven setae plus a posterior series of 6 setae. The vertex of the head is convex behind the eyes, and the ocular lobe meets the gena at a very obtuse angle without any groove marking the juncture. The prosternum, synapomorphously, either lacks an anteapical groove, or the groove is very broad, shallow and smooth (Fig. 2C View Figure 2 ). The abdomen bears a single seta each side of the apical ventrite in all males, and two setae each side in females complemented by a trapezoidal medial patch of 4-5 setae (for specimens of those genders observed among the various species). As Jeannel (1944, fig. 1) reported, the parameres are much like those of subgenus Mecyclothorax Mecyclothorax (Figs 5D-E View Figure 5 , 11 View Figure 11 , 22 View Figure 22 ). The male aedeagal median lobe internal sac may bear a well-developed flagellum, flagellar shield, and dorsal plate (e.g. Fig. 10D View Figure 10 ), or the flagellar apparatus may be secondarily reduced, as in M. fleutiauxi and M. jeanneli , where it is hypothesized that only the flagellar sheath remains (Fig. 10M, Q View Figure 10 ). As in males of the subgenera Eucyclothorax and Qecyclothorax , the male aedeagal median lobe ostial opening is simple, without an ostial ventroapical operculum. The female reproductive tract exhibits extensive disparity in configuration, plesiomorphically exhibiting a helminthoid sclerite and spermathecal duct entering at the bursal-common oviduct juncture (Figs 12A-C, G View Figure 12 , 23B View Figure 23 ), or in derived configurations at the apex of a single-lobed bursa copulatrix (Fig. 23A, D View Figure 23 ), or at the apex of a dorsal lobe in a bilobed bursal configuration (Fig. 12D-E View Figure 12 ). Finally, body coloration is uniformly somber, with head capsule piceous, pronotal disc piceous without contrasting margins, and slightly paler, rufopiceous elytra and concolorous sutural intervals. The legs are paler-brunneous, rufobrunneous, or flavobrunneous-generally without contrasting coloration on the femora (exceptions noted under appropriate species treatments).