Carabid Fauna of Costa Rica

The Neotropical Realm, of which Costa Rica is a part, is incredibly rich in species and evolutionary lineages -- far richer than what has been thus far documented in the literature. In January, 2000, the number of described species of carabids in the western hemisphere was more than 8,800 -- only 258 species had been recorded for Costa Rica. This is less than 1/6 of the number of species estimated to actually occur in Costa Rica.

This shortfall in described species results from an historical lack of carabid systematists working in Costa Rica or on its fauna, as well as the fact that most of Godman and Salvin's collectors (Biologia Centrali-American) were not concentrating their efforts in Costa Rica proper, rather to both the north in Nicaragua, Guatemala, and México and to the south in Panamá. Many of those species, already described, will eventually be recorded in Costa Rica, in addition to a predicted array of undescribed species.