Dongodytes (Dongodytodes) pingjingae, Tian & Huang & Jia, 2023

Tian, Mingyi, Huang, Sunbin & Jia, Xinyang, 2023, A contribution to cavernicolous beetle diversity of South China Karst: eight new genera and fourteen new species (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Trechini), Zootaxa 5243 (1), pp. 1-66 : 41-45

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.11646/zootaxa.5243.1.1
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7647042
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/039587AD-BF10-FF85-FF7F-478F230CF9D8
treatment provided by	Plazi
scientific name	Dongodytes (Dongodytodes) pingjingae
status	sp. nov.

Treatment

Dongodytes (Dongodytodes) pingjingae sp. n.

Figures 1i View FIGURE 1 , 26 View FIGURE 26 , 27B View FIGURE 27 , 28 View FIGURE 28

Material. Holotype male, Xiannü Dong, Guhe , Dahua Yao Autonomous County, Hechi Shi , Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, 23.90 N, 107.74° E, 240 m, VII. 9. 2016, Mingyi Tian, Pingjing Yang, Mingruo Tang & Jingli Cheng leg., in SCAU GoogleMaps . Paratypes: 3 males and 9 females, IBID , in SCAU.

Diagnosis. Medium-sized for Dongodytodes species, whole surface pubescent, head hardly expanded, fore part (head including mandibles plus prothorax) slightly longer than elytra.

Description. Length: 7.7–7.9 mm; width: 1.8–1.9 mm. Habitus as in Figure 26 View FIGURE 26 .

Brown, but antennae, mouthparts palps and tarsi pale. Microsculptural engraved meshes moderately or transverse on head, strongly transverse on pronotum, invisible on elytra. Body wholly pubescent, sparser on head and pronotum, denser on elytra; underside of head and thorax sparsely covered with longer hairs; ventrites densely and shortly pubescent, propleura glabrous but with a few short setae anteriorly. Head and pronotum smooth, elytra vaguely punctate. Moderately shiny.

Head elongate, much longer than wide, HLm/HW=3.0–3.1; widest at about 1/3 excluding mandibles, as long as pronotum excluding mandibles; genae hardly expanded, gradually narrowed toward base, suddenly constricted before the collar-shaped neck which is about 2/5 as wide as head; frons flat, vertex convex; clypeus transverse, 6-setose; labrum nearly straight at frontal margin, 6-setose; two pairs of supraorbital setae present, anterior and posterior ones at about 1/3 and 7/9 from labrum to neck constriction respectively; a pair of suborbital setae present, mentum and submentum well separated by a clear labial suture, mentum with two pairs of setae, at base of tooth and sides of basal concave respectively; mental tooth short and bluntly bifid at apex; submentum 12- to 14-setose; mouthparts palps glabrous except 2 nd labial palpomere bisetose on inner margin; 2 nd labial palpomere 1.4 times longer than 3 rd, 3 rd maxillary palpomere 1.1 times longer than 4 th; ligula 10-setose; two pairs of suborbital pores present; antennae filiform, slender long, extending at about apical 1/7 of elytra; 1 st antennomere much more dilated than others, slightly longer than 2 nd which is shortest; the comparative length of each antennomere from the 1 st to 11 th in holotype as: 1 st (1.05) / 2 nd (1.00) / 3 rd (2.47) / 4 th (2.37) / 5 th (2.37) / 6 th (2.32) / 7 th (2.00) / 8 th (1.58) / 9 th (1.58) / 10 th (1.26) / 11 th (1.53).

Prothorax long, propleura moderately tumid, and well visible from above, slightly wider than head, PrW/HW = 1.12–1.18; distinctly wider than pronotum, PrW/PnW = 0.76–0.85 (mean 0.81); widest at about 1/3 from base. Pronotum elongate, much longer than wide, PrL/PrW =1.88–1.94; slightly narrower than head, PnW/HW= 0.87– 0.92; sub-parallel-sided in most parts, slightly sinuate just before hind angles; front distinctly narrower than base, PfW/PbW =0.69–0.77; front angles bluntly right, hind angles roundly obtuse; two pairs of latero-marginal setae present, located at about 4/7 from base and a little before hind angles respectively; posterior transversal impression well-marked. Scutellum quite large, inverse triangle.

Elytra elongate, long than wide, EL/EW= 2.05–2.13; much wider than prothorax, EW/PrW=1.87–2.10; slightly shorter than head including mandibles and pronotum combined, EL/(HLm+PnL) = 0.94–1.00; base rather narrow, lateral margins smooth and glabrous, widest at about apical 4/7 of elytra; disc strongly convex though rather flat near base; striae not traceable; chaetotaxy ( Figure 27A View FIGURE 27 ): only a dorsal pores present on the site of 3 rd stria, at about apical 4/7, preapical pore present, at about apical 1/8; humeral group of the marginal umbilicate pores not aggregated, 4 th backwardly shifted, closer to 5 th pore than to 3 rd; the anguloapical pore present.

Legs thin and slender, tibiae not longitudinally sulcate; the 1 st tarsomere slightly shorter, slightly longer and as long as 2 nd – 4 th tarsomeres combined in fore, middle and hind legs respectively.

Ventrite VII bisetose in male, 4-setose in female.

Male genitalia ( Figure 28A, B View FIGURE 28 ): Male genitalia well-sclerotized, median lobe very elongate and thin, basal orifice comparatively small, but with a large sagittal aileron; base quite large, strongly curved ventrally in apical half, apical lobe roundly blunt; inner sac with a weakly-marked copulatory piece about 1/4 as long as median lobe; in dorsal view, apical lobe distinctly narrowed and nearly parallel-sided before the rounded apex; parameres slender, base much widened, apical part distinctly narrowed, each with four long setae apically.

Remarks. This new species differs from other congeners of the subgenus Dongodytodes Tian, 2011 by having a well-defined labial suture. It may be close to D. (Dongodytodes) yaophilus ( Tian et al. 2014) which is also recorded from Dahua County, and the localities (Xiannü Dong and Qiaoxu Dong) of both species are distant from only 20 kilometres in a straight line. However, the male genitalia is slenderer, with a more widened apical lobe, and parameres are narrowed at apices instead of broadly rounded in D. (D.) yaophilus .

Etymology. This beautiful species is named after Ms. Pingjing Yang (a member of SCAU caving team), one of the collectors of the type material.

Distribution. China (Guangxi). Known only from the type locality, cave Xiannü Dong ( Figure 1i View FIGURE 1 ).

Xiannü Dong is a disused limestone show cave, about 2 kilometres long. There are several chambers along the main passage. Apart from the cave beetles, crickets, millipedes, woodlice, snails and a white mouse were also observed inside the cave. The beetles were wandering on walls and on the ground in several wet places in the dark zone ( Figure 28C View FIGURE 28 ).