Corresponding author: Tomáš Lackner (
Academic editor: M. Caterino
A new genus and species from Kenya,
The
During a visit to the Natural History Museum, London, UK in 2009 I have examined a series of apparently unknown
In this contribution to the systematics and taxonomy of the
All dry-mounted specimens were relaxed in warm water for several hours or overnight, depending on the body size. After removal from original cards, the beetles were side-mounted on triangular points and observed under a Nikon 102 stereoscopic microscope with diffused light. Some structures were studied using methods described by
Body length 2.125–2.375 mm, dorsal surface entirely punctate; cuticle dark brown to black, without metallic luster, frontal and supraorbital striae present, well developed; sensory structures of antennal club in form of small sensory area and corresponding vesicle situated on internal distal margin; pronotal hypomeron asetose; elytral disc with four long carinate dorsal elytral striae, fifth stria occasionally present on fourth elytral interval; apex of prosternal process convex, prosternal pre-apical foveae large and deep, connected apically by marginal prosternal stria; carinal prosternal striae shortened apically, not united anteriorly; lateral prosternal striae terminating in large deep prosternal pre-apical foveae; meso-metaventral sutural stria present, undulate. Venter asetose.
The general appearance of
The type series of
Kenya.
The generic name is a combination of the genus name ‘
Kenya, Chyulu Hills.
Holotype, ♂, side-mounted on a triangular mounting card with male genitalia glued to the same card; “KENYA: / Chyulu Hills / Univ. of Nairobi” [written]; “bat droppings / in cave” [written]; “Brit. Mus. / 1972-215” [printed-written]; “
Male and female.Body length: PEL: 2.125–2.375 mm; APW: 0.75–0.875 mm; PPW: 1.625–1.75 mm; EL: 1.375–1.50 mm; EW: 1.875–2.00 mm.
Body (
Antennal scape (
Mouthparts. Mandibles (
Anterior margin of clypeus (
Pronotal sides (
Elytra: epipleuron with fine scattered punctures; marginal epipleural stria complete; marginal stria straight, well impressed, carinate, continued as intermittent apical stria. Humeral stria well impressed on basal third, somewhat obliterated by coarse punctuation; inner subhumeral stria well developed, visible as long median fragment posteriorly nearly reaching first dorsal stria; with carinate dorsal striae 1-4 (some specimens with a vague fragment of fifth stria on fourth elytral interval); striae 1-3 sub-equal in length, posteriorly reaching approximately five-sixths of elytral length, fourth dorsal stria slightly shorter, anteriorly well-connected with carinate sutural stria; sutural stria straight, well impressed, posteriorly connected with fragmented apical stria; between sutural stria and suture with row of microscopic punctures. Entire surface coarsely and densely punctate, punctures separated by spaces sub-equal to their diameter or shorter, periscutellar area with slightly sparser punctuation; interspaces with isodiametric microsculpture.
Propygidium (
Antero-median margin of prosternum (
Antero-median margin of mesoventrite straight; discal marginal mesoventral stria well impressed, emarginate anteriorly, complete; disc of mesoventrite with scattered round punctuation; meso-metaventral sutural stria undulate.
Intercoxal disc of metaventrite slightly convex, entirely covered with scattered fine punctures separated by spaces 2-3 times as wide as their diameter, anteriorly punctures becoming coarser and denser, in male more so; lateral metaventral stria (
Intercoxal disc of first abdominal sternite with complete lateral striae, disc with scattered fine punctures, separated spaces as wide as 3 times puncture diameter.
Protibia (
Mesotibia (
Metatibia (
Male genitalia: Eighth sternite (
The specific epithet was derived using a compounding method of word formation, by stringing together Latin word ‘caverna’ meaning cave and combining element of Latin origin ‘-cola’ (orig.
This key is preliminary and in future will be revised, especially in regard to the ill-defined and heterogeneous genera
1 (10) | Frontal and supraorbital striae completely absent (for fig. see |
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2 (7) | Prosternal pre-apical foveae absent (for fig. see |
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3 (6) | Prosternum setose, elytral epipleuron setose, marginal elytral stria single | |
4 (5) | Lateral metaventral stria reaching metepisternum; all dorsal elytral striae 1-4 well developed; carinal prosternal striae strongly approximate, weak (absent in some specimens); lateral prosternal striae anteriorly joined by marginal prosternal stria ( |
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5 (4) | Lateral metaventral stria shortened, not reaching metepisternum; dorsal elytral striae weakly developed, almost obliterated by coarse and dense punctuation; carinal prosternal striae present as vague rudiments on prosternal apophysis or completely absent; lateral prosternal striae rudimentary, never joined anteriorly (for fig. see |
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6 (3) | Prosternum asetose, elytral epipleuron asetose; marginal elytral stria double | |
7 (2) | Prosternal pre-apical foveae present ( |
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8 (9) | Prosternal pre-apical foveae small and connected by a deep sulcus ( |
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9 (8) | Prosternal pre-apical foveae well developed, deep and not connected by a deep sulcus ( |
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10 (1) | At least supraorbital striae always present, often both frontal and supraorbital striae present ( |
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11 (12) | Frons with a massive frontoclypeal projection with a remnant of frontal stria (for fig. see |
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12 (11) | Frons without any projection ( |
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13 (22) | Prosternal pre-apical foveae absent (for fig. see |
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14 (17) | Dorsal surface almost completely impunctate; hind femora swollen ( |
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15 | (16) Protibia on outer margin with two massive triangular distal teeth topped by short rounded denticle, followed by approximately ten short thin denticles diminishing in size in proximal direction ( |
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16 (15) | Protibia on outer margin with approximately nine low teeth topped by large denticle gradually diminishing in size in proximal direction ( |
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17 (14) | Dorsal surface usually punctate; hind femora normally not swollen ( |
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18 (19) | Lateral prosternal striae apically conspicuously hooked inwardly ( |
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19 (18) | Configuration of lateral prosternal striae variable, but their apices never hooked inwardly and frontal disc without chevrons | |
20 (21) | Frontal stria almost absent, supraorbital stria well developed ( |
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21 (20) | Frontal stria complete or interrupted (and occasionally prolonged onto clypeus); shape of protibia variable, but never with a dense row of short identical stout denticles; elytral disc usually punctate, transverse rugae never present | |
22 (13) | Prosternal pre-apical foveae present ( |
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23 (28) | Prosternal pre-apical foveae connected by marginal prosternal stria ( |
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24 (25) | Pronotal hypomeron setose; body black, never metallic | |
25 (24) | Pronotal hypomeron glabrous; body metallic or not | |
26 (27) | Pronotal depressions (for fig. see |
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27 (26) | Pronotal depressions absent, species not metallic, punctuation of dorsum very coarse and dense ( |
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28 (23) | Prosternal pre-apical foveae not connected by marginal prosternal stria (for fig. see |
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29 (30) | Antennal scape strongly thickened ( |
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30 (29) | Antennal scape not strongly thickened ( |
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31 | (32) Frontal stria widely open anteriorly, prolonged onto clypeus; dorsal elytral striae 1-3 completely erased by coarse and dense punctuation | |
32 (31) | Frontal stria usually complete and often carinate; elytral striae 1-3 normally observable | |
33 | (37) Frons coarsely and densely punctate, with numerous short rugae, occasionally with several transverse deep rugae (for fig. see |
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35 (36) | Pronotal hypomeron setose; protibia with two massive triangular distal denticles ( |
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36 (35) | Pronotal hypomeron setose or not; protibia with four to seven low teeth topped by moderately large denticles gradually diminishing in size in proximal direction (for fig. see |
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37 (33) | Frons finely to moderately punctate (for fig. see |
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38 (39) | Pronotal hypomeron normally asetose, most of the taxa with metallic tinge | |
39 (38) | Pronotal hypomeron always setose, taxa almost always without metallic tinge |
Assorted
Assorted
In the recently performed phylogenetic analysis focused on the resolving the relationships of the higher taxa of the
Cavernicolous habits are not common in the
Regarding the
I am indebted to my former supervisor Masahiro Ôhara (Sapporo, Japan) for various help during my stay in Sapporo. My wife Pepina Artimová is thanked for help with Adobe Illustrator CS4 and the Latin specific epithet of this new genus. Paweł Jałosziński (Wroclaw, Poland) is acknowledged for help with the earlier versions of this paper. Thanks are due to the curator of the institute mentioned above, Roger Booth, for his help with the specimens. I am likewise thankful to the two anonymous reviewers as well as the editor of
The species
Species
Several species of
Exception