Abstract
A new species of Paussus L., 1775 (Coleoptera: Carabidae) is described from the Nguru Mountains of the Eastern African Arc in Tanzania. Paussus asseyi sp. nov. is diagnosed by the shape of the antennal club, which bears two sharp edges at the outer margin, the blunt spines on tibiae, and the characteristic colouration that allows this species to be distinguished from all other species in Paussus (Series I) defined in the latest molecular phylogeny. Other characters, i.e., the shape of the pronotum and absent pronotal setae, place the new species in the subgenus Edaphopaussus Kolbe, 1920. The colouration resembles P. dichrous Janssens, 1950 from Democratic Republic Congo and Angola and some Asian species, yet all are morphologically different from the new species. The robust head, small eyes, and clypeus shape resemble distantly related P. (Hylotorus) cephalotes Raffray, 1886. The individual mountain massifs of Eastern Tanzania represent rainforest islands set in much drier lowlands with savannah ecosystems. The new species contributes to our understanding of the isolated mountain ranges’ relatively poorly investigated beetle fauna.
References
Burgess, N., Hales, J.A., Underwood, E., Dinerstein, E., Olson, D., Itoua, I., Schipper, J., Ricketts, T. & Newman, K. (2004) Terrestrial ecoregions of Africa and Madagascar: a conservation assessment. Island Press, Washington, D.C., USA, xxiii + 501 pp.
Burgess, N.D., Butynski, T.M., Cordeiro, N.J., Doggart, N.H., Fjeldså, J., Howell, K.M., Kilahama, F.B., Loader, S.P., Lovett, J.C., Mbilinyi, B., Menegon, M., Moyer, D.C., Nashanda, E., Perkin, A., Rovero, F., Stanley, W.T. & Stuart, S.N. (2007) The biological importance of the Eastern Arc Mountains of Tanzania and Kenya. Biological Conservation, 134, 209–231. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2006.08.015
Darlington, P.J. (1950) Paussid beetles. Transactions of the American Entomological Society, 76, 47–142.
Enghoff, H. (2022) Mountains of millipedes. The family Odontopygidae in the Eastern Arc Mountains of Tanzania (Diplopoda, Spirostreptida). European Journal of Taxonomy, 803, 1–136. https://doi.org/10.5852/ejt.2022.803.1691
Grebennikov, V.V. (2020) Tazarcus, a new phylogenetically unplaced genus of two flightless weevils with metapleural ridge from the Eastern Arc Mountains, Tanzania (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Molytinae) Zootaxa, 4766 (3), 421–434. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4766.3.2
Janssens, E. (1950) Une nouvelle espèce de coleoptère (Paussidae) africain: Paussus dichrous n. sp. Institut royal des Sciences naturelles de Belgique, Bulletin, 27, 1–4.
Luna de Carvalho, E. (1980) Nouveaux Coléoptères Paussides du Musée Royal de l’ Afrique Centrale (Tervuren) (Col.: Carabidae: Paussinae) (39me contribution à l’ étude monographique des Paussides). Revue de Zoologie africaine, 94, 505–520.
Luna de Carvalho, E. (1989) Essai monographie des Coléoptères Protopaussines et Paussines. Memórias do Instituto de Investigação Científica Tropical, Lisboa, Segunda Série, 70, 1–1028.
Hall, J., Burgess, N.D., Lovett, J., Mbilinyi, B. & Gereau, R.E. (2009) Conservation implications of deforestation across an elevational gradient in the Eastern Arc Mountains, Tanzania. Biological Conservation, 142, 2510–2521. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2009.05.028
Hemp, C. & Heller, K.G. (2019) New Agraeciini species from the Eastern Arc Mountains, East Africa (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae: Conocephalinae: Agraeciini). Zootaxa, 4664 (3), 301–338. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4664.3.1
Martin, E. & Burgess, N.D. (2023) Dry Miombo Woodlands, Southern Acacia-Commiphora Bushlands and Thickets. Available from: https://www.oneearth.org/ecoregions/dry-miombo-woodlands/ and https://www.oneearth.org/ecoregions/southern-acacia-commiphora-bushlands-and-thickets/ (accessed 3 Januray 2023)
Menegon, M., Doggart, N. & Owen, N. (2008) The Nguru mountains of Tanzania, an outstanding hotspot of herpetofaunal diversity. Acta Herpetologica, 3 (2), 107–127.
Moore, W. & Robertson, J.A. (2014) Explosive Adaptive Radiation and Extreme Phenotypic Diversity within Ant-Nest Beetles. Current Biology, 24 (20), 2435–2439. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2014.09.022
Nagel, P. (1980a) Fühlerkäfer aus den Uluguru-Bergen, Tansania (Coleoptera: Carabidae). Folia Entomologica Hungarica (Rovartani Közlemények), 41 (33),143–144.
Nagel, P. (1980b) Systematik und verbreitung der Paussus inermis-gruppe (Coleoptera, Carabidae, Paussinae). Revue de Zoologie africaine, 94, 341–379.
Nagel, P. (1986) Revision der Paussus laevifrons-gruppe (Coleoptera, Carabidae, Paussinae). Zoologische Jahrbuecher Systematik, 113, 141–201.
Nagel, P. (1987) Arealsystemanalyse afrikanischer Fühlerkäfer (Coleoptera, Carabidae, Paussinae). Vol. 21. Franz Steiner Verlag Wiesbaden GmbH, Stuttgart, 233 pp.
Nagel, P. (2006) Ant Nest Beetles of the Carnegie Museum (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Paussinae: Paussini). Annals of Carnegie Museum, 75 (3), 181–202. https://doi.org/10.2992/0097-4463(2006)75[181:ANBOTC]2.0.CO;2
Nagel, P., Robertson, J.A. & Moore, W. (2017) New Nomenclatural and Taxonomic Acts, and Comments. Carabidae: Paussinae: Paussini. In: Löbl, I. & Löbl, D. (Eds.), Catalogue of Palaearctic Coleoptera. Vol.1. Archostemata–Myxophaga–Adephaga. Revised and Updated Edition. Brill, Leiden and Boston, pp. 12–18. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004330290_002
Reichensperger, A. (1930) Subgenera von Paussus und die Gattung Hylotorus sowie Beiträge zur Kentnis Afrikanische und Sudamerikanischer myrmekophilen-beitrage. Zoologischer Anzeiger, 26, 71–85.
Robertson, J.A. & Moore, W. (2016) Phylogeny of Paussus L. (Carabidae: Paussinae): unravelling morphological convergence associated with myrmecophilous life histories. Systematic Entomology, 42, 134–170. https://doi.org/10.1111/syen.12205
Serrano, A.R.M. & Capela, R.A. (2015) New records of ant nest beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Paussinae: Paussini) in Angola and an annotated list of species known from the country. The Coleopterists Bulletin, 69, 525–528. https://doi.org/10.1649/0010-065X-69.3.525