The Dromiusina Bonelli, 1810 of southwestern Saudi Arabia with description of a new species (Coleoptera, Carabidae, Lebiini)
Author
Rasool, Iftekhar
Author
Abdel-Dayem, Mahmoud S.
Author
Felix, Ron F. F. L.
Author
Aldhafer, Hathal M.
text
ZooKeys
2018
771
73
103
http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.771.24165
journal article
http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.771.24165
1313-2970--73
E06BCC5814E445159B6198EBD9F035CA
Microlestes Schmidt-Gobel, 1846
Type species.
Microlestes inconspicuus
Schmidt-Goebel
, 1846
The genus
Microlestes
is the largest genus of
Dromiusina
encompass about 130 species all over the world (
Lorenz 2005
,
Anichtchenko 2017
), distributed in Palaearctic (Middle East and Asia), Nearctic, Afrotropical, Oriental and Neotropical regions (
Mateu 1971
,
Bousquet 2012
).
Kabak (2003
,
2017
) in his catalogue, mentioned 63
Microlestes
species from Palaearctic region. The members of
Microlestes
can be distinguished from other related genera in
Dromiusina
by the combination of the characters: small sized beetle ranges from 2.30-3.40 mm; labrum truncate at anterior margins; mentum without median tooth; pubescence of antennae starts from antennomeres III; lateral margins of pronotum sinuated posteriorly, base of pronotum weakly incised and curved towards hind angles and rounded in the middle; basal tarsomere of hind legs distinctly longer than last, claws sparsely dentate; elytra parallel sided and transversally truncated at apex (
Lindroth 1974
,
Bousquet 2010
). So far eight species have been known from Saudi Arabia (
Mateu 1979
,
1986
,
Kabak 2003
,
2017
). Only two species
Microlestes infuscatus fragilis
Mateu, 1956 and
Microlestes glabrellus
(
Reitter 1901
) are occuring in the southwestern part of the country (
Mateu 1986
). In the present study,
Microlestes discoidalis
(
Fairmaire 1892
) is also newly recorded from the southwest of Saudi Arabia.