Trechus religiosus Schmidt 2009, sp. n.

(Figs. 70, 73, 94)

Type material: Holotype male, with label data “ TIBET (South Central) 11.VII.07, SW slope Nyanchentangla 5100–5500 m, 30°18’24,0N 90°35’48,0E ” (BMNH).

Paratypes: 29 males, 9 females, with same label data as holotype (BMNH, CKAB, CSCHM, CWR, MNHN, SMNS); 2 males, South Central Tibet, Bhilam Tshu Vall. SW of Peak Nyanchentangla, 4800–4900 m, ca. 30°17’50N 90°36’05E, 11.VII.2007 (CSCHM).

Description: Body length: 3.0– 3.6 mm.

Colour: Dorsal surface shiny yellowish brown, with head and elytra in some specimens slightly darker than pronotum. Antennae, palpi and legs yellowish brown; distal half of antennal segments III as well as antennal segments IV–XI on the whole darkened.

Microsculpture: Supraorbital area, disc of pronotum and disc of elytra with very faintly engraved slightly transverse meshes, visible under high magnification only (x80–x100). More deeply engraved almost isodiametric meshes in frontal furrows of head and in pronotal basal depression.

Head: Rather stout, with eyes small and slightly protruding. Temples approximately 3/4 of length of eyes and strongly wrinkled to the neck. Frontal furrows not flattened at level of hind suborbital seta. Antennae stout, 2.5–3 antennomeres extend beyond the pronotal base. Antennomere III as long as antennomere II but slightly longer than antennomere IV.

Pronotum: Average sized, transverse, sub-cordate, strongly contracted towards base; proportions WP/LP = 1.25–1.33, WP/WPB = 1.36–1.45, WP/WH = 1.15–1.22, WE/WP = 1.56–1.60. Surface strongly convex. Sides concave anterad of hind angles; the latter relatively large, rectangular or slightly obtuse. Marginal gutter narrow, not or slightly widened anterad of laterobasal depressions. Base rectilinear in middle, slightly curved anteriorly at outer fifth; basal depressions in most specimens with distinct longitudinal wrinkles both sides of pronotal middle.

Elytra: Oval, broadest at mid-length, with proportion WE/LE = 1.44–1.52. Surface strongly convex, not flattened on disc. Shoulders distinct but rounded. Striae punctate, three or four inner stria deeply impressed but usually flattened at base and extreme apex, outer striae shallower but always present. Stria VIII moderately impressed from level of the fifth umbilicate pore backwards and more deeply impressed at levels of seventh and eighth pores. Recurrent elytral preapical sulcus in most specimens connected with the end of the seventh stria. Intervals I–V strongly convex. Preapical seta is located at the end of second stria and at the beginning of the posterior elytral eighth or ninth.

Legs: Moderately short.

Male genitalia: Aedeagal median lobe short, with its length of approximately one quarter of elytral length (LE/LA = 3.9–4.0), in dorsal view relatively thin, in lateral view evenly curved towards apex. Basal bulb average. Terminal lamella short and simple. Internal sac very poorly sclerotized: In lateral view a short and very fine longitudinal sheet somewhat below the ostium. Parameres stout.

Etymology: The specific name is derived from the Latin word “religiosus, -a, -um”, meaning religious or devotional, and refers to the holy mountain Nyainqentanglha (Tibetan language: “Father of mountains”) on which the species occurs; adjective.

Identification: In external characters very similar to T. antonini Deuve, 1997, but with shoulders broader, with elytral striae more deeply punctate, and with pronotal base not such as strongly bent anteriorly towards hind angles. In aedeagal characters the new species is easily distinguished by the short terminal lamella of the median lobe and by the negligible sclerotisation of the internal sac.

Relationships: Unknown.

Distribution: Fig. 100. Currently only known from the Bhilam Valley south west of Peak Nyainqentanglha.

Habitat: Higher alpine zone. Most specimens were found under stones at the top of an older moraine and along slopes of this moraine in western exposition at an altitude of 5100–5500 m. Two specimens where also found close to the water in a snow water gorge at an altitude of only 4900 m.