Provisional key to North American Scarites (Carabidae: Scaritini)

Can anyone track down original article by Chaudoir, 1880? Thanks.

Annales Société entomologique de Belgique v.23, p.63
I only have dial-up, so it's been a slow slog finding the relevant section.

Thanks so much Chuck! The species descriptions for Scartites lissopterus variety (page 93) and S. texanus (page 94) are quite short. Hopefully there are adequate clues for the reliable separation of species. I look forward to someone (V. Belov?) translating the pertinent sections and either posting it here or e-mail me it privately if felt to be more appropriate. The translation will be reflected in a future update of the key at BugGuide's Scarites Info Page. I am initially experiencing some trouble navigating through the document on my computer. Does anyone see a "key" to species constructed by Chaudoir? That would also be very helpful. Authors like LeConte were already writing taxonomic species keys by 1880.

Ann Soc ent Belg 1880-81 23-25 p.93:
S. quadriceps [syn/references omitted]
22–26 mm long, 6¼–7½ mm wide. All the above names, as I’m now convinced, apply to just more or less individual variations of this species, which I keep [as separate. =v=] because it’s larger than subterraneus, has relatively longer antennae, mandibles more striated between the crests, elytra are more elongated, less convex, and less conspicuously descending towards the apex. It lives in the Midwestern US and seems to be quite common there.
var. lissopterus. I've given this name to an interesting variety of that species, in which the elytra are either completely smooth or just scarcely striated, with perfectly flat intervals. The venter is very shiny. Mr. Sallé, who provided the specimens, have received several such individuals from Dallas, TX.

p.94:
S. texanus 13–16 mm long, 3.6–3.8 mm wide. Smaller, relatively narrower than subterraneus; elytra less convex, with striae less impressed, intervals less convex, and duller; pronotal sides more straight. The anterior pore of the 3rd interval often missing. S. picicornis Sturm reported from Cuba belongs here. S. texanus lives in Texas and Yucatan(?); S. californicus LeConte may be a synonym, too, although its description indicates a larger size (0.7").

Do you know French or did you have assistance with an electronic translator? Putting all the pieces togther now from Chaudoir and from fragments in the English literature I came up with an updated workable key. It's amazing how brief and sketchy the old original species descriptions were. It makes you wonder today about their validity as "new species". No wonder so many turned out later to be synonyms.

[that is, besides my mother tongue, which is Russian]
and i'm way too technophobic and linguophilic to use any such tools...

I've yet to see electronic translators that can do this level of translation without at least a few bizarre gaffes. He's obviously had experience translating such documents- entomology has its own language, whether in French or in English.

i'll take a look later today. The key [in Lat.] is sketchy, covers all the spp. known back then worldwide, and hardly of any use today -- but his descriptions [Fr.] sound ok.

Bulletin de la Société impériale des naturalistes de Moscou,v.23 (1843), p.729 Description of Scarites quadriceps

the extra link Chuck. I was not aware these old documents were freely accessible on the internet. Lesson: do googling before asking! I suspect I'll find no convenient Scarites key by Chaudoir. My next technical challenge is to print select pages from these documents. I trust that will be easy.

Boston Journal of Natural History, v.5, p207 Description of Scarites Patruelis

As for finding these: it's not that easy. First you have to find a reference that includes the title of the work. Then you have to find an online version of the correct year/volume, and then you have to find the correct page (without broadband access, it can be very slow).

Still, there's been a huge push in recent years to scan all the publications of record in the public domain, so most things I look for I eventually find.

I've been inserting links in guide pages here and there, and I'm starting to get good at hunting them down. I'm still a little hesitant about putting links on guide pages to documents in non-English languages, but I've done it once or twice.

are shown at the MCZ Type Database site as an additional resource. I see "Scarites californicus" is there but still no images available for "Scarites patruelis" even though it is listed there. Thanks for your expertise in computer search Chuck.