Catalogue of Geadephaga (Coleoptera, Adephaga) of America, north of Mexico
Author
Bousquet, Yves
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Central Experimental Farm, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
bousquety1@yahoo.com
text
ZooKeys
2012
2012-11-28
245
1
1722
http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.245.3416
journal article
http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.245.3416
1313-2970-245-1
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Genus
Pseudomorpha Kirby, 1823
Pseudomorpha
Kirby, 1823a: 98. Type species:
Pseudomorpha excrucians
Kirby, 1823 by monotypy. Etymology. From the Greek
pseudos
(fallacy, lie) and
morphe
(form), probably alluding to the fact that the shape of the adult is completely different from that of other
Carabidae
("though its exhibits the characters, has not the aspect, of that tribe [i.e., Carabi]") [feminine]. Note. Kirby (1823a) originally used two different names for this taxon,
Pseudomorpha
(in the description on page 98) and
Heteromorpha
(in the explanation of the figures on page 109). Both names are considered different original spellings of the same name. Kirby reissued the paper later the same year in another journal, without the plate, and so only
Pseudomorpha
was used. As such, Kirby (1823b) is the "First Reviser" and
Pseudomorpha
is the correct original spelling (ICZN 1999: Article 24.2.4).
Axinophorus
Dejean [in Dejean and Boisduval], 1829: 60. Type species:
Axinophorus lecontei
Dejean, 1829 (=
Pseudomorpha excrucians
Kirby, 1823) designated by Notman (1925: 30). Etymology (original). From the Greek
axine
(ax) and
phero
(to carry), alluding to the markedly securiform last labial palpomere ("
dernier article
...
des labiaux
tres
fortement
securiforme
") of the adult [masculine].
Drepanus
Dejean, 1831: 434. Type species:
Axinophorus lecontei
Dejean, 1829 (=
Pseudomorpha excrucians
Kirby, 1823) designated by Hope (1838: 109). Etymology. Uncertain, possibly from the Greek
drepane
(sickle, scimitar), or from Drepanum, the old name of the city of Trapani, in Sicily, or from Drepanus the surname of Saturne [masculine]. Note. This name was first used, but not made available, by Illiger (1807: 344).
Diversity.
Thirty species in temperate, subtropical, and tropical areas of the Western Hemisphere (30 species) and southern Australia (three species) arrayed in two subgenera:
Pseudomorpha
(27 species) and
Austropseudomorpha
Baehr (three Australian species). The North American fauna has 19 known species (57.5% of the world fauna).
Taxonomic Note.
According to Baehr (1994: Fig. 1),
Pseudomorpha
is the sister-group to a clade including
Adelotopus
Hope,
Cainogenion
Notman,
Paussotropus
Waterhouse, and
Cryptocephalomorpha
Ritsema.
Figure 43.
Pseudomorpha
sp. Members of
Pseudomorpha
are among the most unusual North American carabids. The body shape of the adults is very characteristic. In addition, contrary to other Nearctic carabids that lay eggs, they are ovoviviparous. The females carry hatched larvae in their bursa copulatrix, vagina, and lateral oviducts. Such behavior probably greatly reduces egg mortality.