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Platynus
Platynus ovipennis
Carabidae overview
Key to genera
Identification:
Lindroth (1966) treated Platynus as congeneric with genus Agonum. Species of Agonum with characteristic, uniform appearance; narrow forebody and broad elytra, slender antennae and legs. Most species with upper surface uniformly dark, often with metallic reflection; mentum with a pronounced simple median tooth; prothorax with a well developed, shallow, latero-basal fovea, and the margin with two setigerous punctures. Basal segments of the hind tarsi longitudinally furrowed and the tarsal claws smooth.
Platynus is separated from Agonum by presence of a dorsal constriction of neck and female spermatheca with a short duct relative to the apical spermathecal reservoir (Liebherr et al. 1996).
Range:
North America and the northern portion of the Neotropics.
Natural History:
Center of diversity in Mexico with 300 species; 19 species from United States and Canada (Liebherr et al. 1996).
References:
Kavanaugh, D. H. 1992. Carabid beetles (Insecta: Coleoptera: Carabidae) of the Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia. Memoirs of the California Academy of Sciences Number 16. California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, California, USA.
Liebherr, J. K. and K. W. Will. 1996. New North American Platynus Bonelli (Coleoptera: Carabidae), a key to species sorth of Mexico, and notes on species from the southwestern United States. The Coleopterists Bulletin 50: 301-320
Lindroth, C. H. 1961-1969. The ground beetles (Carabidae excl. Cicindelinae) of Canada and Alaska. Parts 1-6. Opuscula Entomologica xlviii + 1192 pp.
Last updated Thursday, July 20, 2006, by Lisa Ferrier
