Chlaenius (Haplochlaenius) nanlingensis DEUVE & TIAN 2005

Chlaenius (Haplochlaenius) nanlingensis DEUVE & TIAN 2005 M a t e r i a l e x a m i n e d: China: Guangxi:1, 7: NE Guangxi, Xing`an Co., Mao’er Shan, Mao`er Mountain Nature Reserve, 823 m, N 25.51.497’/E 110.29.803’, V 2007, M. Häckel & R. Sehnal leg. (cHÄCK, cSEHN, cWR, NHW). 1, 4: Mao’ er Shan`, 493 m / N 25.51.11’/ E 110. 29.15’, R. Sehnal leg. (cSEHN, cWR). 2: Mao’er Shan, 800-1100 m, 25°52N / 110°29E (dense primary forest with strong bamboo, steep slopes), 28.V.-9.VI.2009, Chr. Reuter leg. (cREUT, cWR). - Guizhou: 2: SE. Guizhou, Dushan, Gengding Shan env., 1445 m, N 25°52.5‘ / E 107°38’, M. Häckel & R. Sehnal leg. (cSEHN, cWR.) The description based on one male, coming from the slopes of the Mount Shikengkong situated in the Nanling Nature reserve (Dadongshan, Lianzhou) in the Chinese Province of Guangdong, close to the border to Hunan. The material from the Mao’er Shan fits very well the description, and, though not having investigated the type which is stored in the collection of the South China Agricultural University, I refer the name Chl. nanlingensis to the material noted above. A habitus photograph of the holotype kindly provided by M. Tian enabled the species to be recognised beyond doubt without having to examine the specimen itself. The species is brachypterous (this fact was not mentioned in the description), one specimen investigated has the hindwings hardly as long as half of elytral length, but it is obviously able to have a wider range, the distance between the Mount Shikengkong and the Mao’er Shan is about 270 km, with a landscape surely forming no considerable geographical barriers which could stop an expansion of brachypterous species, also the findings in the Gengding Shan in the southeast of the Province Guizou, still more north-westwards, speaks for this assumption. Just recently I received some habitus photographs of specimens stored in the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing and identified as Chl. nanlingensis, coming from Hunan (Shaoshan-shihu) and from Sichuan (Ya’an), confirming that the species has a wider range than originally thought. New records for the Chinese provinces of Guangxi, Guizhou, Hunan, and Sichuan. N o t e s: The genus Vachinius CASALE 1984 was founded on several species: V. subglaber (ANDREWES 1937), type species from Sikkim, V. pseudoglaber CASALE 1984, from northern India, V. holzschuhi CASALE 1984 from eastern Nepal, and V. pilosus CASALE 1984 from Vietnam, underlining that these species are typical Chlaeniini, near to species of the genus Macrochlaenites KUNTZEN 1919 but are distinguished by having a cordate pronotum, strongly sinuate toward base, a dimorphic apex and integument of elytra in males and females, a different construction of the male genitalia, and reduced wings. Later, further species were described, one from Thailand: V. thailandensis MORVAN 1991, three from China: V. deuvei MORVAN 1997 (Guangxi), V. hunanus MORVAN 1997 (Hunan), and V. wrasei KIRSCHENHOFER 2003 (Guangdong), one from Sulawesi: V. baehri KIRSCHENHOFER 1998, and one from Burma: V. burmanensis LASSALLE 2001. Investigating a larger number of Chlaenius species belonging to subgenus Haplochlaenius LUTSHNIK 1933 (a part of them placed under Macrochlaenites in older taxonomic classifications) I found partly the same characters peculiar to species of Vachinius, such as the construction of the mentum, the sinuate pronotum, the partly occurring carinate elytral intervals, a reduction of the hindwings and the morphology of the male genitalia. The classification of the new species described above posed problems and I decided to describe it in the genus Chlaenius, subgenus Haplochlaenius. So it seems necessary to clarify the systematic position and the taxonomic rank of the genus Vachinius within the tribe Chlaeniini and especially its relationship to Haplochlaenius by careful examination of all taxa (see also the remarks in DEUVE & TIAN 2005), including also genetic techniques. Just recently KIRSCHENHOFER (2012) described two further Vachinius species from Laos: V. hajeki and V. laosensis, and at this occasion he transfered Chl. klapperichi to the genus Vachinius, subgenus Sphodromimus CASALE 1984, on the basis of exoskeletal characters ("aufgrund der ektoskelettalen Merkmale") but without conclusively substantiated discussion. As the problem of the systematic position of Vachinius is not yet solved this decision is not followed here.Published as part of D. W, 2012, A new species of genus Chlaenius BONELLI 1810, subgenus Haplochlaenius LUTSHNIK 1933 from China (Coleoptera, Carabidae, Chlaeniini) and notes on two species previously described, pp. 1195-1205 in Linzer biologische Beiträge 44 (2) on page 1203, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.532920