Discovery of a troglomorphic trechine beetle from the Ryukyu Archipelago, Southwestern Japan (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Trechinae)
Sugaya Kazuki, Kakizoe Showtaro, Ooka Sohei, Tamura Hisao, Sone Shinzaburo
Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 63(2): 323-340, 2023
Published online: 11th December 2023
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Abstract: A new genus and new species of Trechina (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Trechinae:
Trechini), Ryukyuaphaenops pulcherrimus gen. & sp. nov. is described from
the Ryukyu Archipelago, Japan. This is the first troglomorphic Carabidae in the
Ryukyus and probably the most cave-adapted beetle in Japan. Interestingly, our
observations suggest that this new trechine beetle is not similar to any genera
of Trechina distributed in Kyushu and Taiwan, which are geographically close to
the Ryukyu Archipelago, but is more similar to several aphaenopsian genera
distributed in the inland of China. The genetic diversity of the new species is
discussed based on mitochondrial DNA (COI-5’, COI-3’, 16S).
Key words: Coleoptera, Carabidae, Trechini, Trechina, biospeleology, DNA barcoding, haplotype network, new genus, new species, subterranean fauna, taxonomy, troglobiont, Okinawa-jima Island, Ryukyus, Oriental Region