The identities of two species in the Pterostichus macrogenys species group of subterranean carabid beetles (Coleoptera, Carabidae) revealed by external morphometric analysis and comparative genital morphology Author Sasakawa, Koji https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9246-5777 Laboratory of Zoology, Department of Science Education, Faculty of Education, Chiba University, 1 - 33 Yayoi-cho, Inage-ku, Chiba-shi, Chiba 263 - 8522, Japan ksasa@chiba-u.jp Author Ito, Hirotaro 1 - 14 - 16 Awayama, Niigata-shi, Niigata 950 - 0843, Japan text Subterranean Biology 2022 2022-05-31 43 61 71 http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/subtbiol.43.80969 journal article http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/subtbiol.43.80969 1314-2615-43-61 9B9E6A5AA0784AC0A1DF6B1D32FF4DB3 94B591976E9051C7AA220F5AB7F30AF7 Pterostichus (Nialoe) asahinus Habu & Baba, 1960 Fig. 2 Pterostichus (Paralianoe) macrogenys asahinus : Habu and Baba (1960) : 62 (original description), holotype ♀: "Mt. Dorokujin, Mts. Asahi, Niigata Pref." [Miomote, Mt. Dorokujinpo , Murakami-shi, Niigata Prefecture, Japan]; Habu and Baba (1972) : 19. Pterostichus (Paralianoe) asahinus : Habu (1977) : 14 (part). Pterostichus macrogenys : Tanaka (1985) : 114 (part?). Pterostichus (Nialoe) asahinus : Bousquet (2017) : 724. Pterostichus (Nialoe) falcispinus : Sasakawa (2005) : 75 (original description), holotype ♂: "Cave Ishikiri, Nakajo-Machi, N-Echigo" [Ishikiri Cave, Mt. Ishikiriyama, Haguro, Tainai-shi, Niigata Prefecture, Japan]; Bousquet (2017) : 724; Sasakawa et al. (2020) : 7. Syn. nov. Specimen examined. 1♂, Miomote, alt. 276 m, on the right bank of Miomotegawa River, Murakami-shi, Niigata Prefecture, Japan ( 38.273211°N , 139.779922°E ), 12.vi.-17.vii.2021, Hirotaro Ito leg., in the collection of HI. Figure 2. Pterostichus asahinus male from Miomote, on the right bank of the Miomotegawa River A habitus dorsal view B-E Endophallus left lateral ( B ) ventral ( C ) right lateral ( D ) and dorsal ( E ) views F-H right paramere left lateral ( F ) apical ( G ) and dorsal ( H ) views. go , gonopore; lal , left apical lobe; lpl , left preapical lobe; rpl , right preapical lobe. Notes. Sasakawa et al. (2020) suggested that P. asahinus and P. falcispinus might be conspecific. However, this hypothesis remained untested because males from the type locality of P. asahinus have not been examined. The male specimen examined here was obtained from a valley southwest of Mt. Dorokujinpo , which can virtually be regarded as the type locality (Fig. 1 ). The structures of the endophallus and right paramere of this specimen are identical to those of the eastern type of P. falcispinus in Sasakawa et al. (2020) . Its body length is intermediate between that of the eastern and western types of P. falcispinus as follows: body length from mandible apices to elytral end (BLm) 16.32 mm, that from anterior margin of labrum (BLl) 14.72 mm, and that from clypeal apex (BLc) 14.26 mm. Based on these results, we regard P. asahinus and P. falcispinus as conspecific. The results of the discriminant analysis support this conclusion. The P. asahinus holotype was classified in this newly defined P. asahinus in the discriminant function analysis, and was within the area of P. asahinus on the scatterplot of the first two canonical variates (Fig. 3 ). Figure 3. Scatterplot of the first two canonical variates obtained from the discriminant analysis of four measurements of the female pronotum.