Tragoniodes yinhe new species

Tragoniodes yinhe Gustafsson, Li, Tian, Ren, Sun & Zou. This paper.

Type host: Tragopan caboti (Gould, 1857) —Cabot’s tragopan.

Host distribution: Species of Tragopan Cuvier, 1829 (Galliformes: Phasianidae).

Geographical range: China, Himalayas, parts of Southeast Asia.

Etymology: The name Tragoniodes is a portmanteau of the host genus Tragopan —itself derived from “ trágos ” (τρᾰ́ΓΟΣ), ancient Greek for “male goat” and “ Pán ” (Πᾱ́ν), the Greek god of shepherds and nature—and the genus Goniodes derived from “ gōnía ” (Γωνία), ancient Greek for “angle”, referring to the angular temples of many species in the genus. Gender masculine.

Remarks: A recently illustrated redescription of the type species of Tragoniodes, T. spinicornis, is available in Gustafsson et al. (2024a: 534–535, figs 674–680). We tentatively accept the synonymy of Goniodes spinicornis blythi under the nominate subspecies, but note that the original description of this subspecies by Eichler (1950) is inadequate and needs redescription. No specimens of Tragoniodes tragopan have been examined. Clay (1940: fig. 9d) described the bifid structure in the female genitalia of T. tragopan as more broadly rounded than in all other species, and the mesosome with small, rounded flaps on each side in (Clay 1940: fig. 11c). Photos of the male genitalia of the holotype of T. tragopan available from the NHML’s homepage (https://data.nhm.ac.uk) confirm the presence of these flaps, and no similar structure has been found in any of the other species examined. Furthermore, the distal section of the male scape in T. tragopan bulges markedly in photos of the holotype, similar to those of Rhopaloncus gen. nov. (see below), but this feature cannot be seen in any of the other species of Tragoniodes. Although T. tragopan needs redescription, it is clear that it is morphologically distinct and cannot be confused with any of the species of the new genus.