Termitocnemis, Jiang & Song & He & Engel & Wang, 2021

Jiang, Ri-Xin, Song, Hai-Tian, He, Xue-You, Engel, Michael S. & Wang, Shuo, 2021, A new termitophilous genus and species of the tribe Amarygmini Gistel, 1848 from China (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae), Zootaxa 5004 (4), pp. 577-586 : 579

Genus Termitocnemis gen. nov. (•.ƶ'NJ)

Type species. Termitocnemis huangi sp. nov. (黄氏•.ƶ')

Diagnosis. Similar to Gonocnemis and Paragonocnemis . Body reddish brown, surface shiny, finely covered with short thin setae. Head downcast owing to strong hypognathy, compound eyes large, nephroid, not contacting medially on frons. Antennal tubercles distinctly raised; antenna not specialized, surface covered with sparse short setae, antennomeres I–III columnar, antennomeres IV–XI finely flat. Disc of pronotum strongly convex, anterior and posterior angles distinctly raised, with posterior angles acute and projecting. Apex of prosternal process nearly triangular. Each elytron with nine distinct intervals. Profemur armed with a triangular tooth on inner surface; other leg podites simple.

The new genus is most similar to the genus Gonocnemis , but can be easily distinguished by the following characters: 1) body shiny (usually dull in Gonocnemis ); 2) different pronotal shape (pronotum of Gonocnemis spp. not raised at anterior and posterior angles, and without strongly projecting posterior angles.). The new genus is also greatly similar to the Gonocnemis -like genus Paragonocnemis . Both genera have widely separated compound eyes on the frons, but the pronotum of the new genus lacks longitudinal ridges and the surface is shiny and about the same width at its base and apex, while the pronotum of species of Paragonocnemis have distinct longitudinal ridges, and the pronotum is narrowest apically and with the surface typically roughened.

Termitocnemis gen. nov. is also more or less similar to Alienoplonyx Bremer, 2019, as both genera have the profemur armed and also have the pronotal posterior angles distinctly raised. However, the new genus differs from Alienoplonyx by the following characters: 1) antenna not specialized (dilated in Alienoplonyx); 2) frons not obviously raised, the head is not obliquely and straightly descending anterior to the genae (frons distinctly raised, head obliquely and straightly descending anterior to genae in Alienoplonyx); 3) compound eyes widely separated on frons (compound eyes almost contacting each other medially on frons in Alienoplonys); 4) pronotal width about the same basally and apically (widest at base and narrowest apically in Alienoplonyx); 5) tarsi long and stout (short and thin in Alienoplonyx).

Description. Refer to the description of Termitocnemis huangi sp. nov. (vide infra).

Etymology. The new genus-group name is a combination of the Latin termes (meaning, “termite”, masculine; genitive termitis) and cnemis (New Latin derivative of Ancient Greek knēmís (κνημῘ́ς), feminine, meaning, “legging”; itself from knḗmē (κνήμη), meaning, “shin” or “tibia”, and – ís (– ίς), a suffix forming feminine nouns and adjectives). The name refers to the general similarity of the genus to Gonocnemis and its ecological association with termites. Gender feminine.