Hololeius LaFerte-Senectere , 1851

Gueorguiev, Borislav, 2014, Two new related oodine genera in the Oriental Region, with remarks on the systematic position of the genera Hololeius and Holosoma (Coleoptera, Carabidae), Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 61 (2), pp. 87-104 : 88

Taxon classification Animalia Coleoptera Carabidae

Hololeius LaFerte-Senectere, 1851

Type species.

Chlaenius nitidulus Dejean, 1826

Diagnosis.

Small to medium-sized specimens (11-13 mm) for Oriental chlaeniines, with the following characters: habitus semi-elongate; color mostly olivaceous; integument punctate and pubescent, pubescence denser on sides of elytra and on sides of abdomen, less developed, scattered or lacking on rest of body; head with conspicuously large eyes and minute tempora; penultimate segment of labial palpomere without setae; antennomeres 1-3 lighter than other antennomeres, scape and pedicel glabrous, antennomere 3 with a few fine and scattered setae; pronotum subquadrate, without protruded angles, with basal margin laterally oblique towards posterior angle; elytra more densely pubescent and punctate laterally and apically, with only a few hairs basally and on disc; striae 1-7 of elytra punctiform; striae 5-7 obliterated anteriorly; stria 8 linear, somewhat more impressed than other striae; mesocoxa with two long setae, one lateral seta and one posteromedial seta; sterna 4-5 with pair of long ambulatory setae, sternum 3 without such setae; last abdominal sternum with two pores in male, four pores in female; male protarsomeres 1-3 longer than wide and with protarsomere 1 longer than each of following two protarsomeres separately; tarsomere 5 of all legs setose ventrally.

Taxonomic position.

LaFerté-Sénectére (1851: 274) proposed Hololeius for Chlaenius nitidulus Dejean, 1826, due to: 1, pronotum at the base narrower than the base of elytra; 2, lack of pubescence; 3, antennomere 3 not longer than subsequent antennomeres. He placed the genus in tribe Oodini LaFerté-Sénectére, 1851, concluding: “C’est-à-dire qu’à l’exception de la largeur du corselet, cet insecte réunit tout les charactèrs à l’aide desquels nous avons séparé les Oodites des Chlaœnides.”. In terms of the present knowledge, I can state that the first and third characters are true, but not the second one. When examined it was found that Hololeius ceylanicus has the integument partially and diffusely punctate and pubescent, both dorsally and ventrally. This state is opposed to one of the basic features of the Oodini , namely the lack of pubescence and lack of extensive punctation of the integument ( Bousquet 1996: 448). Hence, the three characters LaFerté-Sénectére mentioned are typical of Chlaeniini . The length and ratio of antennomere 3 to the following antennomeres is not of tribal significance.

Hololeius is usually placed in the beginning of the genera of Chlaeniini ( Lorenz 1998, 2005), presumably because of some odd features that it possesses. Actually, the genus combines characters distinctive for either one or the other tribe and the importance of each is discussed below (see ‘Affinities’ under Bamaroodes gen. n., ‘Discussion’).