Sinaphaenopoides, Tian & Huang & Jia, 2023

Tian, Mingyi, Huang, Sunbin & Jia, Xinyang, 2023, A contribution to cavernicolous beetle diversity of South China Karst: eight new genera and fourteen new species (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Trechini), Zootaxa 5243 (1), pp. 1-66 : 20-21

Sinaphaenopoides n. gen.

Type species: Sinaphaenopoides zhaoyiae n. sp. ( Zhongguo Dong, Chenzhou , Hunan)

Generic characteristics. Medium-sized for cave trechines; aphaenopsian, more or less similar to Sinaphaenops Uéno & Wang, 1991 ; body moderately elongate, fore body as long as elytra; head covered with sparse setae, pronotum and elytra glabrous, but head with a few sparse setae on genae. Head much longer than wide, side tumid, neck short, constriction short; presence of three pairs of supraorbital setiferous pores; frontal furrows short, ended before middle of head; frons flat, vertex strongly convex; clypeus 6-setose; right mandibular tooth bidentate; mentum and submentum fused; mentum bisetose, base largely concave; tooth simple at apex; submentum with a row of 8 or 9 setae; 2 nd labial palp bisetose on inner margin; antennae thin and long, extending to apical margins of elytra; scape longer than pedicel. Prothorax longer than wide, strongly tumid, making the propleura visible from above; pronotum longer than wide, with two pairs of latero-marginal setae, hind angle forwardly shifted, sharp; disc moderately convex, base as long as front. Elytra elongated ovate, widest at about apical 2/5; humeral angles completely rounded; lateral margins smooth and glabrous throughout; disc strongly convex, striae obsolete though more or less traceable, intervals slightly convex; apical striole absent; presence of two dorsal and the preapical pores; only 2 nd marginal umbilicate pore near marginal gutter; humeral set not aggregated, 1 st pore inwardly and backwardly shifted, median set moderately separated each other. Fore tibiae not sulcate longitudinally.

Remarks. Sinaphaenopoides n. gen. is similar to the genus Sinaphaenops Uéno & Wang, 1991 ranged in Guizhou and northern most Guangxi, in body shape as well as in the chaetotaxy. But there is a large geographical gap between them. For example, the cave Zhongguo Dong, the locality of Sinaphaenopoides , is about 500 km from the cave Laji Dong in Libo Xian, southeastern Guizhou, which is a locality of S. wangorum Uéno & Ran, 1998 , the eastern most for a Sinaphaenops species ( Uéno & Wang 1991, Uéno & Ran 1998, Chen et al. 2017). However, Sinaphaenopoides n. gen. harbours several different characteristics of generic importance from Sinaphaenops apart from less elongate and thinner legs and antennae, such as: (1) head with three pairs of frontal setiferous pores in Sinaphaenopoides n. gen., vs. only one or two pair(s) of frontal setiferous pores in Sinaphaenops ; (2) scape of antennae longer than pedicel in Sinaphaenopoides n. gen. vs. shorter in Sinaphaenops ; and (3) elytra moderately convex in Sinaphaenopoides n. gen., with striae more or less traceable, vs. elytra strongly convex and striae completely disappeared in Sinaphaenops . Probably, Sinaphaenopoides n. gen. is relative to the subgenus Dongaphaenops Deuve & Tian, 2014 within Sinaphaenops because they share the following characteristics: (1) Head sparsely setose, with shorter antennae which extending only at elytra apices; (2) mentum and submentum fused; and (3) pronotum with two pairs of latero-marginal pores. Phylogenetic analysis based on molecular data hinted that Dongaphaenops would be an independent lineage.

Etymology. Refers to the similarities between the new genus and Sinaphaenops . Gender masculine.

Range. China (Hunan) ( Figure 1m ) .

Figures

FIGURE 1. Map indicating the locality caves of the new genera and species. a. Xianren Dong; b. Shisanya Dong; c. Da Dong, Tuoluo; d. Da Dong, Bali; e. Weixiao Tiankeng; f. Laba Dong; g. Gui Dong; h. Suolue Cave I; i. Xiannü Dong; j. Jiudu Cave I; k. Xiannü Dong; l. Yunxian Dong; m. Zhongguo Dong; n. Feixian Dong.