Anillinus

Anillinus is a genus in the ground beetle family Carabidae. There are more than 60 described species in Anillinus, from the southeastern United States. They range from the east coast as far west as Texas and Oklahoma.[1][2] Two species, Anillinus magnus and Anillinus minor, have been described from Brazil, although validity of these species has been questioned.[3]

Anillinus
Anillinus felicianus, Louisiana
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Coleoptera
Family:	Carabidae
Subfamily:	Trechinae
Tribe:	Bembidiini
Genus:	Anillinus Casey, 1918
Synonyms
Troglanillus Jeannel, 1963

Like other members of the subtribe Anillina, the species of Anillinus are blind, wingless, and small, typically 3 mm long or less. They live in deep forest litters, under rocks or in soil, or in caves as true troglobites.[4]

Anillinus species tend to have extremely localized distributions, with a relatively large number of species in a few states. They have a geologically recent history of lineage diversification. This provides a valuable source of biogeographic information used in modeling evolutionary systems of regional biotas.[5]

The genus Anillinus remains one of the most incompletely known genera of ground beetles in the United States. In just the 20 years from 2003 to 2023, the number of known species of Anillinus increased from 11 to 63 species.[6][4]