Taxonomic Study On Cave-dwelling Carabids Of Four Tribes From South China

Specific biodiversity in cave is characterized by its extremely rareness and highly endemism, therewithal it is very important in terms of scientific researches and biodiversity conservation. Among the cavernicolous terrestrial animals, the ground beetles are typical representatives. China has a large number of caves, and rich species resources of cave-dwelling carabids as well. To date, 125 species of the ground beetles have been described in cave from China, mostly belongs to the tribe Trechini. Comparatively, cavernicolous fauna of the tribes Platynini, Bembidini, Clivinini and Ozaenini in China is still poorly understood.In total, 26 cave-dwelling species in 8 genera of Platynini, Bembidini, Clivinini, Ozaenini are described and illustrated in this study. Among them, 12 species are described for the first time in cave, including the following 10 new species: Morimotoidius elongatus n. sp., Atranodes hamadongensis n. sp., Atranodes speciosum n. sp., Atranodes ficklex n. sp., Atranodes microphthalmum n. sp., Nymphagonum huayuense n. sp., Nymphagonum cavernicola n. sp., Nymphagonum duanense n. sp., Paratachys exophthalmicus n. sp., Paratachys shijianensis n. sp. In addition, key to species and geographical distribution maps of all species concerned are also provided.Most of examined specimens are deposited in the insect collection of South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, China.