Speocolpodes, a New Genus of Troglobitic Beetles From Guatemala (Coleoptera:Carabidae)
International Journal of
BY THOMAS C. BARR 0
0 School of Biol.ogical Sciences University of Kentucky Lexington , Kentucky , U. S. A. 40506
8PEOCOLPODE8, A NEW GENUS OF TROGLOBITIC BEETLES FROM GUATEMALA (COLEOPTERA: CARABIDAE In early January, I973, Mr. Henry Frania and Mr. Michael Shawcross visited Seamay Cave, Alta Verapaz, (]uatemala, .and discovered two specimens of a remarkable troglobitic carabid beetle. "One was collected after dusk running over flowstone near pools of water several hundred yards into the. cave. The second was found the next morning, less than 200 yards from the. entrance under a rock in a dry, silt-covered flowstone pool, but still well within the dark zone." (H. Frania, in litt.). Subsequently Mr. Frania referred the specimens to. me for study. The Seamay Cave beetle is of special interest for two reasons: ) It is the first troglobitic beetle known from Guatemala, and the cave is the farthest south of any troglobitic beetle, type locality in North America. 2) The beetle clearly belongs to the Agonini and in body form resembles the species o,f Rhadine LeConte, but the possession of long setae .on the underside of the tarsi and conspicuous lobes on the fourth tarsal segments indicates that its affinities lie. not with Rhadine but with the large, heterogeneous group of agonines currently placed in Colpodes NI'Leay.
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D ecember
at least at the subgeneric level because of the distinctive habitus of
its component species.
The Seamay Cave beetle does not appear to. be close to
Mexisphodrus despite their cavernicolous habitats and despite their
inclusion within the colpodines. In Mexisphodrus there are well-formed
eyes or eye rudiments, the head is rounded, the pro.no.tuna is more
or less cordiform with very bro.adly reflexed sides, the elytral humeri
are well developed and prominent, and the color is dark
violaceousferruginous. In the Seamay Cave beetle the eye rudiments are
minute, the head is twice as long as wide .and its sides are subparallel,
the pronotum is barrel-shaped, the elytral humeri are completely
rounded, and the color is rufotestaceo.us.
Speoeolpodes, new genus
Slender, elo.ngate, rufo.testaceo.us cave beetles with minute vestiges
of eyes and wings; front and middle tarsi witch penultimate segment
deeply and asymmetrically bilobed; head twice .as long as wide, sides
subparallel; pronotum widest at middle, hind angles blunt and obtuse.
Integuments generally glabrous; microsculpture o.n dorsum of head
obsolete, obsoletely transverse .on pronotal disc, finely and densely
transverse on elytra.
Eye rudiment visible only as minute, translucent spot beneath
cuticle; labrum with anterior margin broadly convex, 6-setose; two
clypeal setae; clypeofrontal groove joining postantennal groove and
terminating in lunate depression between anterior and posterior
supraorbital punctures. All mouthparts elongate and slender;
mandibles falcate, right mandible with large tooth; maxillary palps with
terminal segment fusifo.rm, a little shorter than penultimate segment;
glossa with apex broadly rounded and bisetose; labial palps bisetose;
mentum too.th grooved, truncate; two prebasilar setae each side of
submentum behind suture.
Pronotum barrel-shaped, longer than wide, widest at middle, apex
slightly narrower than base; two pairs of marginal setae; hind angles
obtuse and somewhat rounded, not produced. Metepisterna short,
3 as wide as long.
Elytra elongate-elliptical, humeri completely rounded, subapical
sinuation absent; scutellar stria very brief, obsolescent; scutellar
puncture setiferous; two discal punctures in apical half, on third
interval against second stria; umbilicate series 6 + 2 + 6, seventh
and eighth punctures rather widely spaced; a single puncture near
apex of seventh stria.
Antenna very long and slender, .attaining apical ourth ot elytra;
pubescence beginning near base of ourth segment. Tarsi with fir.st
four segments densely setose beneath, last segment glabrous beneath,
claws smooth; tourth segment bilobate, conspicuously so on pro- and
mesotarsi, inner lobe longer than outer, ourth metatar.sal segment
eebly b/lobate; two or three basal segments o meso-.and metatarsi
with t:eeble lateral ridge.
Male unknown.
Type species:Sl)eocoiodes franiai, new species.
Speoeolpodes franial, new species
Etymology: Patronymic honoring Mr. Henry Frania, codiscoverer
o( the species.
Diagnosis" The genus is at present monobasic; the single species
is distinguished rom all other known species o. North American
Anchomeninae by the combination ot bilobed fourth tarsal segments,
vestigial eyes, ru.otestaceous color, and slender, elongate body o.rm.
Descril)tion: Length 9.5-o.2 mm. Ruotestaceous, shining,
polished; integuments generally glabrous except or fixed setae;
microsculpture obsolescent on do.rsum o.t head, evanescently transverse on
pronotal disc, finely and densely transverse on elytral disc. Body
orm slender and elongate, appendages .all slender and elongate.
Head 2. ti (...truncated)