''Gehringia olympica'' is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

ground beetle Ground beetles are a large, cosmopolitan family of beetles, the Carabidae, with more than 40,000 species worldwide, around 2,000 of which are found in North America and 2,700 in Europe. As of 2015, it is one of the 10 most species-rich animal f ...

s (

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Carabidae), the only species in the genus ''Gehringia''. It is a rather unusual member of its family, a tiny shiny-black beetle with a few stout bristles, and is not found anywhere outside the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Tho ...

of North America, from

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...

and

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

northwards to the

North West Territories The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''North-West Territories'' and namely shortened as ''Northwest Territory'') is a federal territory of Canada. ...

and

Yukon Yukon (; ; formerly called Yukon Territory and also referred to as the Yukon) is the smallest and westernmost of Canada's three territories. It also is the second-least populated province or territory in Canada, with a population of 43,964 as ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. It inhabits mountain stream

gravel bank A bar in a river is an elevated region of sediment (such as sand or gravel) that has been deposition (geology), deposited by the flow. Types of bars include mid-channel bars (also called braid bars and common in braided rivers), point bars (c ...

s and can locally be very common. The relationships of this distinct

montane Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial ...

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

have been long debated; variously, it was assigned to subfamily

Psydrinae Psydrinae is a subfamily of beetles in the family Carabidae. Genera The subfamily contains the following genera: * ''Amblytelus ''Amblytelus'' is a genus of ground beetle including 47 species distributed through southern Australia, including ...

Trechinae Trechinae is a subfamily in the ground beetle family, Carabidae. Genera The subfamily includes the following genera: * '' Accoella'' Uéno, 1990 * '' Acheroniotes'' Lohai & Lakota, 2010 * '' Adriaphaenops'' Noesske, 1928 * '' Aepiblemus'' Bel ...

and here it is treated in the former.

References

External Links

ToLweb: ''Gehringia olympica''
Psydrinae Monotypic Carabidae genera {{Psydrinae-stub