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Genus Metoponium

Metaponium sp - Metoponium Teneb - Metoponium teneb - Metoponium Tiny desert beetle - Metoponium Tenebs under Eucalyptus camaldulensis bark - Metoponium Metoponium Metoponium? - Metoponium Edrotini? - Metoponium
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Coleoptera (Beetles)
Suborder Polyphaga
No Taxon (Series Cucujiformia)
Superfamily Tenebrionoidea
Family Tenebrionidae (Darkling Beetles)
Subfamily Pimeliinae
Tribe Edrotini
Genus Metoponium
Explanation of Names
Metoponium Casey 1907
Numbers
2 subgenera, with 43 spp. in our area and a few more in n Mexico(1)
Identification
slightly concave epistomal lobe (front edge of head) differentiates Metoponium from some similar genera e.g. Telabis.

abrupt dorsal expansion at the distal end of the protibia (a character shared by some genera in this tribe).
Range
sw US & adjacent Mexico(1)
Remarks
There is key to species in Casey 1907 (2). There are no new US species reported in Bousquet, et al. 2018 (1) since then. However, some original species have been merged and reclassified as subspecies. Caution should be used with Casey's keys, so close comparison to Harvard MCZ type images is advised, if such are available.
Works Cited
1.Catalogue of Tenebrionidae (Coleoptera) of North America
Yves Bousquet, Donald B. Thomas, Patrice Bouchard, Aaron D. Smith, Rolf L. Aalbu, M. Andrew Johnston, Warren E. Steiner Jr. 2018. ZooKeys 728: 1-455.
2.A revision of the American components of the tenebrionid subfamily Tentyriinae
T. L. Casey. 1907. Proceedings of the Washington Academy of Sciences, Vol. 9, pp. 275-522.