Trechepaphiopsis Deuve, 2016

Deuve, Thierry, Kavanaugh, David H. & Liang, Hongbin, 2016, Inventory of the Carabid Beetle Fauna of the Gaoligong Mountains, Western Yunnan Province, China: Species of the Tribe Trechini (Coleoptera: Caraboidea), with Descriptions of Four New Genera, One New Subgenus and 19 New Species., Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 63 (12), pp. 341-455 : 407

Genus Trechepaphiopsis Deuve and Kavanaugh, gen. nov.

TYPE SPECIES.— Trechepaphiopsis uniporosa , sp. nov.

DERIVATION OF GENUS GROUP NAME.— The genus group name (feminine) is a combination of two other trechine generic names, Trechus and Epaphius , plus the Greek suffix, οψις (translated into Latin as - opsis) meaning having the aspect of, here referring to a similarity with Epaphius members.

DIAGNOSIS.— Adults of this genus (Figs. 25–31) can be recognized by the following combination of character states: size small to moderate (BL = 2.8 to 3.7 mm), apterous; body color light to dark brown, reddish-brown, or piceous-brown, most members with dorsum slightly iridescent, dorsal surface glabrous except for isolated fixed setae typical for trechines, eyes also glabrous; head short, with eyes small; tempora convex, swollen in some members, sparsely pubescent; right mandible ( Fig. 16e ) with premolar tooth not fused with retinaculum and anterior point of the retinaculum free and displaced distally to form a separate tooth; mentum and submentum not fused; mentum with median tooth apical truncate or bifid; submentum with six setae; pronotum transverse, disc glabrous, basal foveae only slightly distinct, median basal area short and very transverse, delimited laterally by short, obliquely curved furrows, basal margin slightly projected posteriorly in most members, basal angles small, obtuse, rounded; elytra distinctly convex, with striae finely impressed, more or less punctate, lateral striae attenuated or effaced, recurrent stria terminated anteriorly with a bend or hook on interval 5 or 6, with a single discal seta on interval 3 next to stria three or without discal setae; preapical seta present, inserted next to stria 2; median lobe of male aedeagus of varied form, but endophallus membraneous, with spiny or scaly areas in some members, more or less sclerotized but without distinct sclerites.

COMMENTS.— In subtropical China, the “ Epaphiopsis Complex” of genera is represented mainly by Pseudepaphius Uéno (1962) , members of which are distinguished from true Epaphiopsis members by their smooth pronotum and the presence of a single discal seta on interval 5 next to stria 5 ( Deuve 1995). Members of our new genus, Trechepaphiopsis , are easily distinguished by their elytra chaetotaxy. Genus Junnanotrechus Uéno and Yin (1993) also belongs in this generic complex and is probably closely related to Pseudepaphius , based on both morphological ( Deuve 2013a) and molecular (A. Faille, unpublished) data. The illustration of the mandibles of Junnanotrechus elegantulus Belousov and Kabak (2014b, Fig. 1 ) confirms this phylogenetic affinity. The right mandible presents the same morphological features shared with Pseudepaphius ( Fig. 16e ) and Trechepaphiopsis members ( Fig. 16f ), namely the unfused premolar and the anterior tip of the retinaculum distinctly displaced anteriorly to form a separate tooth.

GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION.— This genus currently is known only from the Gaoligong Shan region of western Yunnan Province, China, where it is represented by the seven species treat- ed here. Three were previously described, all in genus Trechus , and four are described here as new. Each species apparently occupies only a narrow geographical range within the Gaoligong Shan, but their combined known ranges cover all but the northernmost part of the study area.

As is reflected in the key to species presented below, only male members of most of these species can be reliably distinguished, and that only by extraction and examination of their genitalic structure. To date, only two of these species have been recorded as sympatric and syntopic, namely T. unisetosa (Deuve) and T. uniporosa sp. nov. (in Core Area 4). Two species, T. unisetulosa sp. nov. and T. unipilosa sp. nov. occur in the same general area but apparently have different, non-overlapping altitudinal ranges. So, at least for the present, locality data may aid in tentative identifications of females and undissected males, except for the first two species mentioned above.

Figures

FIGURE 16. Trechine right mandibles, ventral aspect. a. Agonotrechus xiaoheishan sp. nov. b. Trechus indicus Putzeys with dentition enlarged. c. Trechus gongshanensis sp. nov. d. Trechus shibalicus sp. nov. e. Pseudepaphius gonggaicus Deuve with dentition enlarged (China, Sichuan Province, Moxi Township, NE slope of Gongga Shan). f. Trechepaphiopsis uniporosa sp. nov. with dentition enlarged. g. Epaphiotrechus fortipesoides sp. nov. with dentition enlarged. h. Trechepaphiama gaoligong sp. nov. Scale lines = 0.5 mm.

FIGURE 1. Map of Asia with study region outlined; scale line = m 500 km. Modified from Wikimedia Commons, World Atlas of the World, at URL: <http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8f/Whole_world_-_land_and_ oceans_12000.jpg> [last accessed 28 September 2016].