Book Description

"Taxa comprising the Anchomenus clade within the carabid tribe Platynini, subtribe Platyni, possess the synapomorphy of a female spermatheca with a basal reservoir and a long apical filament. As presently constituted, this clade comprises 29 species arrayed in four genera; the monotypic Tetraleucus Casey in eastern North America, the Holarctic Anchomenus Bonelli with 10 species, the Holarctic Sericoda Kirby with 7 species, and the Mexican Elliptoleus Bates with 11 species. Seven species are newly described; Anchomenus capensis, n. sp. from Baja California Sur, Sericoda montana, n. sp. from Cuba, Elliptoleus corvus, n. sp. from México state, Elliptoleus zapotecorum, n. sp. from Oaxaca, Elliptoleus whiteheadi, n. sp. from Guerrero, Elliptoleus balli, n. sp. from Jalisco and Michoacan, and Elliptoleus tequilae, n. sp. from Jalisco. New combinations proposed include: Tetraleucus picticornis Newman (removed from Agonum Bonelli); Anchomenus virescens Motschulsky (removed from Chlaeniomimus Semenow, 1889, as that generic name is a new synonym of Anchomenus Bonelli, 1810); Anchomenus yukihikoi (removed from Agonum (Nipponanchus) Habu, 1978, as that subgeneric name is a new synonym of Anchomenus); Sericoda ceylonica (removed from Agonum Bonelli), and Sericoda lissoptera (removed from Anchomenus Bonelli). Species-level names placed into synonymy within Anchomenus, followed by their respective senior synonyms, include: Dohrni diana Sahlberg = dohrnii Fairmaire, discophorus Chaudoir = dorsalis Pontoppidan, cyaneus asturicus Heinz = cyaneus Dejean, gracilicollis Jakowleff = virescens Motschulsky. Batenus? borealis Motschulsky is removed from synonymy under Sericoda bogemannii, and is recognized as a junior synonym of Agonum consimile Gyllenhal. Lectotypes are designated for Anchomenus dohrnii diana Sahlberg, Anchomenus virescens Motschulsky, A. leucopus Bates, A. funebris LeConte, Sericoda lissoptera Chaudoir, S. ceylonica Motschulsky, Elliptoleus acutesculptus Bates, E. olisthopoides Bates, E. curtulus Bates, E. vixstriatus Bates, E. luteipes Csiki, and E. crepericornis Bates. A cladistic hypothesis of the phylogenetic relationships among the species is formulated based on 65 potential synapomorphies of adults, represented by 54 characters. The genera Sericoda and Elliptoleus are hypothesized as sister genera, with Anchomenus their sister group. Tetraleucus is the outgroup for the rest of the clade. The amount of character evolution is heterogeneous across the clade, with significantly less anagenetic change per internode of the cladogram within Elliptoleus compared to its sister group Sericoda. Elliptoleus species possess limited powers of dispersal and exhibit very restricted geographic ranges, whereas Sericoda species readily fly and possess some of the largest geographic ranges observed within Carabidae. Thus, relatively less anagenetic change is associated with speciation in the less vagile more endemic Elliptoleus, and extensive anagenesis occurs during the history of the vagile, widespread Sericoda species. First-instar larvae of 6 of the 29 species are described, and a cladistic hypothesis of relationships based on six larval characters is proposed. This hypothesis supports the monophyly of the sister genera Sericoda and Elliptoleus, but is otherwise discordant with the cladistic hypothesis based on adult characters. Autapomorphies of the first-instar larvae of the six taxa are listed in order to facilitate comparison of derived states in newly discovered larvae. The biogeographic patterns within the individual genera are analyzed using cladistic biogeographic methodology. The entire clade is hypothesized as Eocene in age, with the basal taxon Tetraleucus isolated from Old World progenitors of the rest of the clade due to amphi-Atlantic vicariance. Anchomenus is divisable into two clades; four New World species distributed along the Pacific coast from Alaska to Baja California, and six Old World species distributed from Japan to western Europe. Beringian vicariance in the Miocene is the likely cause of this pattern. Sericoda species exhibit a collective Holarctic distribution, with one species found in montane regions of southeast Asia and Indomalaya. Beringian vicariance has occurred at least twice during the diversification of the seven species leading to divergence of: (1) S. ceylonica from its sister group of S. bembidioides plus S. montana, (2) the sister species S. bogemannii and S. obsoleta. These vicariant events are hypothesized to have occurred in late Miocene or Pliocene times. Elliptoleus was probably isolated in México from its more northern sister group, Sericoda, in late Miocene. Cladistic biogeographic analysis allows derivation of a fundamental area cladogram for the temperate humid montane forest habitats occupied by Elliptoleus species. The Sierra Madre Occidental is hypothesized as the sister area of the Transvolcanic Sierra plus the more southerly Sierra de Oaxaca and Sierra Madre del Sur. Biotic connections of the Transvolcanic Sierra with montane regions to the south are via a filter bridge along the Atlantic versant, running from Pico de Orizaba to the Sierra de Oaxaca. Divergence events at the species level are geographically associated with river valleys, or regions of geological uplift near major volcanoes"--P. 5.