RECOGNITION OF THE WEST ASIAN ANCHOMENUS-KURNAKOVI AND A-PUNCTIBASIS (COLEOPTERA, CARABIDAE, PLATYNINI) AND MIOCENE EVOLUTION OF THE MEDITERRANEAN AND PARATETHYS SEAS

The two Palaearctic species, Agonum kurnakovi Kryzhanovskij and Agonum punctibasis Reitter, are newly combined as members of the genus Ancho menus Bonelli. Descriptions, distributional data, and means to identif y the species are presented. The species are included in a cladistic a nalysis with the other members of the Anchomenus clade; Tetraleucus pi cticornis Newman, 10 other species of Anchomenus, the 7 species of Ser icoda Kirby, and the 11 species of Elliptoleus Bates. This analysis pr eserves relationships presented in Liebherr (1991) within and among th e other three genera, but defines a new set of cladistic relationships within Old World Anchomenus. These relationships are used to define a n area cladogram for the circum-Mediterranean region that is concordan t with those of a variety of groups summarized by Oosterbroek and Arnt zen (1992). Diversification of Palaearctic Anchomenus is explained in the context of geological evolution of the Mediterranean Sea during th e Miocene.