paracentricus

Paracentricus is a monotypic genus of ground beetles that belongs to the family Carabidae within the order Coleoptera. The only described species in the genus is Paracentricus robustus, first collected during a field survey in the montane forests of the Venezuelan Andes in 1984. The beetle is medium-sized, with an elongated, slightly flattened body measuring approximately 12–14 millimetres in length. Its elytra are dark brown to black and exhibit faint longitudinal ridges, while the pronotum has a moderately convex shape and a pronounced central emargination, a feature that helped distinguish it from closely related genera.

Paracentricus robustus is typically found in moist leaf litter and under fallen logs at elevations between 1,200 and 2,300 meters. It is presumed to be nocturnal, foraging for other invertebrates such as earthworms, slugs, and other small beetles. The species has been observed to have a relatively limited distribution, with only a handful of occurrences recorded in protected areas of Guayana and the adjacent Cordillera Oriental. Due to its restricted range and the ongoing loss of cloud forest habitats, Paracentricus robustus is considered potentially vulnerable under IUCN criteria, although formal assessment has not yet been completed.

The genus name Paracentricus derives from the Greek preposition para, meaning "near," and the Latin centricus, meaning "centered," a reference to the unique morphological placement of its pronotal emargination. Current research focuses on clarifying its phylogenetic relationships within the Scaritinae subfamily using both morphological and molecular data.