New Beetles Discovered on Mont Tohiea and Mont Mauru in French Polynesia

Posted on October 10, 2012

New species of beetles have been discovered on Mont Tohiea and Mont Mauru in the Society Islands in French Polynesia. James Liebherr, curator of the Cornell University Insect Collection, has described 14 new species of predatory carabid beetle, also called ground beetles, as part of a U.S. National Science Foundation team that surveyed the insects and spiders of French Polynesia. A newly discovered predatory ground beetle discovered on Mont Tohiea is pictured above. Its actual body size is 6 mm.

The new beetles are members of the genus Mecyclothorax, a group that seems to favor remote Pacific Islands. The Society Islands have about 100 species of the beetles and the Hawaiian Islands have over 200 species. There are about 25 species in the Australian continent. The Australian beetles can fly, but the Pacific Island beetles are flightless.

Liebherr is working in the lab to name more species collected from other mountains. He says many more likely reside on unexplored peaks. Liebherr said in a statement, "When we travel to a new mountain we find only new species. It's like moving to a different continent as far as these beetles are concerned."

The species are described in two articles published the journal, ZooKeys. The articles can be found here and here.



More from Science Space & Robots