Stomis bousqueti, Sciaky, 2024

Sciaky, Riccardo, 2024, Review of the Chinese Stomis, with description of nine new taxa and a new key (Carabidae: Pterostichini), Zootaxa 5523 (1), pp. 1-34 : 16

Stomis bousqueti sp. nov.

https://zoobank.org/6a49de7e-3100-45d3-8e51-d8202a9aa5ee

Stomis chinensis sensu Bousquet, 1983 and Sciaky, 1998, nec Jedlička, 1932

Diagnosis. A Stomis of short length (8.1 mm), black, shiny, convex. Head small, with rather large eyes, mandibles relatively short, pronotum almost as long as wide, with base completely punctate, elytra long and parallel-sided, with well-marked shoulders and striae deep and punctate. Aedeagus small, with very short apical lamella, depressed in the apical portion.

Description. Habitus as in Fig. 21 . Length 8.1 mm; integuments rather shiny, pitchy black, body rather convex; legs and antennae dark reddish brown, rather short and stout. Head of medium size, with shallow collar constriction right behind the eyes; mandibles rather short, shorter than the rest of the head; the right one without notch; eyes very large and convex; antennae relatively short, reaching the elytral base with the 8th article. Pronotum almost as broad as long, rather convex at sides; lateral margins feebly dilated in the anterior half, constricted in regular curve towards the base, then with a hint of a sinuature in the posterior seventh; anterior margin straight; anterior angles hardly projecting forward, very small; base almost straight; basal foveae ill-defined, broad, quite densely punctate; basal angles obtuse; lateral gutter very narrow all along. Elytra parallel-sided, not dilated in the posterior half, all striae deep and markedly punctate, intervals evidently convex; shoulders not constricted, rounded, without tooth. Median lobe of aedeagus extremely small, with apical portion evidently longer than basal portion; in lateral view very thin and depressed, with apex slightly curved upwards; in dorsal view with apical lamella short, pointed and asymmetrical ( Fig. 45 ). Ratios: El/Pl = 2.27; Ew/Pw = 1.39; El/Ew = 1.64.

Type-locality: “Szechwan China, DC Graham, WenChuanShien, 30 mi NNW Kuanshien, 4000 ft., VII.19.1933”

Type-series. Holotype ♂: Szechwan China, DC Graham, WenChuanShien, 30 mi NNW Kuanshien , 4000 ft., VII.19.1933 ( ACO).

Etymology. This species is named after Yves Bousquet, of the Agriculture Canada, Ottawa, a prominent specialist of Carabidae Pterostichinae , and who has repeatedly studied this interesting genus.

Affinities. Lassalle (2003) has been able to find the type specimen of Stomis chinensis Jedlička, 1932 , showing that the interpretation of this species proposed in my former revision (1998) had been wrong. The true Stomis chinensis is a species very similar to S. facchinii and is systematically very far from the species mentioned with doubt under this name by Bousquet (1983) and then treated by me as such ( Sciaky 1998) and approached to S. shoenmanni and S. robustus .

This species was mentioned in Bousquet (1983), Sciaky and Wrase (1997) and Sciaky (1998) under the name of S. chinensis Jedlička, 1932 . With the black color without metallic hues and the aedeagal shape it certainly belongs to the Stomis robustus —group, but it shows some peculiar characters that keep it rather separate from all the Chinese Stomis . The square shoulders and completely developed wings, in fact, set it aside from all the other species of this region, which constantly show rounded shoulders and markedly reduced wings. Moreover, it was collected at a much lower altitude than all the other Chinese Stomis , as a clue that it has less specialized life habits. It is probably the most primitive of all the Chinese Stomis , being likely more similar to the common ancestor of all.

This species belongs to the group of Stomis robustus , as proved by the lack of metallic color, the crenulate elytral striae and the peculiar aedeagal shape. It can be distinguished from the others species of the group in the very squared elytra, the short mandibles and the pronotal shape, that shows almost no prebasal sinuation. The most similar species is probably S. magrinii , herewith described, that shows elytra more rounded at sides and much longer mandibles.

Distribution. This species is known from a single locality in Sichuan. The toponym WenChuanShien has been difficult to interpret, but Wenchuan county is in western Sichuan, to the North-East of Chengdu, not far from the famous Wolong reserve, type-locality of Stomis vignai .

Figures

FIGURES 21–24. Habitus of: (21) S. bousqueti HT (8.1 mm); (22) S. magrinii HT (10.1 mm); (23) S. dilaticollis HT (8.2 mm); (24) S. jani HT (10.2 mm).

FIGURES 43–47. Aedeagus in lateral and dorsal view of: (43) S. robustus HT; (44) S. schoenmanni from Yunnan, Ailao Shan; (45) S. bousqueti HT; (46) S. magrinii HT; (47) S. dilaticollis HT.