A review of Asian species of the genus Platymetopus (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Harpalini)

Abstract

Based on the examined material and literature data, the Asian fauna of the genus Platymetopus Dejean, 1829 includes four species endemic to the Oriental region and East Asia, and one subspecies of the Afrotropical P. figuratus Boheman, 1848 (P. f. pictus Andrewes, 1923) distributed both in Afrotropical East Africa and South Asia east to India and Sri Lanka. The endemic Asian species are: P. flavilabris (Fabricius, 1798), P. tritus Bates, 1889, P. rugosus (Nietner, 1857) and P. quadrimaculatus Dejean, 1829. Platymetopus flavilabris is treated as a polytypical species with four subspecies: P. f. flavilabris, P. f. thumbergi Quensel, 1806, P. f. laticeps Dejean, 1829, stat. n. and P. f. punctulatus (MacLeay, 1825). The distinctive characters, synonymy and distribution of all taxa are discussed. Platymetopus rugosus obscurofemoratus subsp. n. is described from Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia. The following synonymy is proposed: P. flavilabris flavilabris = P. keiseri Louwerens, 1956, syn. n.; and P. f. punctulatus = P. subrugosus Schauberger, 1938, syn. n. A key to all species and subspecies of the genus known from Asia is provided. The taxonomic position of Platymetopus is discussed which probably represents a lateral branch descending from Selenophori-like ancestor independently of Harpali genus group.