Pseudomorpha Kirby, 1823

Bousquet, Yves, 2012, Catalogue of Geadephaga (Coleoptera, Adephaga) of America, north of Mexico, ZooKeys 245, pp. 1-1722 : 844

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 très fortement sécuriforme ") 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.