Abstract
The south-west Palaearctic Graphipterus serrator group is revised. The systematic concept of the G. serrator group has undergone many changes during the last two centuries, and several different classifications have been published in recent decades. Here, the numerical taxonomy approach is used with the morphological characterization similarity level of the sympatric taxa in order to delimit allopatrically occurring taxa at the species and subspecies level. A key to the species and distribution maps are provided along with analyses of the conservation status and habitat preferences of the taxa. The Graphipterus serrator group currently comprises 16 taxa. Five new species are described: Graphipterus magnus Renan & Assmann, sp. n., Graphipterus mauretensis Renan & Assmann, sp. n., Graphipterus piniamitaii Renan & Freidberg, sp. n., Graphipterus sharonae Renan & Assmann, sp. n., and Graphipterus stagonopsis Renan & Assmann, sp. n. In addition, five taxa are revalidated to full species status: Graphipterus heydeni Kraatz, 1890, stat. rest. (lectotype designated), Graphipterus multiguttatus (Olivier, 1790), stat. rest. (lectotype designated), Graphipterus peletieri Laporte de Castelnau, 1840, stat. rest. (the frequently used name lepeletieri is an error), Graphipterus rotundatus Klug, 1832, stat. rest. (lectotype designated), and Graphipterus valdanii Guérin-Méneville, 1859 stat. rest., and a full species status is proposed for Graphipterus reymondi Antoine, 1953, stat. n. One new synonymy is proposed: Graphipterus kindermanni Chaudoir, 1871, syn. n. of Carabus multiguttatus Olivier, 1790. Lectotype designations were made for Graphipterus heydeni, Graphipterus minutus Dejean, 1822, Graphipterus multiguttatus, and Graphipterus rotundatus. Neotype designations were made for Graphipterus reichei Guérin-Méneville, 1859, Graphipterus intermedius Guérin-Méneville, 1859, and Graphipterus valdanii Guérin-Méneville, 1859.
Highlights
The ground beetles (Carabidae) constitute one of the largest animal families
The last revision includes 116 species distributed throughout Africa except for the central Sahara desert and the tropical forest regions
The leading sympatric taxon example is G. serrator and G. multiguttatus which co-occur in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt, and the western Negev sand dunes in Israel
Summary
The ground beetles (Carabidae) constitute one of the largest animal families. They include almost 40,000 described species, distributed throughout every continent (Lorenz 2005). Harpalinae Bonelli, 1810 comprise one of the largest subfamilies of the Carabidae, whose taxonomy is poorly known due to the lack of modern revisions for most of its genera and tribes (Erwin et al 2012). The subtribe Graphipterina Latreille, 1802 belongs to the tribe Lebiini Bonelli, 1810, which has still not been satisfactorily resolved phylogenetically (Ober and Maddison 2008) and is one of the largest tribes of the given subfamily. The last revision includes 116 species distributed throughout Africa except for the central Sahara desert and the tropical forest regions. Only few taxonomic studies have been published (Basilewsky 1981, 1986; Werner 2003, 2007; Mawdsley 2012), including the extensive systematic and taxonomic overview of the Carabidae of the World (Lorenz 2005)
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