Thomas K. Sabu

The apterous genus Parathlibops Basilewsky, 1958 of the subfamily Scaritinae is represented by six species in India; of these, three species, Parathlibops (Scapterothlibops) bulirschi Fedorenko, 2016, Parathlibops glaber Andrewes, 1929, and Parathlibops devagiriensis Aswathi et al., 2022, occur in South India. In the present study, Parathlibops valluvanadensis Fahima and Sabu, new species, from the South Malabar region in South India, is described, illustrated including the male genitalia, and compared with the most similar species.

The genus Taridius Chaudoir, 1875 is known from Palearctic and Oriental realms with 19 described species globally and with 4 species recorded from India. Two new species, Taridius tamilnadensis sp. nov. and Taridius devagiriensis sp. nov. are described from the leeward rain shadow slope of the Western Ghats, a globally recognized biodiversity hotspot in south India, noted for its high levels of endemism. Both the new species are morphologically more similar to T. abdominalis Fedorenko, 2012, but can be distinguished from T. abdominalis by a unique combination of characters—the presence of two distinct frontal carinae on head, and a black sutural stripe confined to the first elytral interval.

Archicolliuris distigma (Chaudoir, 1850) is reported for the first time from India, marking the first record of the genus Archicolliuris Liebke, 1931 in India since 1938. A revised description of the species is provided, along with a key to the Indian species of Archicolliuris. A revision of the diagnostic characteristics of the genus Archicolliuris is proposed, taking into account the variation observed in the number of elytral setae across the recorded species of the genus.

New record of carabid species Loxoncus renitens (Bates, 1886) from Indian mainland with additional records of subspecies Idiomelas fulvipes indus Kataev, 1997 from the states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka with notes on their geographical distribution are provided.

A new ground beetle species Ophionea vvrei sp. nov. is described from South India, with revised key to the species of the genus Ophionea, revised descriptions of O. bhamoensis bhamoensis (Bates, 1892) and O. interstitialis Schmidt-Göbel, 1846, first report of Ophionea ceylonica (Baehr, 1996) from Indian mainland and designation of the lectotype of O. indica (Thunberg, 1784).

Six species (Platytomus indicus (Balthasar, 1941), P. nathani Pittino & Mariani, 1986, Rhyssemus karnatakaensis Pittino, 1984, R. procerus Petrovitz, 1973, R. loebli Petrovitz, 1975 and Neocalaphodius moestus (Fabricius,1801)) of the subfamily Aphodiinae (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae) are first report from Kerala and two first report from south India. Descriptions of species with images are provided.

The genus Cymindoidea Laporte, 1832 of subfamily Lebiinae Bonelli, 1810 is known from 15 species globally and five species from the Indian mainland. In the present study, a new species, Cymindoidea seoniensis Anagha, Sabu, and Kushwaha, new species, is described from central India. A modified key to the species of the genus Cymindoidea from the Indian subcontinent is presented.

The description of a new carabid species from Indian mainland belonging to the genus Clypeuspinus Balkenohl, 2021 which was formerly known in Sri Lanka. Revised generic characteristics of Clypeuspinus, and a key to species are provided.