Trichinillus (Mallopelmus) ranomafanae Kavanaugh and Rainio 2016, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Kavanaugh, David H.
name: Rainio, Johanna
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2016
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Carabidae
Trichinillus
Trichinillus ranomafanae

description: Trichinillus (Mallopelmus) ranomafanae Kavanaugh and Rainio, sp. nov.
Figure 10
Mallopelmus n. sp. 1; Rainio 2009: 32, Rainio 2012: 74 (informal designation).
TYPE MATERIAL.— Holotype (Figs. 10A–B), a male, in CAS, labeled: “ MADAGASCAR Ranomafana NP. Buffer zone, degraded forest 14.10.2002 ”/ “collected by hand in daytime, F. Ratalata & J. Rainio collectors”/ “ HOLOTYPE Trichinillus (Mallopelmus) ranomafanae Kavanaugh & Rainio sp. n. 2015” [red label]. Paratypes (only 1): a female (in MNHN) labelled “ MADAGASCAR Ranomafana NP. Talatakely, trail B, 600 m. 05.03.2004 ”/ “collected by hand in daytime from dead leaves in bushes, F. Ratalata and J. Rainio collectors”/ “ PARATYPE Trichinillus (Mallopelmus) ranomafanae Kavanaugh & Rainio sp. n. 2015” [yellow label].
TYPE LOCALITY.— Madagascar, Fianarantsoa Province, Ranomafana National Park.
DERIVATION OF SPECIES NAME.— The species epithet, ranomafanae, is a noun in apposition, derived from the name of the national park in which the type was collected.
RECOGNITION.— Slightly smaller than average for subgenus, SBL male = 7.2 mm, female = 7.5 mm. The following combination of features identify members of this species as coelostomine pterostichines of the genus Trichinillus, subgenus Mallopelmus: antennae with antennomere 3 attached symmetrically or nearly symmetrically to antennomere 2; mentum with deep emargination, apex of median mental tooth distinctly posterior to apices of epilobes; elytron with epipleuron interrupted by internal plica subapically; parascutellar stria short but evident; striae smooth, impunctate; basal setiferious puncture situated at base of stria 2 + parascutellar stria; tarsomeres 1 to 4 of all legs with dense pads of setae ventrally; front and middle tarsomeres 1 to 3 with more or less faintly-defined longitudinal groove medially and depressed areas paralaterally on dorsal surface; male front tarsomeres 1 to 4 wide, dilated, not latero- or medioapically toothed; aedeagus of male with right face dorsal in repose, right paramere conchoid, left paramere reduced, short, apically digitiform. Of the three previously described species represented in Jeannel’s (1948) key to Mallopelmus species, members of T. ranomafanae (Fig. 10A) are most similar to Trichinillus abacetoides (Alluaud 1936) members based on the following shared features: head with temporal area long, nearly as long as the diameter of the eye, and joined to the neck region at a very obtuse (about 165°) angle; eyes moderately convex and projected; pronotum with basal area distinctly and abruptly depressed relative to disc; and elytral base without margination medial to base of stria 6. Members of the other two species, Trichinillus dactyleuryoides (Alluaud 1936) and Trichinillus perrieri (Jeannel 1948), differ in having the head with the temporal area shorter, about one-third as long as the diameter of the eye, and joined to the neck region at a moderately obtuse (about 135°) angle, eyes more convex and projected, pronotum not or less depressed, especially medially, and margination of the elytra base more varied, extended medially to the base of stria 3 in most individuals). The apex of the median lobe of the male genitalia is also differently shaped in each of these species (compare with Figs. 191c-d and 191f-g, respectively, in Jeannel 1948). Members of T. ranomafanae differ from those of T. abacetoides in having: slightly larger size (SBL = 6.4 mm in T. abacetoides); pronotum with shallow but distinct subbasal sinuation of the lateral margin (absent from T. abacetoides members); elytra relatively shorter and wider, especially across the base, and humeri broadly rounded and not at all sloped (humeri more slope in T. abacetoides, and median lobe of male genitalia with apex straighter, slightly bent ventrally toward apex in lateral aspect (Fig. 10C) and slightly deflect right in dorsal view (Fig. 10D) (not recurved dorsally and then ventrally in lateral aspect and straight in dorsal aspect as in T. abacetoides males; compare with Fig. 191e in Jeannel 1948)
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION.— At present, known only from the type locality.
HABITAT DISTRIBUTION.— The male holotype of T. ranomafanae was collected in degraded secondary montane rainforest at an elevation of 800 m, near a village in the peripheral zone of Ranomafana National Park about1000 meters from the main gate. The female paratype was collected in secondary montane rainforest in the Talatakely area, at an elevation of 900 m, at the 600 m mark along Trail B. Vegetation in this area was dominated by young trees (DBH <10 cm) and guava (Psidium cattleianum).
description: Published as part of Kavanaugh, David H. & Rainio, Johanna, 2016, Twenty-six New Species of Predaceous Ground Beetles (Coleoptera: Adephaga: Carabidae) from Ranomafana National Park, Madagascar, pp. 201-268 in Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 63 (7) on pages 217-219, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.13799439