Wanhuaphaenops Tian & Wang

Tian, Mingyi, Huang, Sunbin, Wang, Xinhui & Tang, Mingruo, 2016, Contributions to the knowledge of subterranean trechine beetles in southern China's karsts: five new genera (Insecta, Coleoptera, Carabidae, Trechinae), ZooKeys 564, pp. 121-156 : 141-143

Taxon classification Animalia Coleoptera Carabidae

Wanhuaphaenops Tian & Wang gen. n.

Type species.

Wanhuaphaenops zhangi Tian & Wang, sp. n. (Cave Songjia Dong, Chenzhou, Hunan).

Diagnosis.

Medium-sized, aphaenopsian beetles, body elongate, with short antennae and quite long legs, slender head, reduced frontal furrows, bisetose mentum, clear labial suture, short and tumid prothorax, elongated elytra and bisetose on each of abdominal ventrites.

Generic characteristics.

Medium-sized, aphaenopsian type trechine, eyeless, unpigmented and apterous; body very strongly elongate, highly modified morphologically, albeit antennae rather short; head typically aphaenopsoid, extremely elongated as in Dongodytes Deuve, 1993 or some members of Sinaphaenops Uéno & Wang, 1991, much longer than wide, with short and incomplete frontal furrows ending at about middle of head from clypeus, two pairs of supra-orbital pores present, both anterior and posterior pores widely spaced; mandibles moderately long, well-developed, right mandible tridentate; labial suture clear; mentum bisetose, distinctly concave, tooth moderately long, thick and blunt at apex; submentum provided with a row of seven (or eight in a male individual) setae, median one much shorter than others; antennae quite short, extending to about middle of elytra; prothorax distinctly shorter than head, longer than wide, propleura strongly tumid, visible from above; pronotum subquadrate, base nearly as wide as front, both anterior and posterior lateromarginal setae present; elytra strongly elongate, slightly longer than head (including mandibles) plus prothorax; widest behind middle, marginal sides smooth throughout, but ciliate in humeral angle area; humera distinctly angulate; disc moderately convex, rather flat near base, striae well-defined or obliterated, two dorsal and the pre-apical pore present; humeral pores of marginal umbilicate series not aggregated, middle group not close to each other; legs fairly long, 1st protarsomere in male modified, with a tiny apical denticle inward; tibiae without longitudinal furrow externally; ventrite VII with two pairs of setae in both sexes; aedeagus minute, well-sclerotized, short and broad, strongly arcuate, apex blunt, basal part large, with a small sagittal aileron, inner sac with a fairly large copulatory piece, parameres long, right one longer than left one, broad at apex, each bearing three long apical setae.

Remarks.

The true affinities of Wanhuaphaenops gen. n. likewise remain uncertain. Probably the closest match is Shenaphaenops Uéno, 1999 (from northwestern Guizhou Province) because both share several important characters: a wholly pubescent body, humera strongly angulate, right mandibles tridentate, only 1st protarsomere modified in male, two pairs of supra-orbital pores present on head, two dorsal and the pre-apical pores present on elytron, and ventrite VII 4-setose. However, Wanhuaphaenops gen. n. is easily distinguished from Shenaphaenops by the following characters: (1) head much more elongated, with anterior supra-orbital pore widely distant from posterior one, and labial suture clear (reverse in Shenaphaenops ); (2) antennae much shorter than in Shenaphaenops , in which these extending to nearly elytral apex; (3) pronotal posterior lateromarginal setae present in Wanhuaphaenops gen. n., but absent in Shenaphaenops ; (4) aedeagus stouter and strongly arcuate in Wanhuaphaenops gen. n., with each paramere bearing three apical setae(Fig. 10C, D), versus aedeagus being slender and slightly arcuate, with each paramere bearing two apical setae in Shenaphaenops (Fig. 4C, D).

Wanhuaphaenops gen. n. might also be found related to the genus Sinaphaenops Uéno & Wang, 1991, one of the most highly modified genera among the Chinese cave-dwelling trechines which ranges from west, southern Guizhou and northernmost Guangxi. Both share a somewhat similar body configuration, but Wanhuaphaenops gen. n. is much smaller and less troglomorphic than Sinaphaenops , the appendages being much shorter, and only one joint of protarsi (1st protarsomere) is modified in the male, versus two, and a different elytral chaetotaxy.

Etymology.

As Cave Songjia Dong represents one branch of the Wanhuayan cave system, the name of this new genus refers to the occurrence of this aphaenopsian beetle in Wanhuayan caves. Gender masculine.

Range.

China (southern Hunan) (Fig. 5f).