i6 
Psyche 
[March 
5000 ft. high on Cuba, Jamaica, and Hispaniola have endemic mon- 
tane species that had become -winged on the spot. Noting that three 
-winged stocks on the mountains of Puerto Rico ( Antilliscaris , Oxy- 
drepanus and Colpodes estriatus Dari.) were closely related to forms 
known only from the mountains of Haiti, he concluded that each 
had reached Puerto Rico from Haiti after becoming flightless, and 
that mountains lower than 4000 ft. in the Antilles “are too low to 
induce wing atrophy among Carabidae.” S. darlingtoni was here 
held to be closely related to the known species now in Antilliscaris. 
While I consider this species to be incertae sedis at the subgeneric 
level, the evidence for so doing (see systematic treatment) is not 
overwhelming, and this decision mainly reflects caution. In any case, 
questions as to the point of origin and the site of wing atrophy remain. 
Long distance dispersal of montane forest-floor-inhabiting, flight- 
less carabids to another suitable montane environment must be a rare 
event. Such species have all “bad” attributes that preadapt a species 
to be “good” colonizers (MacArthur and Wilson 1967, p. 81). 
Flightless carabids are rare in the tropical lowlands (Darlington 
1943, PP- 44, 49-5o) and would be severely selected against in areas 
subject to flooding. A + winged hydrophilic lowland species has many 
“good” preadaptations for colonization, such as occupation of an 
unstable habitat including many coastal sites with the potential for 
high population densities in hydric environments and, of course, the 
ability to fly. 
With 3 montane spp. of Scarites on Puerto Rico, additional col- 
lecting on Haiti should turn up new species if the area species curve 
is remotely applicable to montane scaritine faunas (but see comments 
on ecological shift). When more data becomes available, I propose 
that the following model be tested. Major colonizing Scarites is a. 
+ winged form which burrows in a variety of shore and lowland 
habitats. It disperses to similar habitats on neighboring islands and 
subsequently invades the montane zone where —wings and flight 
mechanism atrophy occur along with ecological shift. Evidence for 
this interpretation could be obtained from detailed analysis of widely 
distributed + winged lowland forms. Colpodes estriatus Darlington 
and its allies probably represent a distinct genus (Darlington 1939, 
p. 95). Then, of the three taxa represented in the mountains of 
Puerto Rico and Hispaniola by a —winged species one, Oxydrepanus, 
is widely distributed in the lowlands of the Greater Antilles; O. 
rufus (Putz.) is known from Cuba, Jamaica and Florida, and O. 
micans Putz. from Hispaniola and Puerto Rico; both species 
