ZooKeys 1: 9-22, doi: 10.3897/zookeys.1.13
The Carabus fauna of Israel – updated identification key, faunistics, and habitats (Coleoptera: Carabidae)
Thorsten Assmann, Jörn Buse, Claudia Drees, Ariel-Leib-Leonid Friedman, Tal Levanony, Andrea Matern, Anika Timm, David Wrase
Abstract

This key to the Carabus species of Israel is an updated identification key with notes on the distribution and habitats of the species. Substantial additions, corrections and taxonomic changes on the Carabus fauna of the Middle East generated the need of an of the knowledge of the genus Carabus in Israel. The classification and the identification of sibling taxa of the subgenus Lamprostus are still a problem: A zone of sympatry supports the species status of both C. sidonius and C. hemprichi. The lack of any evidence of sympatry for the taxa in species rank of the C. syrus group and their variability of the exoskeleton (mentum tooth, tip of aedeagus) requires further systematic and taxonomic studies.