Pseudobironium confusum, Lobl & Liang Tang, 2013

Löbl, Ivan & Tang, Liang, 2013, A review of the genus Pseudobironium Pic (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Scaphidiinae), Revue suisse de Zoologie 120 (4), pp. 665-734 : 697-701

Pseudobironium confusum sp. nov. Figs 7, 8, 45-47

HOLOTYPE: Ƌ, CHINA, Hainan, Ledong County, Jianfengling , 1000m, 17-24.V.2011, leg. Wen-Xuan Bi ( SNUC).

PARATYPES: CHINA, with the same data as the holotype, 9 Ƌ, 7 ♀ ( SNUC, MHNG) . – VIETNAM, N. Vietnam, Tam Dao , 3-11.6.1985, 900- 1400m, 1 Ƌ leg. J. Jelínek ( NMPC) .

DESCRIPTION: Length 4.0 mm, width 2.60-2.80 mm. Head reddish-brown. Pronotum and elytra very dark, almost black. Prohypomera, mesoventrite and abdomen dark brown to reddish-brown, apical abdominal segments hardly lighter, metaventrite darker, almost black. Legs reddish-brown, tarsi slightly lighter than tibiae; antennomeres I to VI light reddish-brown, following infuscate. Maxillary palpi with palpomere IV about 4 times as long as wide, tapering. Length ratio of antennomeres as II 14: III 12: IV 23: V 22: VI 17: VII 23: VIII 22: IX 22: X 21: XI 30; antennomere XI FIGS 43-47

(43, 44) Pseudobironium bilobum sp. nov., aedeagus (43) and internal sac (44) in dorsal views. (45-47) Pseudobironium confusum sp. nov., aedeagus in dorsal (45) and lateral (47) views, internal sac (46) in dorsal view; scale bars for aedeagus = 0.2 mm, for internal sac = 0.1 mm.

about four to five times as long as wide. Punctation on head and pronotum dense, pronotal punctation fairly coarse, distinctly coarser than that on head, punctures not well delimited, puncture intervals mostly about as to three times as large as puncture diameters. Elytra lacking humps or impressions, with punctation dense, about as fine as that on pronotum near basal margins, distinctly coarser on prevailing surface, punctures well delimited, puncture intervals mostly about as to twice as large as puncture diameters. Prohypomera finely, distinctly punctate. Mesoventrite extremely finely punctate, lacking median ridge or line, and lacking striae. Metaventrite not microsculptured, with a pair of admesal elongate tubercles. Median part of metaventrite weakly convex, smooth on mesal area; punctures dense, moderatelly coarse, sharply delimited, with diameters to part about as large as puncture intervals. Lateral parts of metaventrite very finely punctate. Submesocoxal area slightly shorter than half of interval to metacoxa. Metacoxal process impunctate and not microsculptured, with low median ridge and almost truncate margin. Mesotibiae and metatibiae strongly curved, mesotibial ventral spur straight. Abdomen with microsculpture consisting of transverse and oblique striae, becoming punctulate on lateral parts of sternite 1 and evanescent on its basolateral areas; sternite 1 with shallow lateral impression. Sternite 2 with dense row of very short basal striae.

Male. Protarsus shorter than protibia, with tarsomeres 1 to 3 strongly widened, narrower than apex of protibia, bearing long tenent setae. Aedeagus (Figs 45-47) 1.51- 1.52 mm long. Median lobe with basal bulb about as long as apical process, latter inflexed with straight ventral side, tip not bent and blunt in lateral view. Apical process with eventually hardly visible lateral tubercles. Parameres weakly curved, narrowed toward mid-length, with narrow dorsal lobe in dorsal view, hardly curved, almost evenly wide in basal halves, posterior mid-length expanded dorsally, from widest point gradually narrowed apically in lateral view. Internal sac with mesal guide-sclerites, pair of conical sclerites each with invaginated short rod, and pair of membranous basal vesicles. Membranes of internal sac scale-like, overlapping strigulate structures.

DISTRIBUTION: China: Hainan, Vietnam.

ETYMOLOGY: The species epithet is a Latin adjective, referring to confusing external similarity of this species to some of its congeners.

COMMENTS. This species resembles P. carinense , P. grossum , P. hisamatsui , P. vitalisi and the below described P. convenxum and P. conspectum in most of its external characters. It differs from all of them by the metaventrite bearing admesal tubercles, and also from most of its congeneres by the strongly elongate antennomere XI. It may be also distinguished by the large body size, in combination with the aedeagal characters, in particular by the shape of the parameres.

Pseudobironium feai Pic, 1920 Figs 9, 10, 48-51 Pseudobironium feai Pic, 1920b: 24 .

LECTOTYPE: Ƌ, MCSN, by present designation, labelled: Carin Cheba 900-1100 m. L. Fea V XII-88 [printed] / Mus. Civ. Genova [printed] / Pseudobironium Feai n. sp. [handwritten, by Pic] / SYNTYPUS [printed] Pseudobironium feai Pic1920 [handwritten] / Lectotype [red, printed] / Lectotype Pseudobironium feai Pic det. Löbl 1991 [handwritten, “det. Löbl 19” printed].

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL EXAMINED. INDIA, Meghalaya, SW of Cheerrapunjee 25°13'- 14'N, 91°40'E, 900m, 23.-25.VI. 2007, 3 Ƌ, 3 ♀ leg. P. Pacholátko ( NHMB, MHNG). With the same data but 25°14'N, 91°40'E, 21.V.2000, 4 Ƌ leg. L. Dembický ( NHMB, MHNG). – LAOS, Phongsaly Prov. , 21°41'-42'N 102°06'-08'E, 28.V.-20.VI.2003, env. 1500m, 2 Ƌ leg. V. Kubáň ( NHMB, MHNG). – Laos NE, Houa Phan Prov., 20°13'09''N 103°59'54''- 104°00'03''E, 1480- 1550m, Phou Pane Mts. , 9.-16.VI.2009, 1 Ƌ leg. D. Hauck ( NHMB). – CHINA, Guangxi ,

FIGS 48-52

(48-51) Pseudobironium feai Pic , aedeagus in dorsal (48) and lateral (49) views, tip of median lobe in lateral view (50), internal sac (51) in dorsal view; scale bars for aedeagus = 0.3 mm, for internal sac = 0.1 mm, for tip of median lobe = 0.05 mm. (52) Pseudobironium horaki sp. nov., aedeagus in lateral view; scale bar = 0.2 mm.

Lingui County, Huaping N. R., Anjianping , 1200m, 16.VII.2011, 1 Ƌ, 5 ♀ leg. Zhong Peng ( SNUC) . – Xizang, Motuo county , A'niqiao, 1100m, 16-18.VIII.2005, 1 Ƌ leg. Liang Tang ( SNUC) . – Hainan, Ledong County, Jianfengling Nature Reserve , 1000m, 17-24.V.2011, 2 Ƌ leg. Wen-Xuan Bi ( SNUC, MHNG) .

REDESCRIPTION: Length 2.90-3.20 mm, width 2.10-2.50 mm. Head, pronotum, elytra and most of abdomen black. Prohypomera, venter of thorax, apical parts of ventrites I to V, apical abdominal segments, mouth-parts, femora and tibiae dark reddish-brown; antennomeres I to VI or I to VIII light reddish, apical antennomeres infuscate. Maxillary palpi with palpomere IV about 4 times as long as wide, tapering. Length ratio of antennomeres as II 13: III 9: IV 16: V 17: VI 14: VII 18: VIII 15: IX 18: X 16: XI 22; antennomere XI three times as long as wide. Head and pronotum with dense and fine punctation; punctures not well delimited, shallow, pronotal punctures slightly larger than those on head, with intervals mostly about twice to four times as large as puncture diameters. Elytra lacking subapical hump and lateral impression, and without subapical impression. Elytral punctation slightly coarser that pronotal punctation, with punctures mostly well delimited, puncture intervals mostly twice to four times as large as puncture diameters. Prohypomera impunctate, not microsculptured. Mesoventrite punctate, lacking median ridge or line. Metaventrite with microsculpture visible on middle part, absent from lateral parts. Median part of metaventrite weakly convex, coarsely and densely punctate except on smooth mesal line, punctures sharply delimited, with diameters to part about as large as puncture intervals. Lateral parts of metaventrite very finely punctate, appearing impunctate. Submesocoxal area about as long as fourth to third of interval to metacoxa. Metacoxal process distinctly microsculptured, lacking median line or ridge, with margin truncate or weakly concave. Mesotibiae and metatibiae weakly curved, mesotibial ventral spur straight. Abdominal sternite 1 very finely, sparsely punctate, with punctulate and strigulate microsculpture, and with shallow round impression situated posterior mid-length. Following sternites lacking wrinkles, with distinct microsculpture.

Male: Protarsus shorter than protibia, protarsomeres 1 to 3 distinctly widened, somewhat narrower than apex of protibia, with long tenent setae. Aedeagus (Figs 48-51) 1.10-1.31 mm long. Median lobe with basal bulb much shorter than apical process, lacking obvious lateral tubercles, eventually with hardly visible ventral tubercles, weakly inflexed ventrally, with ventral side strongly arcuate, tip blunt, swollen. Parameres weakly curved, almost evenly wide except near base, almost straight in dorsal view. Inner sac with mesal guide-sclerites, pair of subtringular sclerites each with single short rod, membranes strigulate laterad and posterior sclerites, and with very fine spinose structures followed by hardly visible hair-like structures.

DISTRIBUTION: India: Meghalaya, Myanmar, Laos, China: Guangxi, Xizang,

Hainan.

COMMENTS: This species may be distinguished by the shape of the tip of the median lobe, as seen in lateral view. A lectotype designation is considered useful because the original description and a somewhat more detailed redescription given by Pic (1921: 163) do not mention the number of examined specimens, and additional syntypes, not necessarily conspecific, may exist in collections.