''Mecodema atuanui'' was described from a single male specimen collected in pitfall traps on
Mount Auckland
Mount Auckland () officially known as Atuanui / Mount Auckland is a hill in the northern Auckland region, near the shore of the Kaipara Harbour.
Geography
Atuanui / Mount Auckland is a 304-metre tall mountain, adjacent to the mouth of the ...
(Atuanui),
Kaipara Region. It is a medium-length
ground beetle
Ground beetles are a large, cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan family (biology), family of beetles, the Carabidae, with more than 40,000 species worldwide, around 2,000 of which are found in North America and 2,700 in Europe. As of 2015, it ...
that is related to ''
Mecodema spiniferum'',
the only large-lengthed
ground beetle
Ground beetles are a large, cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan family (biology), family of beetles, the Carabidae, with more than 40,000 species worldwide, around 2,000 of which are found in North America and 2,700 in Europe. As of 2015, it ...
species found in the
Waitākere Ranges
The Waitākere Ranges is a mountain range in New Zealand. Located in West Auckland, New Zealand, West Auckland between metropolitan Auckland and the Tasman Sea, the ranges and its foothills and coasts comprise some of public and private land. ...
, Auckland, rather than the more geographically close species (''
M. dunnorum'') to the east in
Puhoi.
Diagnosis
Distinguished from other North Island ''
Mecodema'' species by having:
# a lobate labrum;
# vertexal groove defined by punctures along the entire length;
# elytral intervals 3 and 5 significantly broadened than otherintervals;
# the distinctively narrow width of the apical portion of the penis lobe.
Description
Length 24.9 mm, pronotal width 6.7 mm, elytral width 7.9 mm. Colour of entire body matte black, except coxae and legs dark reddish-brown.
Natural History
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q65120767
atuanui
Beetles described in 2019