Plesiophthalmus and its Allied Genera (Coleoptera, Tenebrionidae, Amarygmini)(Part 9)

This is the 9th part of the revisional study of the tenebrionid genus Plesiophthalmus and its allies. It deals with three species-groups belonging to Plesiophthalmus : the group of P. metallicus, the group of P. excellens, and the group of P. nigroaeneus. The metallicus group consists of three species : Plesiophthalmus metallicus FAIRMAIRE, 1903, P. pseudometallicus sp. nov., and P. subovatus sp. nov., the excellens group consists of 8 species : P. excellens (GEBIEN, 1913), comb. nov., P. legalleni (PIC, 1917), comb. nov., P. semipurpureus (PIC, 1917), comb. nov., P. sparsepunctatus (PIC, 1925), comb. nov., P. violaceus (PIC, 1926), comb. nov., P. falsexcellens sp. nov., P. splendens sp. nov., and P. minutulus sp. nov., and the nigroaeneus group also of 4 species : P. nigroaeneus (GEBIEN, 1913), comb. nov., P. donckieri (PIC, 1914), comb. nov., P. shigeoi (MASUMOTO, 1981), comb. nov., and P. thailandicus sp. nov. Key to the species of each group is also given.