Tricondyla Latreille 1822
Creators: name: Aston, Paul
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2016
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Carabidae
Tricondyla

description: Genus Tricondyla Latreille, 1822
Tricondyla pulchripes White, 1844
White described this species from specimens collected by John Charles Bowring on Hong Kong Island. Chaudoir (1865), Redtenbacher (1867), Gemminger & Harold (1868), Schilder (1911), Horn (1930), Lee & Winney (1981), Wiesner (1992), Chen et al. (2002), Hua (2002) and Puchkov & Matalin (2003), Shook & Wu (2006) also list this species as occurring in Hong Kong. Material: Sight record W.T., 1.i.13, on railings even though temperature only about 10 ˚C; Sight record W.T., 26.i.10, on railings at night; Sight record W.T., 9.ii.08; Sight record W.T., 11.ii.14; Sight record W.T., 14.ii.09; Sight record W.T., 15.ii.09; Sight record W.T., 17.ii.08; Sight record W.T., 11.iii.06; Sight record W.T., 20.iii.05; Sight record W.T., 4.iv.06; Sight record W.T., 11.iv.06; Sight record W.T., 16.iv.06; Sight record W.T., 22.iv.07; Sight record W.T., 24.iv.08; Sight record W.T., 26.iv.08; Sight record W.T., 27.iv.08; Sight record W.T., 28.iv.08; 1 ex. Hong Kong, Lantau, Wo Tin 11.v.07; Sight record W.T., 11. v.15; Sight record W.T., 15.v.07; Sight record W.T., 19.v.07; Sight record W.T., 28.v.06; 1 ex. Hong Kong, Wu Kau Tang, 29.v.12; Sight record W.T., 3.vi.06; Sight record W.T., 17.vi.06 in grassland; Sight record W.T., 18.vi.06 (common – seems there is an emergence in mid June); 2 exx. Hong Kong, Lantau, Mui Wo, 1.vii.06; Sight record W.T., 4.vii.04; 1 ex. 1 ex. Hong Kong, Lantau, Mui Wo, 16.vii.06; Sight record W.T., 17.vii.05; Sight record W.T., 23.vii.06; Sight record W.T., 30.vii.06; Sight W.T., record 1.viii.06; 1 ex. W.T., 4.viii.07; 1 ex. W.T., 4.viii.07; Sight record W.T., 4.viii.07; Sight record W.T., 5.viii.07 (abundant); 1 ex. Hong Kong, Tai To Yan 7.viii.2015 pifall trap, (Leg. R.Ho Lee & Y.Luo); 1 ex. Hong Kong, Ng Tung Chai 8.viii.06; 1 ex. Hong Kong, Tai Po Kau, 9.viii.08; 1 ex. Hong Kong, Ng Tung Chai 18.viii.06; Sight record W.T., 13.ix.05; 2 exx. Hong Kong, Lam Tsuen valley, 17.ix.05; Sight record W.T., 18.ix.05; Sight record W.T., 19.ix.05; Sight record W.T., 22.ix.05; 1 ex. Hong Kong, Lam Tsuen valley, 25.ix.12; 1 ex. Hong Kong, Lantau, Tung Chung valley, 30.ix.14, high up on tree trunk; Sight record W.T., 24.x.05; 1 ex. Hong Kong, Lantau, Pui O, 30.x.05; Sight record W.T., 19.xi.05; Sight record W.T., 26.xi.05; 1ex. W.T., 22.xii.05; Sight record W.T., 30.xii.12, on railing even though temperature only 10 ˚C. Biology: Imago has been found every month of the year. This flightless, seemingly ant mimic is quite common and although very scarce in the winter months it has been recorded every month of the year. Westwood (1853) quoted a letter from John Charles Bowring in Hong Kong about this species " Tricondyla pulchripes, which is not uncommon, frequents the Lichi tree”. Mell (1931) noted that this species seems to hibernate partly as imagoes, which would explain its occurrence throughout the year. Has been observed by the author emerging from a hole, half the diameter of the abdomen, on the cut off end of a branch, the body covered in fine frass. Can be caught in pitfall traps.
Tricondyla stricticeps Chaudoir, 1864
However, Horn (1906) lists the distribution of Tricondyla tuberculata stricticeps Chaudoir 1864 as " Malacca, Lakhon, Hongkong?". Horn (1930) questioned the origins of some Hong Kong listed specimens and simply lists the locality for this species as " China ". Shook & Wiesner (2006) list this species for Hong Kong.
description: Published as part of Aston, Paul, 2016, Catalogue and Bibliography of the Hong Kong Carabidae Latreille, 1802 (Coleoptera: Adephaga), with notes on the historic boundaries of Hong Kong as related to zoological collections, pp. 201-257 in Zootaxa 4121 (3) on pages 213-214, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4121.3.1, http://zenodo.org/record/265007