Chlaenius Sphodromimus Casale, 1984

Qin, Yuyao, Germann, Christoph & Liang, Hongbin, 2022, Key to the Chinese species of the subgenus Sphodromimus Casale, 1984 (Carabidae, Chlaeniini, Chlaenius) with descriptions of two new species, ZooKeys 1135, pp. 61-91 : 61

Subgenus Chlaenius Sphodromimus Casale, 1984

Sphodromimus Casale, 1984: 372; Morvan 1991: 60 (described new species); Morvan 1997: 16 (described new species); Lorenz 1998: 320 (catalogue); Lassalle 2001: 240 (described new species); Kirschenhofer 2003: 32 (described new species); Lorenz 2005: 341 (catalogue); Kirschenhofer 2012: 84 (described new species); Kirschenhofer 2013: 9 (new combination from Haplochlaenius ); Brunk 2015: 5 (described new species); Kirschenhofer 2017: 497 (catalogue); Azadbakhsh and Kirschenhofer 2019: 1 ( Chlaenius Sphodromimus considered subgenus of Chlaenius ); Zettel 2020: 29 (described new species).

Type species.

Vachinius holzschuhi (Casale, 1984) (type locality: East Nepal, Tashigaon 2100 m; holotype in NHMB), by original designation.

Diagnosis.

Sphodromimus can be distinguished from other subgenera in Chlaenius by the following character combinations: body large, BL 19-26 mm; body black or metallic colored, luster matt or strongly shiny, antennae, mandibles usually dark brown, elytra black, ventral side black; head finely punctate; penultimate labial palpomere with 5-7 setae, apex truncate; antennae long, antennomere 3 longer than 4; mentum tooth stout, bifid; pronotum long, with sides usually sinuate before posterior angles, posterior lateral seta situated before posterior angles, anterior lateral seta absent; proepisterna sparsely punctate and pubescent; elytral intervals flat or convex, not ribbed, densely punctate and pubescent, basal margin reaching the scutellum; hind wings reduced in all species except Chlaenius flavofemoratus Laporte, 1834 and Chlaenius peterseni (Louwerens, 1967); prosternal process unbordered at apex; metepisterna wider than long in all species except C. flavofemoratus and C. peterseni , coarsely punctate, pubescent; legs sparsely pubescent, tarsi nearly smooth dorsally, claws simple, protibiae sulcate on dorsal side; abdominal sternites finely punctate laterally; apical lamella of aedeagus denticulate on dorsal side; apical gonocoxite without ensiform setae; receptaculum very short to absent.

Comparisons.

This subgenus is most similar to subgenera Haplochlaenius Lutshnik and Vachinius Casale, but differs in having elytra with intervals flat or slightly convex, densely punctate and pubescent, and with basal margin complete, connected with scutellum (intervals strongly ribbed in Haplochlaenius , basal margin obsolete near scutellum; intervals smooth in Vachinius ; cfr. Azadbakhsh and Kirschenhofer 2019).

Species and distribution.

Subgenus is composed of 16 species distributed in the Oriental Region (China, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam), including the two new species described below.