Mecyclothorax gerardi Perrault, 1978b: 144, 1984: 29

Liebherr, James K., 2013, The Mecyclothorax beetles (Coleoptera, Carabidae, Moriomorphini) of Tahiti, Society Islands, ZooKeys 322, pp. 1-170 : 21-22

6. Mecyclothorax gerardi Perrault, 1978b: 144, 1984: 29

Identification.

This species comprises beetles possessing only the posterior supraorbital seta and a transverse, bisetose pronotum; MPW/PL = 1.38 and setal formula 1101. The elytral humeri are distinctly angulate and the elytra are broadly ovoid, the lateral margins convex throughout their length (Fig. 11B). The vertex has transverse mesh microsculpture mesad the frontal grooves, the rows of sculpticells dissected by distinct transverse wrinkles emanating from the grooves. The pronotal disc is covered with a shallow but traceable transverse mesh, and the discal elytral intervals are lined with shallow transverse microsculpture consisting of elongate sculpticells intermixed with transverse lines. The male aedeagal median lobe has a broad apex that is rounded both dorsally and ventrally, and apically flattened (Fig. 13B). The aedeagal internal sac bears an elongate flagellar plate that is slightly more than half as long as the distance from the parameral articulations to the lobe apex, and a broadly distributed ventral ostial microtrichial patch. Standardized body length 5.3-5.4 mm.

Distribution and habitat.

The type series was collected from mosses at 1200 m elevation on the Mont Aorai ridge. Subsequently, two individuals were extracted through the use of pyrethrin fog from moss growing on Metrosideros . This second collecting event occurred at 1210 m elevation on Aorai.