Mecyclothorax Sharp, 1903

Baehr, Martin & Reid, Chris A. M., 2017, On a Collection of Carabidae from Timor Leste, with Descriptions of Nine New Species (Insecta: Coleoptera, Carabidae), Records of the Australian Museum 69 (6), pp. 421-450 : 424

Mecyclothorax Sharp, 1903

Mecyclothorax Sharp, 1903 , Fauna Hawaiiensis 3: 243, 1901–1910. Type species: Cyclothorax montivagus Blackburn, 1878 , by subsequent designation (Andrewes, 1939: 135).

Mecyclothorax is the largest genus of the subtribe Mecyclothoracina and is widely distributed in the Australian- Pacific area including Australia, New Guinea, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Society Islands (mainly Tahiti), and Hawaiian Islands, but a few species also are known from Java (Louwerens, 1959) and one even from Mt. Kinabalu in northern Borneo (Baehr & Lorenz, 1999). In terms of species, the SocietY and Hawaiian Islands are most prolific, which is due to enormous, comparatively recent, taxonomic radiations on both volcanic island groups ( Liebherr, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2011b, 2013, 2015; Perrault, 1978, 1992). No species have previously been recorded from Timor.

The specimens of Mecyclothorax from Timor were sampled on a single high altitude massif in the western part of Timor Leste by means of pitfall traps and shaking grass tufts over a sheet, in open eucalypt woodland.All specimens were collected above 1800 m.