Jujiroa zhouchaoi, Tian & He, 2020

Tian, Mingyi & He, Li, 2020, New species and new record of cavernicolous ground beetles from Sichuan Province, China (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Pterostichini and Platynini), Zootaxa 4881 (3), pp. 545-558 : 546-550

Jujiroa zhouchaoi sp. nov.

(Chinese name: ḄDĀṚṃm)

Figs. 1–3

Material. Holotype: male, cave Shenxian Dong, Mt. Zhaogong, Yutang , Dujiangyan , Chengdu , Sichuan (Hnjờẁ ďḿďữûḿṮṞüŭẌƜṖIJḆ), 30°56′39.21″N, 103°31′40.07″E, 1460 m, IV-11-2020, leg. Li He & Chao Zhou, in SCAU . Paratypes (10): 3 males, 2 females, idem holotype, in SCAU ; 2 males, 1 female, idem holotype, in CHL ; 2 males, idem holotype, in CCZ . 1 female, spare in ethanol, SCAU .

Diagnosis. A medium-sized Jujiroa species, body depigmented, microphthalmic, head thin and nearly parallelsided, fore angles of pronotum distinctly protruded, elytral striae largely punctate, not mucronate at apices.

Description. Length: 13.0–15.0 mm; width: 4.0– 4.4 mm. Habitus as in Fig. 1 .

Body concolorous reddish brown but a little darker on head, surface smooth and glabrous (though rough on sides and lateral margins of pronotum), strongly shiny. Microsculptural meshes nearly isodiametric on head, transversely on pronotum and elytra.

Head thin and elongate, much longer than wide, HLm/HW = 2.05–2.11, HLl/HW = 1.54–1.56; widest exactly where the eyes are at about middle of head from base to labrum; genae convex, and slightly expanded at sides; frontal furrows short and shallow, ending before anterior supraorbital pores; two pairs of supraorbital pores present, anterior at little before widest point and near inner margin of eye, posterior distant from eye; eyes very small and flat; clypeus bisetose, labrum bisinuate at front margin, 6-setose; mandibles elongated, teeth reduced; labial suture clear; mentum with two setae on either side just in front of the basal pit which is very small; median tooth short, bifid at tip; submentum with three setae on each side, inner ones longest, outer ones shortest; ligula short, widened and truncated at apical margin, bisetose; palpomeres long and slender, the 2 nd labial palpomere bisetose on inner margin, 1.2 times as long as 3 rd, the 3 rd maxillary palpomere as long as 4 th; antennae filiform, thin and very long, extended to apical 1/4 elytra, the 1 st to 3 rd antennomeres glabrous, each of the 1 st and 2 nd with a seta near apex, pubescent from the 4 th; the 2 nd shortest, while 5 th longest; relative length of each antennomere compared with 2 nd antennomere in the holotype as follows: 1 st (2.05), 2 nd (1.00), 3 rd (2.20), 4 th (2.25), 5 th (2.40), 6 th (2.30), 7 th (2.25), 8 th (2.05), 9 th (1.90), 10 th (1.65) and 11 th (1.55).

Pronotum subcordate, transverse, PL/PW = 0.91–0.93; much wider but slightly shorter than head, PW/HW = 1.56–1.59, PL/HLl = 0.94; widest at about 1/3 from front, lateral margins including front and hind angles widely reflexed throughout, gently and gradually narrowed towards hind angles, basal foveae short but well-marked; only basal latero-marginal setae present, inserted just on the hind angles; fore angles extraordinarily protruded and roundly lobed, hind angles rectangular and pointed; entire lateral margins and front without borders, base finely bordered, slightly narrower than front including front angles, PbW/PfW = 0.98–0.99; both base and front nearly straight. Scutellum small, triangular.

Elytra elongate, amygdaloid, much longer than wide, EL/EW = 1.76–1.78; distinctly longer than forebody including mandibles, much wider than pronotum; base well-bordered (but unbordered against the 1 st interval), shoulders nearly rounded; widest at about 4/7 of elytra from base, apex protruded and narrowed backwardly, not mucronate; disc convex, striae entire, impressed by large and nearly rounded punctures; scutellar striole short; basal pores absent; the 3 rd interval with a setiferous pore at about 3/7 of elytra from apex, and presence of a preapical pore close to the 2 nd stria at apical 1/8 of elytra; three pores present on 7 th stria posteriorly; an apical pore present; 23–25 marginal umbilicate pores present throughout, continuous.

Ventral surface smooth and glabrous. Legs slender and elongate, procoxae asetose, mesocoxae unisetose, metacoxae bisetose, without inner seta; each trochanter with a single seta; metafemur bisetose posteriorly; tibiae and tarsi smooth, without longitudinal sulci or striae externally; the 4 th tarsomere bilobed in fore and middle legs, moderately emarginated in hind ones; 1 st –3 rd tarsomeres longitudinally bisulcate; 1 st protarsomere not modified in male, but with two spongy setae on ventral surface. Each abdominal ventrite IV–VI bisetose, ventrite VII bisetose in male, quadrisetose in female.

Male genitalia ( Fig. 2 ): Median lobe of aedeagus ( Fig. 2A ) slender and elongate, slightly arcuate in middle portion, then gently curved towards apex which is bluntly pointed; sagittal aileron quite small, base moderately opened, parameres developed ( Fig. 2B ). In lateral view, apical lobe thin, much longer than wide ( Fig. 2C ).

Remarks. Similar to Jujiroa satoi Uéno, 2007 , but it is easily distinguished by its slenderer body, thinner head which is almost parallel-sided, coarsely punctate striae on elytra, presence of an additional short seta on each outer side of submentum, and slenderer male genitalia.

Etymology. The new species is dedicated to Mr. Chao Zhou, an enthusiastic amateur entomologist who is one of the collectors of the type series.

Distribution. China (Sichuan). Known from the cave Shenxian Dong and two other anonymous caves in Dujiangyan, Sichuan ( Fig. 3 ).

The calcareous conglomerate cave Shenxian Dong is located on the mountainside of Mt. Zhaogong, the main peak of Mt. Qingcheng. It is about a 5.5 km walk along the hiking trails from Longfeng Village to the entrance of the cave, which is located at the bottom of a hill ( Fig. 3A ). The opening of the entrance is small and there is a statue of Magu (a goddess in Chinese Taoist mythology) outside the entrance ( Fig. 3B, C ). The cave is narrow and moist, with some narrower branches at both sides of the main passage. Since the passage ahead is narrow, we do not know how long the cave is. Individuals of J. zhouchaoi sp. nov. were collected under stone or deadwood in the moist and gravelly areas about 10–70 meters from the entrance ( Fig. 3 D–F). Other cave animals living in the cave are bats, crickets, spiders and amphipods.

Elytral debris of this new species was also collected in two anonymous caves near Shenxian Dong.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Habitus of Jujiroa zhouchaoi sp. nov., male, holotype.

FIGURE 2. Male genitalia of Jujiroa zhouchaoi sp. nov., paratype.

FIGURE 3. Cave Shenxian Dong, the type locality of Jujiroa zhouchaoi sp. nov. A, environs of the cave, entrance shown by arrowhead; B, C, entrance; D, individual running in cave; E, the moist and gravelly areas in cave, showing the habitat where the beetles were collected; F, Chao Zhou is collecting.