Wanoblemus Tian & Fang

Fang, Jie, Li, Wenbo & Tian, Mingyi, 2016, Occurrence of cavernicolous ground beetles in Anhui Province, eastern China (Coleoptera, Carabidae, Trechinae), ZooKeys 625, pp. 99-110 : 105-106

Taxon classification Animalia Coleoptera Carabidae

Wanoblemus Tian & Fang gen. n.

Type species.

Wanoblemus wui Tian & Fang, sp. n. (Baiyun Dong Cave, Xuancheng Shi).

Generic characteristics.

Medium-sized within the phyletic series ( Jeannel 1928; Casale and Laneyrie 1982; Casale et al. 1998) or complex ( Uéno and Pawlowski 1981) Trechoblemus ; anophthalmic beetles; body and appendages fairly thin and elongate; head subquadrate, longer (excluding mandibles) than wide, and longer than pronotum; frontal furrows complete, two pairs of supra-orbital and one pair of suborbital pores present; right mandible bidentate; labial suture completely absent, resulting in fused mentum and submentum; mentum bisetose, base strongly concave, tooth simple and short, blunt at apex; submentum 10-setose; antennae fairly long, nearly reaching the middle of the elytra; pronotum subcordate, slightly shorter than wide, widest near the front, about 1/5 of the apex, with two pairs of lateromarginal setae; lateral margin of the pronotum just before the hind angles nearly parallel, hind angles rectangular and sharp, the base nearly straight; elytra elongate, much longer (including mandibles) than the fore body, widest near the middle, surface moderately convex, shoulders distinct and angularly rounded where finely subserrate; lateral margins ciliated throughout; striae obliterated in stria 1, partly traceable in striae 2 and 3; two dorsal and the pre-apical pores present on each elytron; humeral group of marginal umbilicate pores irregular; protibia with external longitudinal groove; in males, protarsomeres 1 and 2 modified, distinctly denticulate inward, at the apex; ventrite VII with two pairs of setae in females and one pair of setae in males; male genitalia short and stout, strongly curved.

Discussion.

Wanoblemus is not clearly related to any trechine genus associated with the Trechoblemus phyletic series described in China. It is probably closest to the Zhejiangese genus Wulongoblemus Uéno, 2006, as both have a similar pronotum and modified protarsomeres 1 and 2 in males. However, Wanoblemus differs from Wulongoblemus in the following characteristics: (1) right mandible bidentate in Wanoblemus but tridentate in Wulongoblemus ; (2) elytra not serrate in the shoulders, less convex and narrower in Wanoblemus than in Wulongoblemus ; (3) Wanoblemus is smaller than Wulongoblemus ; (4) in Wanoblemus the pronotum is covered with fairly long pubescence, hind angles are right, postangular carinae are indistinct, and the lateral margin before hind angles is straight and nearly parallel, whereas in Wulongoblemus the pronotum is glabrous, hind angles are sharp, postangular carinae are distinct, and the lateral margin before hind angles is strongly sinuate, not parallel.

Wanoblemus might also be closely related to the subgenus Zhecimmerites (genus Cimmeritodes ), although differing from the latter in the following key characteristics: (1) members of Wanoblemus are larger, and their body and appendages are more elongated than that of members of the genus Cimmeritodes ; (2) the right mandible is bidentate in Wanoblemus and tridentate in Cimmeritodes ; (3) in male Wanoblemus protarsomeres 1 and 2 are modified whereas in male Cimmeritodes only protarsomere 1 is modified; (4) Wanoblemus pronotum is as long as wide, with right hind angles whereas Cimmeritodes pronotum is transverse, with acute hind angles.

A number of characteristics also differ between Wanoblemus and the Zhejiangese genus Microblemus Uéno, 2007: (1) head quadrate in Wanoblemus , but not quadrate in Microblemus ; (2) right mandible bisetose in Wanoblemus and 3-setose in Microblemus ; (3) mentum and submentum completely fused in Wanoblemus and only partly fused, with labial suture traceable, in Microblemus ; (4) base of pronotum nearly straight in Wanoblemus , with right hind angles, and distinctly emarginated at the median section, with obtuse hind angles, in Microblemus ; (5) elytra shoulders not dentate in Wanoblemus but remarkably dentate in Microblemus .

Wanoblemus is also easily separated from Sidublemus Tian & Yin, 2013, which is found in the southeast of the Hunan Province. In both genera, males protarsi are modified in joints 1 and 2, but: (1) Wanoblemus body is larger and more elongated, with slender appendages than Sidublemus body, which is small but stout, with short appendages; (2) right mandible bidentate in Wanoblemus and tridentate in Sidublemus ; (3) simple hind angle in Wanoblemus and dentate in Sidublemus .

Wanoblemus is clearly distinct from the genus Sinocimmerites due to its elongate body, long and thin appendages, completely fused mentum and submentum, simple head tooth, longitudinally furrowed protibia, and stout and short aedeagus.

The endogean genus Balazucellus , which was recorded from Shennongjia, western Hubei Province, also differs from Wanoblemus . Among other features, Balazucellus body is smaller and stouter than Wanoblemus , the right mandible is tridentate (bidentate in Wanoblemus ), and the antennae are moniliform (filiform in Wanoblemus ).

Etymology.

Indicates these beetles occur in Anhui Province; “Wan” is the short name for Anhui Province in Chinese.

Genus distribution range.

China (Anhui) (Fig. 3).