Language: English
The author, a specialist in Carabid beetles and Carabus at the Muséum national Histoire Naturelle in Paris, provides an updated catalogue of the 970 beetle species of the genus Carabus, distributed throughout the countries of the Holarctic Region. For each species, all subspecies names are given, as well as synonyms and homonyms, with their status and an indication of their type locality. The subgenera, species and subspecies are classified in a way that reflects their phylogenetic relationships as much as possible.
1556 figures enrich this catalogue, in particular 114 plates of the aedeagus of almost all the species, which makes it possible to identify them in most cases.
The whole is preceded by 60 pages of general information, in English, on the morphology and phylogeny of the genus Carabus and its species. The most recent works are cited and discussed as an update on the current state of our knowledge. In particular, the author emphasizes the results of molecular (DNA) analyses which have revolutionized the classification of the genus Carabus over the last two decades.