Guiaphaenops Deuve, 2002

Feng, Bin, Wei, Guofu & Tian, Mingyi, 2017, A review of the cavernicolous genus Guiaphaenops Deuve, with the description of a new species (Coleoptera, Carabidae, Trechinae), ZooKeys 669, pp. 53-63 : 53-54

Genus Guiaphaenops Deuve, 2002

Subgenus Guiaphaenops (of Guizhaphaenops Vigna Taglianti, 1997), Deuve, 2002: 516 (type species: Guizhaphaenops lingyunensis Deuve, 2002).

Genus Guiaphaenops , Uéno, 2006: 22

Main generic characteristics.

Median sized and semi-aphaenopsian beetles, eyeless and depigmented; appendages rather long, antennae extending at (female) or over (male) elytral apices; dorsal surface glabrous though a few short hairs present on genae; fore part including mandibles nearly as long as elytra. Head rather elongated, much longer than wide, sub-tubiform; genea slightly and gradually narrowed posteriorly, frontal furrows uncompleted, effaced posteriorly, presence of two pairs of frontal setiferous pores; mandibles thin and elongated, feebly curved apically, right mandibular teeth bidentate; mentum and submentum fused, mental tooth simple, base of mentum distinctly concave, submentum 8- to 10-setose. Prothorax evidently wider than head, propleura distinctly convex and evidently visible from above; pronotum sub-quadrate, slightly wider than head, evidently longer than wide, presence of two pairs of latero-marginal setae, side margins slightly or strongly sinuate before hind angles which are more or less broadly lobed. Elytra sub-ovate, much wider than prothorax, shoulders rounded, prehumeral borders arcuate or nearly oblique, lateral margins ciliate in basal half; striae lacking though somewhat traceable; presence of two dorsal pores and the preapical pore on each elytron. Chaetotaxy: the 1st pore in the humeral group of the marginal umbilicate series transversely and backwardly shifted, at level behind the 2nd pore; the 5th and 6th pores in the middle group close to each other. Protibia smooth, without longitudinal sulcus; only the 1st protarsomere modified in male. Abdominal ventrite VII bisetose in male, while quadrisetose in female. Male genitalia weakly sclerotized, very small, slightly curved ventrally in lateral view, with a quite large sagittal aileron; apical lobe broad in dorsal view; parameres moderately developed, each with 4 rather short apical setae.

Discussion.

Though Guiaphaenops is more or less similar to the genus Guizhaphaenops , the peculiar characteristics such as propleura of prothorax convex and visible from above and the 1st pore of elytral marginal umbilicate series transversely and backwardly suggest that it has to be isolated from the latter genus ( Uéno, 2006). Guiaphaenops is probably closer to Zhijinaphaenops Uéno & Ran, 2002 than to Guizhaphaenops in a strict sense because the above mentioned morphological features of Guiaphaenops are also shared by Zhijinaphaenops . However, Guiaphaenops is easily distinguished from the latter genus by its glabrous and smooth body (wholly pubescent in Zhijinaphaenops ), roundly lobed hind angles (well-marked in Zhijinaphaenops ), presence of anterior frontal pores on head and hind latero-marginal setae on pronotum (both absent in Zhijinaphaenops ), and sub-ovate elytra (elongated ovate in Zhijinaphaenops ).

Range.

China (Guangxi). Known only by two species from four limestone caves in Lingyun Xian (Fig. 1).

Key to species of Guiaphaenops