Gilesdytes ethelianus, Giachino & Eberhard & Perina, 2021

Giachino, Pier Mauro, Eberhard, Stefan & Perina, Giulia, 2021, A rich fauna of subterranean short-range endemic Anillini (Coleoptera, Carabidae, Trechinae) from semi-arid regions of Western Australia, ZooKeys 1044, pp. 269-337 : 269

Gilesdytes ethelianus sp. nov. Figs 41 , 42

Type locality.

WA, Pilbara, 11 km ENE Newman, Ethel Gorge, 23°18'22.176S, 119°51'41.652E.

Type series.

HT ♂ (remains), WA, Pilbara, 11 km ENE Newman, Ethel Gorge, 23°18'22.176S, 119°51'41.652E (WGS84), P. Bell, S. Catomore, 05 Nov. 2010, Stygo. Net haul; (BHP021_W262-10:0697e) Western Australian Museum Entomology Reg. no. 82608 (WAM).

Note.

The only specimen collected had head, prothorax and legs missing (excluding one trochanter), however the remaining characters available were not comparable with other species described, and the presence of aedeagus allowed us to describe the new species.

The taxon Gilesdytes ethelianus sp. nov., based on elytra and aedeagus morphology, is provisionally assigned to the genus Gilesdytes .

Differential diagnosis.

Small sized species (estimated TL mm 1.30), easily distinguishable from G. pardooanus sp. nov. and from G. vixsulcatus by the discal pore placed in the middle of elytron, not located towards its edge.

Description of the HT ♂.

Estimated TL mm 1.30.

Elytra (Fig. 41 ) subrectangular (total length = mm 0.77), very elongated (max. length/max. width ratio = 1.94), maximum width near the middle, slightly emarginated before apex. Disc poorly convex; shiny, integument testaceous, with evident microsculpture and very short, sparse and upright pubescence. Humeri hardly marked, almost right; post-humeral margin denticulate, with distinct crenulation up to the 8th, 9th pores of the umbilicate series; elytral apices not separately rounded. Marginal groove wide and evident up to the 7th pore of the umbilicate series.

Chaetotaxy: scutellar pore large, foveate. Umbilicate series with the 1st, 2nd and 3rd pores of the humeral group almost equidistant; 4th pore clearly farther from the 3rd, placed after the end of the basal third of the elytron; 5th pore placed just after the middle length of the elytron; 5th and 6th pores spaced out ca. the 1/3 of the distance from 6th and 7th ones; 7th, 8th and 9th pores not equidistant, with 8th and 9th pores closest. Due to setae missing it is impossible to determine if the 8th pore is placed after the 9th one; 7th pore displaced onto the disc. One single discal seta not laterally located towards the edge and placed at the level of the 7th pore.

Metatrochanters unarmed in the male.

Aedeagus (Fig. 42 ) relatively small, median lobe long, slender, subrectilinear, with basal bulb well-shaped; ventral margin poorly and gently curved from basal bulb to apex; apical blade short and poorly evident. Endophallus with a subapical, bisinuate, sclerified phanera. Parameres missing.

Etymology.

The name comes from the Ethel Gorge type locality.

Distribution.

Gilesdytes ethelianus sp. nov. is known only from the type locality (Ethel Gorge), 11 km ENE of Newman, Pilbara, WA.

Figures

Figures 38 - 42. Gilesdytes gen. et spp. nov., habitus (38, 40, 41) aedeagus in lateral view (39, 42) 38, 39 G. vixsulcatus (Baehr and Main), ♂ 40 G. pardooanus sp. nov., HT ♀ 41, 42 G. ethelianus sp. nov., HT ♂. Scale bars: 0.1 mm.