Badister (Badister) flavipes Le Conte 1853

Badister flavipes Le Conte
In its external features, flavipes can be confused with the other concolorous species of the typical subgenus. Its iridescent elytra and darker color distinguish this species from obtusits. Body color is predominantly black in flavipes flavipes, flavipes mexicanus, and ferrugineus anthr acinus, but the legs of the first two subspecies are testaceous in color, while those of anthracinus are piceous to black. The third named population of this species, flavipes laticeps, may be confused with the typical subspecies of jerrugincus, and transversus Casey. It may be separated from the former by its more elongate pronotum, with narrower base, and sides more sinuate posteriorly (see fig. 126; cf. fig. 119a), and its paler colored antennae (testaceous to slightly darker), and from the latter by the same pronotal characters (see tables 66-68 and fig. 126; cf. fig. 128), the lack of iridescence on the surface of the pronotum, and its proportionately wider head (table 65). The median lobe of this species most closely resembles the median lobe of notatus, but the dorsal sclerotized strips are appreciably wider basally than they are in notatus. (See fig. 150a-c; cf. fig. 151a-c. )
This species, as defined by me, is composed of three geographical races : a more northern subspecies, laticeps, ranging from New York, westward to Iowa in the Mississippi Basin, and southward at least into Texas. The typical subspecies is largely Gulf Coastal and Florid
ian, and the third, mexicanus Van Dyke, is based on a single specimen from Oaxaca, Mexico.
I have seen six specimens from Louisiana, including the type of flavipes. Of these, one is like specimens from Florida (flavipes), three are typical laticeps, and two are intermediate between the Floridian specimens and laticeps. One of these two, unfortunately, is the type of flavipes. The Louisiana specimens which seem to exhibit features of both nominate forms, the fact that the males of laticeps and flavipes have identical genitalia, and the fact that these two forms are largely allopatric constitute my evidence for regarding these two forms as elements of a single species. A weakness in this treatment is that one specimen of flavipes has a " Kansas " locality label on it, an area which is well within the range of laticeps.
Badister mexicanus is included in this species because it is very similar to the two American subspecies and, indeed, appears to possess some of the characters of each.
A nomenclatorial problem arises in connection with the North American subspecies. If, as I believe, the type of flavipes is actually an intergrade between the two populations, then the intergrade specimens should rceive the subspecific trivial name, and the eastern Gulf Coastal and Floridian specimens should receive a new name. For the present, I prefer not to take this action as the evidence recommending it is more suggestive than conclusive.

Badister flavipes is a species of ground beetle in the family Carabidae. It is found in the Caribbean Sea, Central America, North America, and South America.