Wanhuaphaenops zhangi Tian & Wang

Tian, Mingyi, Huang, Sunbin, Wang, Xinhui & Tang, Mingruo, 2016, Contributions to the knowledge of subterranean trechine beetles in southern China's karsts: five new genera (Insecta, Coleoptera, Carabidae, Trechinae), ZooKeys 564, pp. 121-156 : 143-146

Taxon classification Animalia Coleoptera Carabidae

Wanhuaphaenops zhangi Tian & Wang sp. n.

Holotype.

male, Cave Songjia Dong, Beihu Qu, Chenzhou, southern Hunan Province, 25°40'08.05"N / 112°53'59"E, 493 m in altitude, VIII-25-2015, Xinhui Wang, Sunbin Huang, Mingruo Tang & Pingjing Yang leg., in SCAU; paratypes: 9 females & 9 males, ibid., in SCAU.

Diagnosis.

A slender and brown cave beetle, with a collar-like neck constriction on head, fairly long fore body which is slightly shorter than elytra, long head which is distinctly longer than prothorax, and distinct humeral angles of elytra.

Description.

Length: 5.4-5.8 mm (mean 5.6); width: 1.4-1.6 mm (mean 1.5). Habitus as in Fig. 14.

Body wholly brown, upper surface covered with sparse and minute pubescence, genae and underside of head with some longer setae, abdominal ventrites covered with denser minute pubescence, prosternum, propleura and meso- and metasterna glabrous; legs densely pubescent; microsculpture composed of finely, densely and strongly transverse meshes on upper and underside surfaces. Body elongated, fore body, including mandibles slightly shorter than elytra.

Head strongly elongated, HLm/HW = 2.37-2.5 (mean 2.44), HLl/HW = 1.89-1.94 (mean 1.91), widest at about third of head from labrum, then gently narrowed towards a collar-like constriction of the neck; anterior supra-orbital pore level to the widest point, posterior one at about 1/5th of head from base, strongly behind end of frontal furrows; distance between anterior and posterior pores greater than that between both anterior pores; frontal furrows fine but well-defined, short, nearly parallel-sided in the middle, divergent posteriad, but then convergent before ending points; anterior supra-orbital pores located at the level of mid frontal furrows, posterior ones near collar-like constriction, distance between both posterior pores about half as that between anterior and posterior pores of either side; frons and vertex moderately convex; clypeus quadrate, 4-setose; labrum transverse, widely but shallowly emarginated at front margin; mandibles gently unciform at apex; palps fairly slender, 3rd and 4th maxillary palps glabrous, subequal in length; 2nd labial palp distinctly longer than 3rd, with two setae at inner margin, and 2-3 additional ones in subapical part, 3rd glabrous; suborbital pores on ventral side, near a collar-shaped beaded neck; 1st antennomere thick, as long as 2nd; 3rd antennomere longest, 2.5 times as long as 1st; 4 th– 7th and 11th slightly longer than 8 th– 10th.

Prothorax shorter than head, PrL/HLm = 0.60-0.67 (mean 0.63), PrL/HLl = 0.75-0.86 (mean 0.80); but much wider, PrW/HW = 1.11-1.17 (mean 1.14), longer than wide, PrL/PrW = 1.29-1.43 (mean 1.34), widest at about 3/7ths from base; pronotum much longer than wide, PnL/PnW = 1.35-1.58 (mean 1.45), slightly wider than head, PnW/HW = 1.05-1.06 (mean 1.05); widest behind middle, sides beaded, gently narrowed both distad and basad, distinctly sinuate before hind angles, both front and hind angles obtuse, albeit hind ones more angulate and distinctly reflexed; anterior lateromarginal setae at about apical 2/5ths, posterior ones close but a little before hind angles, distinctly shorter than the formers; base slightly wider than front, PbW/PfW = 1.05-1.07 (mean 1.06), both nearly straight, front thickly and widely bordered, base unbordered; disc convex; middle line deep, connected to both front and basal impressions. Scutellum short and small.

Elytra fairly long and elongate ovate, much longer than wide, EL/EW = 1.78-1.82 (mean 1.80), slightly longer than fore body; widest at about 4/9th from apex, lateral margins finely beaded from base to finish just before apex, finely ciliate throughout, but remarkably distinct in angular area, nearly straight before and behind humeral angles; base not bordered; disc convex, but basal or humeral area distinctly depressed and almost flat; 2nd and 3rd striae well-marked and complete, others more or less oblit erated; all dorsal and pre-apical setiferous pores located exactly on interrupted and junction points of 2nd and 3rd striae, making 3rd interval with three regular longitudinal meshes between the pores; basal pores located near base, along both sides of scutellum; anterior and posterior dorsal pores at about basal third and middle of elytra, respectively, pre-apical pore at apical fourth of elytra, much closer to suture than to apex of elytra; humeral set of marginal umbilicate pores not aggregated, 1st-3rd pores equidistantly located, quite near the marginal gutter, 4th distant from 3rd; 5th and 6th isolated from each other, though 5th closer 6th than to 4th.

Legs thin and fairly long, femora moderate, tibiae not longitudinally furrowed, hind tibia slightly longer than elytral wide; protarsi short; 1st tarsomere shorter than, or subequal to, or longer than 2nd-4th tarsomeres combined in pro-, meso- and metatarsi, respectively.

Male genitalia (Fig. 10C, D): The median lobe of aedeagus very small, but well-sclerotized, with a small but distinct sagittal aileron and a fairly large copulatory piece; parameres well-developed.

Etymology.

This species is named in honour of Prof. Yuanhai Zhang (Institute of Karst Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Guilin), who was leading the cave exploration project at Wanhuayan in late August 2015, one of the results being the discovery of this interesting species.

Distribution.

China (Hunan) (Fig. 5f). Known only from the limestone Cave Songjia Dong, in the Wanhuayan cave system.

Songjia Dong is the upper part of the Wanhuayan cave system, about 10 km away from the main entrance of the Cave Wanhuayan. It is a water cave, with the entrance being as big as that in Wanhuayan (Fig. 15A). The beetles were collected in a dark area about 80 m deep from the entrance (Fig. 15B). A Colpodes species, a trogloxene, was also found in this cave (Fig. 15C).