New data on the taxonomy of the genus Carabus Linnaeus, 1758 (Coleoptera: Carabidae) from the Ili River basin (China)

Abstract

Two new taxa of carabid beetles are described from the Xinjiang-Uygur autonomous region of China. Carabus (Ophiocarabus) ernsti ulastaiensis subsp. n. is described from the southern slopes of the Boro-Horo Mt. Range, NNE of Ulastai Village, the central part of the species range. This new subspecies differs from the nominotypical one by the larger body size (on average, 18.2 mm vs 16.4 mm in nominotypical subspecies), wider flattened lateral sides of pronotum, longer elytra with less rounded margins, and the structure of the male genitalia (median lobe of aedeagus with more evenly curved ventral margin and less massive apical lamella, endophallus with another shaped lobes). The new subspecies occurs in meadows in the forests and alpine zone; collected at 1765–3280 m. Carabus (Alipaster) semenoviellus tokkuztaraensis subsp. n. is described from central part of the Narat Mt. Range (the eastern part of the species range). This taxon differs from nominotypical in having: the frons distinctly punctured in middle; pronotum with dense punctuation on disc, less markedly rounded lateral margins and maximum width located closer to the anterior margin; apical lamella of the aedeagus shorter and distinctly bent ventrally in lateral view. The subspecies inhabits Picea forests at 1660–2600 m. The subspecific rank of C. (Ophiocarabus) ernsti ssp. nilkiensis Kabak, 2014, stat. n. is established, because of C. ernsti ssp. ulastaiensis subsp. n. demonstrates some transitional characters between C. ernsti ssp. nilkiensis and the nominotypical subspecies

Keywords

• Coleoptera
• Carabidae
• Carabus
• taxonomy
• Tien Shan
• Xinjiang-Uygur Autonomous Region
• China