Pangaphaenops, 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 : 33

Pangaphaenops n. gen.

Type species: Pangaphaenops seraphicus n. sp. ( Suolue Cave I, Hechi, Guangxi)

Generic characteristics. Small-sized for cave trechines; highly modified aphaenopsian, body elongate, fore part (head plus prothorax) including mandibles as long as elytra; surface smooth and glabrous, but head with a few sparse setae on genae; head elongate, somewhat Sinaphaenops -like, longer than prothorax excluding mandibles, neck constriction well-marked; presence of two pairs of supraorbital setiferous pores; frontal furrows fairly short, slightly and strongly divergent anteriorly and posteriorly respectively; frons rather flat, vertex strongly convex; clypeus quadrisetose, labrum shallowly emarginate at frontal margin; right mandibular tooth bidentate; mentum and submentum completely fused; mentum bisetose, base largely concave; tooth short and blunt, uni-fid at apex; submentum with a row of 8 setae; 2 nd labial palp bisetose on inner margin; antennae thin and slender, extending to apical margins of elytra; prothorax moderately tumid, propleura visible from above; pronotum barrel-shaped, narrow, as wide as head; widest a little behind middle; fore and hind angles obtuse; presence of two pairs of lateromarginal setae; disc moderately convex, base as wide front; elytra elongated ovate, widest at about middle; humeral angles completely rounded off; lateral margins finely bordered throughout, smooth and glabrous; disc moderately convex, striae obsolete and not traceable; apical striole absent; presence of two dorsal and the preapical pores; only the 2 nd marginal umbilicate pore closer to the marginal gutter than other; humeral set not aggregated, the 1 st pore inwardly and backwardly shifted; median set close to each other; protarsomeres not modified in male; tibiae not sulcate longitudinally; male genitalia weakly-sclerotized, very short and stout, hardly arcuate medially; base small, without sagittal aileron, apical lobe straight, broadly blunt at apex; parameres fairly developed, apices roundly broad, each with 4 setae, which are rather short, at apical portion.

Remarks. Pangaphaenops n. gen. is a peculiar lineage which is not close to any group of cavernicolous trechines recorded in Guangxi and Guizhou. At first sight, it looks like a small-sized Sinaphaenops (s. str.) species ( Uéno & Wang 1991), and with similar configurations of head and prothorax. Furthermore, its elytral striae are also completely disappeared and so un-traceable. The chaetotaxy is similar in Sinaphaenops (s. str.) too. But it is so different from Sinaphaenops (s. str.) in many aspects, such as: its propleura are much less expanded than in Sinaphaenops (s. str.) species, pronotum with two pairs of latero-marginal setae instead of unisetose, its elytral humeral angles rounded, protarsomeres not modified in male, and in particular its male genitalia is very short, stout and not the same kind as in Sinaphaenops (s. str.) species. In the light of molecular analyses apart from morphological characteristics, the position of this interesting genus would be determined.

Etymology. “Pang” + “Aphaenops”. Dedicated to the late Prof. Xiongfei Pang (SCAU), a famous Entomologist and an academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences. Gender masculine.

Range. China (Guangxi) ( Figure 1h ).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Map indicating the locality caves of the new genera and species. a. Xianren Dong; b. Shisanya Dong; c. Da Dong, Tuoluo; d. Da Dong, Bali; e. Weixiao Tiankeng; f. Laba Dong; g. Gui Dong; h. Suolue Cave I; i. Xiannü Dong; j. Jiudu Cave I; k. Xiannü Dong; l. Yunxian Dong; m. Zhongguo Dong; n. Feixian Dong.