Pilbaraphanus chichesterianus, Giachino & Eberhard & Perina, 2021

Giachino, Pier Mauro, Eberhard, Stefan & Perina, Giulia, 2021, A rich fauna of subterranean short-range endemic Anillini (Coleoptera, Carabidae, Trechinae) from semi-arid regions of Western Australia, ZooKeys 1044, pp. 269-337 : 269

Pilbaraphanus chichesterianus sp. nov. Figs 10-12

Type locality.

WA, Pilbara, 100 km E of Port Hedland, Chichester Ranges, Quarry 8, 21°59'43.58"S, 119°0'38"E.

Type series.

HT ♂, WA, Pilbara, 100 km E of Port Hedland, Chichester Ranges, Quarry 8, 21°59'43.58"S, 119°0'38"E, (WGS84), P. Bell, 3 Jun. 2008, Stygo Net Haul. (Q8-EXR1622R-LN1735), Western Australian Museum Entomology Reg. no. 82635 (WAM).

Differential diagnosis.

Pilbaraphanus chichesterianus sp. nov. and P. bilybarianus sp. nov. are closely related and share the characters indicated in the genus diagnosis. P. chichesterianus sp. nov. differs from P. bilybarianus sp. nov. by its bigger body size, shorter metatrochanters, and more transverse pronotum.

Description of the HT ♂.

TL mm 2.18. Body elongated and depigmented, yellow-testaceous; integument shiny, with evident microsculpture and short pubescence.

Head robust, hypertrophic, slightly narrower than pronotum; without excess setae. Labium with a smooth tooth, mentum articulated. Antennae robust, moniliform, short, not reaching the base of the pronotum when stretched backwards. Fronto-clypeal furrow indistinct; anterior margin of the epistome subrectilinear.

Pronotum subsquare (max. width / max. length ratio = 1.12), with maximum width at the base of the anterior fifth, and with basal border remarkably wider than anterior border; sides slightly and irregularly arcuate in the anterior part, subrectilinear before basal angles. Anterior angles acute, prominent; posterior angles squared and not rounded. Disc convex, with very sparse pubescence of medium length; median groove very shallow, hardly evident. Marginal groove wide and flat, slightly enlarged near the base; anterior marginal setae placed inside the marginal groove, almost on the anterior fifth; basal setae placed inside the disk and before posterior angles.

Legs long and slender, with metatrochanters long and acuminate, but not curved, and metafemora dentate; metatrochanters (Fig. 11 ) shorter than femoral tooth. Two protarsomeres dilated and without adhesive phanerae in males. Left pro-, left and right meso-, and left metalegs missing in the HT ♂.

Elytra perfectly subrectangular (max. length / max. width ratio = 1.80), not truncate and not emarginated before apex. Disc convex, longitudinal grooves absent; integument shiny, with evident microsculpture, and very short, sparse and upright, pubescence longitudinally aligned. Humeri well marked, gently rounded; post-humeral margin denticulate, with distinct crenulation up to the apical third; elytral apices separately rounded. Marginal groove wide and evident almost up to the 8th pore of the umbilicate series.

Chaetotaxy: scutellar pore large and foveate. Umbilicate series with the first three pores of the humeral group very closed to each other and equidistant; 4th pore farther and placed at the end of the basal third of the elytron; 5th pore placed before the base of the apical third of the elytron; 5th and 6th ones spaced from each other half the distance from 6th and 7th; 7th and 8th displaced onto the disc; 7th and 8th spaced to each other as the 8th and 9th. Three discal setae, the first placed before the 4th pore of the umbilicate series, the second and third ones placed respectively just before the 5th and 8th umbilicate pores.

Aedeagus (Fig. 12 ) large, median lobe long, stout, subrectilinear, with basal bulb extremely reduced; ventral margin gently curved; apical blade evident but short. Endophallus without an evident lamella copulatrix, but with two crossing apical slightly sclerified stripes. Left paramere elongated, reaching the aedeagal distal third and bearing two setae; right paramere lost during the preparation of the specimen.

Etymology.

The species name comes from the Chichester Range, where the type locality (Quarry 8) is located.

Distribution.

Pilbaraphanus chichesterianus sp. nov. is known so far only from the type locality Quarry 8 in the Chichester Range, 100 km E of Port Hedland, Pilbara, WA.

Figures

Figures 10 - 14. Pilbaraphanus gen. et spp. nov., habitus (10, 13) right metafemur and metatrochanter in ventral view (11, 14) aedeagus in lateral view (12) 10 - 12 P. chichesterianus sp. nov., HT ♂ 13, 14 P. bilybarianus sp. nov. HT ♀. Scale bars: 0.1 mm.