A COMPARATIVE MORPHOLOGY OF THE ALIMENTARY CANAL IN THE ADULTS OF GROUND-BEETLES (COLEOPTERA) I. CLASSIFICATION INTO THE TYPES

Abstract

The alimentary canal in the adult of ground-beetles has been investigated for 43 species belonging to 26 genera, 16 subfamilies in 2 families on such important characters as crypts, proventriculus and meandering of the guts. Their alimentary canal can be classified into 7 types by their structures as follows: I, Carabinae-type ; II, Nebriinaetype ; III, Elaphrinae-type ; IV, Scaritinae- type ; V, Bembidiinae- type ; VI, Pterostichinae- type ; and VII, Callistinae-type.