The mountain species of the Mexican Sierras collected inside of Carabomimus and Calopachys, all having reduced or completely atrophied hind wings, are characterized by the hypertrophic development of ligula of endophallus. A different feature of the terminal part of the ligula allows to identify the two subgenera. In case of Carabomimus the ligula ends in a slender extension while in Calopachys it ends with a small bulge. However, even without the examination of the male genital organ, the species belonging to Carabomimus, can be distinguished from the ones belonging to Calopachys at first sight, because in the latter the pronotum is markedly narrower in its rear part. Instead in Carabomimus the pronotum is transverse with evenly arcuate rear sides, or with almost parallel ones.
According to Jeannel, both genera (subgenera for us) are part of the phyletic line of Callitropa, separated from that of Castrida at the end of the Cretaceous. As we have had the opportunity to clarify several times, the results of genetic analyses carried out in recent years do not confirm, or only partially confirm, these hypotheses, since in many cases the groups of species (genera or subgenera) used by Jeannel would be polyphyletic. However, these results would seem at least to show that the few species of Carabomimus analysed are monophyletic, and that there is a cladistic relationship with some species of Callitropa and Caminara (Toussaint & Gillet, 2017: 12). However, at the moment, the close relations, morphological, of internal anatomy (ligula and endophallus) and the ones regarding the larval characters, noted between Carabomimus and Callitropa with atrophied wings, are not yet supported by molecular phylogenetic evidence.
Shortly after the general revision of Jeannel (1940), Gidaspow (1959) again reviewed the matter, re-evaluating or interpreting differently some of the entities previously described. But it seems not to be confirmed, at least as a general rule, the sympatry on which she based her review. Although at present it is possible to observe a partial overlapping of some species, it seems likely that the different species have evolved as geographic isolates on the high altitudes of the volcanic massifs of central Mexico ("Transvolcanic Sierra " of Ball, 1970) and their distribution areas mostly are still separate today.
Recently, partial revisions or additional descriptions of species or subspecies have been made by various authors. In particular, Lassalle (2009) and Lassalle & van den Berghe (2011), based on new findings and on the review of the historical material, did much to clarify the relationships between the various entities related to this difficult and still little known subgenus.
For us, the surely valid species could be reduced to eight: C. costipenne, C. depressicolle, C. digueti, C. flohri, C. laevigatum, C. morelianum, C. politum, C. striatulum.
As for the other species that for now we too consider as distinct species, pending more extensive explorations, two of these: C. cicatricosum and C. enigmaticum are known in a very limited number of specimens, and it has been hypothesized, subsequently or since the moment of the description, that they could be the results of hybridization phenomena. The third species: C. orizabae, of which only the type and perhaps another specimen is known, is still more difficult to interpret despite some superficial similarity with other species of the subgenus.