Asioreicheia guenardi, Balkenohl & Aston, 2015

Balkenohl, Michael & Aston, Paul, 2015, Asioreicheia guenardi sp. nov. (Insecta: Coleoptera: Carabidae: Clivinini), a new peculiar species from Hong Kong, Contributions to Natural History 31, pp. 1-12 : 3-10

Asioreicheia guenardi sp. nov.

Type material: Holotype ♂, with printed label "Locality: Lung Fu shan C.P., Hong Kong ( Adjacent to Hong Kong University Campus )"; second printed label "Leg. Dr. Benoit Guénard & M. Wong. Hong Kong University"; blue handwritten label "1–2 of 25.xi.14 H.K.U. campus, alt 156 m HKG – winkler"; backside black printed "coll: B. Guénard Hong Kong, China"; second blue handwritten label "Clivini [sic!] sp I" backside black printed "Determined Paul Aston " ( NMBE).

Paratypes: 1 ♀: same data as holotype ( CBB) ; 1 ♂, same data as holotype, but with blue handwritten label data "2 of 24.xi.14 HKU campus, HKG alt 295 m – winkler extractor"; backside black printed: "coll: B. Guénard Hong Kong, China "; second blue handwritten label " Clivinini sp I." backside black printed "Determined Paul Aston " ( CAHK) .

Description ( Figs. 1–4 ; habitus Figs. 1a, b )

Measurements (n = 3): Body length 1.95–2.15 mm (X = 2.05 mm), width 0.70–0.77 mm (X = 0.72 mm), ratio length/width of pronotum 0.98–0.1.04 (X = 1.01), ratio length/width of elytra 1.53–1.55 (X = 1.55).

Colour: Head, pronotum, dorsal and ventral surface middle to dark reddish brown. Vault of supraantennal plates, lateral teeth of clypeus light brown. Mandibles middle brown with carinae and apices darkened; mandibular and maxillar palpi yellowish-beige, transparent at apical tip; femora and tibiae yellowish red brown; tarsomeres, scapus and pedicellus light brown; antennomeres 3–11 yellowish-beige.

Head ( Fig. 2 ): A third narrower than pronotum. Clypeus and lateral teeth finely margined. Clypeus straight at anterior margin, lateral teeth moderately projecting, obtuse at tip, divided from supraantennal plates by indistinct obtuse-angular notches; clypeal field pentagonal, prolonged to frons as triangular elevation with sharp keel; frons moderately convex, with transverse rugae laterally to keel; clypeal field and frons with distinctly meshed reticulation. Supraantennal plates convex, smooth, laterally and posteriorly with distinct carina. Frontal furrows deep, diverging anteriorly and posteriorly of keel level. Anterior supraorbital setae situated at the end of supraorbital vault, the posterior ones at level of the end of genae; bilateral fovea bearing the clypeofrontal setae situated laterally and anteriorly to base of keel. Eyes reduced to a single convex to slightly globally protruding ommatidium, pointing anteriorly, surrounded by dark pigment; genae distinctly enlarged, higher than eyes, smooth. Labrum slightly trilobed anteriorly, with irregular reticulation, 5-setose. Mandible distinctly curved, acute at apex. Apical segment of maxillary palpomere slender, securiform, pointed at apex; apical segment of labial palpomere bottle-like, somewhat broadened, penultimate segment bisetose. Mentum bordered at base, lobes broadly rounded-off, apex of lobes with transverse rugae, median tooth not extending over lateral lobes; ligula with moderately long seta; antenna moderately long, extending up to posterior setigerous puncture of pronotum, scapus about as long as pedicellus, with one dorsoapical seta, third segment 1.5 times longer than wide, segments 4–10 moniliform, fully pubescent from segment 4 onwards.

Pronotum: Outline subrectangular, in lateral view moderately convex, moderately to slightly convex to base. As wide as long, maximum width at middle. Lateral border slightly convex in middle part, convexity more distinct from posterior half to base. Reflexed lateral margin distinct, reaching from rounded anterior angles up to base, not joining anterior transverse line. Lateral channel narrow but distinct. Proepisternum tumid posterolaterally, well visible from above. Median line small, sharp, distinct, deeper at base, joining finely basal constriction (seen best at 140 x magnification), not joining anterior transverse line; anterior transverse line intimated, indistinct, visible in some specimens by its pigmentation; surface shiny, with irregular reticulation (seen best at 160 x magnification). Ring-like flange moderately convex (lateral view), constriction formed by row of rough foveae.

Elytra: Moderately convex on disc, distinctly convex in basal third (lateral view). Outline regularly long-oval, maximum width at middle, margined from pedunculus to apex; margin serrate up to apical third, teeth of serration sharp basally, becoming indistinct apically; base nearly straight, with fine and smooth reflexed margin; humeral angle visible, obtuse; lateral channel broad from level of humerus to apex, narrow at middle, with fold-like carina near apex crossing lateral channel, with broad setigerous tubercles; setae robust, long. Suture at base somewhat impressed. Basal granula absent; basal setigerous puncture with distinct tubercle, situated in projected extension of first interval. No scutellar stria. Striae 1–3 consisting of partly connected punctures, 1–5 reaching base but not up to basal declivity, all becoming less impressed towards apex and laterally. First interval slightly to moderately convex, others flattened. Interval 3 with 10–12 and interval 5 with 7–8 fine setigerous punctures, located with nearly equal distance to each other but with irregular distance to striae, setae pili-like, short, fine, upright.

Hind wings: Completely atrophied.

Ventral surface: Submarginal furrow of proepisternum visible from level of anterior setigerous puncture to middle of pronotum where it is turning to the disc due to convexity of the proepisternum, surface with some fine transverse wrinkles. Furrow between prosternum and proepisternum narrow, distinct. Abdominal sternites nearly smooth; terminal segment with an indistinct and irregular reticulation in male (seen best at 160 x magnification), with irregular transverse reticulation in female; two apical setigerous punctures distant.

Legs: Protibia: Surface with distinct longitudinal reticulation; lateral upper spine ventrally curved. Movable spur smaller than spine, nearly straight, ventrally curved at apex. Praeapical lateral denticle robust, sharp, second one smaller. Hind legs: Tarsomere 1 longer than tarsomeres 2+3 (ratio 12:10).

Male genitalia ( Figs. 3a–c ): Median lobe moderately sclerotized, shape in ventral view about rectangularly arcuate in middle part, slightly flattened in apical half, somewhat distorted, apex formed by asymmetric rounded small spatula. Oroficium half as long as lobe, closing lips less sclerotized. Endophallus with numerous wrinkles, no spines or bristles visible (seen best at 500 x magnification). Parameres asymmetrically, ventral one much more slender and one third shorter than dorsal one, dorsal one twisted, each with two long setae at apex arising closely together. Genital ring wide, closed, oval-shaped, slightly distorted.

Female genitalia: Coxostylus slender ( Fig. 4 ), dorsoventrally moderately broadened (oval-funnel like), distinctly curved apically, slightly carinate nearly up to apex; with two broader moderately long ensiform setae in middle part arising from knob-like tubercles, and one conspicuously long lateral ensiform seta at base; with two long and two medium sized nematiforme setae.

Variation: In the three specimens examined, the anterior transverse line of the pronotum is more or less distinctly visible as a clear line. The punctures of the stria on the elytra show high variation in strenght of impression and also vary in position.

Differential diagnosis: Asioreicheia guenardi sp. nov. differs from the most related species A. chinensis ( BULIRSCH, MAGRINI & JIA, 2013) by the character states provided in Tab. 1 .

Other Asioreicheia species differ from A. guenardi as follows: A. margolata ( BALKENOHL, 2005) does not have setigerous punctures on interval 5 of the elytra, and has an ovate shaped elytra. In A. vietnamica BULIRSCH & MAGRINI, 2014 and in A. fedorenkoi BULIRSCH & MAGRINI, 2014 , the pronotum is longer than wide. Laoreicheia bulirschi BALKENOHL, 2005 exhibits two pairs of paramedian setae on the pronotum, and the elytra are completely serrate. In Reicheia moritai BALKENOHL, 2005 the proepisternum is not visible dorsally, the pronotum is distinctly cup-shaped, and the lateral channel of the elytra is smaller. For further differences compare Balkenohl (2005) and Bulirsch & Magrini (2014).

Etymology: The name is a patronym of Dr. Benoit Guénard, Hong Kong, who collected the specimens.

Distribution: Known from the type locality in Hong Kong.

Zoogeographic considerations: Between the records of A. chinensis and A. guernardi sp. nov. there are three geographic barriers formed by: (1) the Xi and Bei river sections, (2) the Pearl delta rivers, (3) the sea. The specimens were found on Hong Kong Island, historically separated from the mainland by the sea forming a very deep 1 km wide channel.

However, during the last ice age the sea receded for 50 km (B. Guénard, personal communication), and we have to assume that during this period this channel would have been a deep river. Heishiding National Reserve (the record of A. chinensis ) is located between the He, Xi, and Bei river. All the rivers to the west of and including the Xi and Bei river sections are deeply cut rivers and will not have moved in 100,000's of years except for the point where the Xi meets the Bei which is on the Pearl river flood plain. The Pearl delta rivers are all massive, and there are a lot of them. But as they are on a flood plain, they will have all moved back and forth. So, it is supposed to be unlikely for a flightless terricol species to extend its distribution across these barriers and the delta.

Habitat: The specimens were collected by soil sieving in a mature disturbed secondary forest with closed canopy and very dense leaf litter at altitudes between 156 and 295 meters.

Remark: According to the label of the holo- and paratype of A. chinensis , this species was collected by "sifting of moist leaf litter in the dried-up stream beds and along the streams in the primary lowland forest", and at an altitude of 190–260 meters.

Figures

Figs. 1a, b: Asioreicheia guenardi sp. nov., holotype, male, a: dorsal view, b: lateral view.

Fig. 2: Asioreicheia guenardi sp. nov., holotype, male, head with mouthparts, dorsal view.

Fig. 3a–c: Asioreicheia guenardi sp. nov., holotype, male. a: aedeagus with median lobe and parameres, ventral view; b: apical part of median lobe, ventral view; c: genital ring.

Fig. 4: Asioreicheia guenardi sp. nov., paratype female, left coxostylus, dorsal view.