Pterostichus (Melanius), Bonelli, 1810

Bousquet, Yves, 2012, Catalogue of Geadephaga (Coleoptera, Adephaga) of America, north of Mexico, ZooKeys 245, pp. 1-1722 : 510

Subgenus Melanius Bonelli, 1810

Melanius Bonelli, 1810: Tabula Synoptica. Type species: Carabus aterrimus Herbst, 1784 by subsequent monotypy in Latreille (1816: 194). Etymology. Uncertain, possibly from the Greek melanos (black), alluding to the black coloration of adults of the species in the hands of Bonelli [masculine].

Omaseus Dejean, 1821: 12. Type species: Carabus aterrimus Herbst, 1784 designated by Curtis (1824: plate 15). Etymology. Unknown [masculine]. The name was proposed by Franz Anton Ziegler and made available by Dejean.

Lyperus Chaudoir, 1838: 12. Type species: Carabus aterrimus Herbst, 1784 by original designation. Etymology (original). From Greek lyperos (painful, by extension sad) [masculine].

Lyperosomus Motschulsky, 1850a: 47. Unnecessary replacement name for Lyperus Chaudoir, 1838. Etymology. From Greek lyperos (painful, by extension sad) and soma (body) [masculine].

Metamelanius Tschitschérine, 1900b: 395. Type species: Feronia ebenina Dejean, 1828 by monotypy. Synonymy established by Lindroth (1966: 498). Etymology. From the Greek meta (near, among) and the generic name Melanius [q.v.] [masculine].

Diversity.

Eight species in the boreal and temperate regions of the Nearctic (three eastern species) and Palaearctic (five species, of which three occur in the Far East) Regions.

Identification.

Lindroth (1966) reviewed the North American species. One new species was described subsequently by Goulet and Bousquet (1983).