Moret Pierre, Ortuño Vicente M
Laboratoire TRACES, UMR 5608. CNRS, Université de Toulouse Jean Jaurès. 5 allées Antonio-Machado. F-31058 Toulouse, France..
Zootaxa. 2017 Apr 27;4258(2):101-120. doi: 10.11646/zootaxa.4258.2.1.
A new carabid beetle genus, Balligratus gen. nov., belonging to the tribe Lachnophorini, is described. It is geographically restricted to the equatorial Andes, and ecologically linked to the montane pluvial forest ecosystem, at elevations ranging from 1,200 to 3,600 m. As other carabid lineages that have radiated in such environments, Balligratus gen. nov. is a wingless clade, characterized by the loss of flight wings associated with metathoracic reduction, constriction of the elytral base, and reduced eye size. This evolution is unique among Lachnophorini. Four new species are described, all of them from Ecuador: Balligratus brevis sp. nov., Balligratus globosus sp. nov., Balligratus gracilis sp. nov. and Balligratus humerangulus sp. nov.
描述了一个属于拉赫诺弗林族的步甲科新属——球步甲属（Balligratus gen. nov.）。它在地理上局限于赤道安第斯山脉，在生态上与海拔1200至3600米的山地多雨森林生态系统相关联。与在这种环境中辐射演化的其他步甲谱系一样，球步甲属是一个无翅类群，其特征是与后胸缩小、鞘翅基部收缩和眼睛尺寸减小相关的飞行翅丧失。这种进化在拉赫诺弗林族中是独一无二的。描述了四个新物种，均来自厄瓜多尔：短球步甲（Balligratus brevis sp. nov.）、球突球步甲（Balligratus globosus sp. nov.）、细球步甲（Balligratus gracilis sp. nov.）和肩角球步甲（Balligratus humerangulus sp. nov.）。
