92 
Records of the Australian Museum (2009) Vol. 61 
Fig. 3. Mecyclothorax moorei n.sp., female gonocoxites 1 and 2. 
Scale: 0.1 mm. 
Distribution. Recorded only from a restricted area in north¬ 
eastern New South Wales. 
Etymology. The specific name is a patronym in honour 
to Dr Barry Moore, famous senior specialist of Australian 
carabid beetles, who already had identified the species as a 
new one. 
Collecting circumstances. Unknown. 
Remarks 
This small but distinctive species is quite different in external 
features from most other Australian species of the genus 
Mecyclothorax. It is similar to, and most probably quite 
closely related to, M. punctatus (Sloane). The latter has 
comparable compact and convex body shape and a similar, 
very coarse punctation of pronotum and elytral striae. The 
main differences are (a) in the shape of the elytra, they are 
shorter and more oviform in M. moorei, (b) the much less- 
dense punctation of the pronotum in M. moorei, and (c) the 
much more abbreviated elytra striae in M. moorei. 
Among the Australian species of Mecyclothorax both 
moorei and punctatus form a distinct subgroup which, on 
the basis of external morphology, is rather different from 
the “normal-shaped” species of the ambiguus-punctipennis- 
lineage of the genus. With respect to body shape and small 
size, both species seem to be more closely related to the small 
species which occur in the rainforests of northern Queensland 
(M. storeyi Moore, 1984; M. lewisensis Moore, 1984; M. 
impressipennis Baehr, 2003; and M. inflatus Baehr, 2003) 
than to the common species in the surrounding areas, e.g., 
M. punctipennis (Macleay, 1871) and its allies. 
Nothing is known about the habits and life history of 
the new species, apart from that it probably lives in closed 
forest at various altitudes, where it may occur on the ground 
in leaf litter. 
Acknowledgments. I am grateful to Dr David Britton of 
Australian Museum, Sydney, for the kind hospitality during my 
recent visit at the collection and for the loan of the specimens. The 
visit at Australian Museum was supported by a grant of Deutsche 
Forschungsgemeinschaft (B a-856/10-1). 
References 
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Manuscript submitted 27 June 2008, revised and accepted 2 April 2009. 
