Lathrobium damingense Peng

Peng, Zhong, Li, Li-Zhen & Zhao, Mei-Jun, 2013, Two new species and additional records of Lathrobium Gravenhorst (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Paederinae) from Guangxi, South China, Zootaxa 3694 (3), pp. 213-220 : 218-220

Lathrobium damingense Peng and Li, new species

(Figs 3C, 5)

Type material. (1 ♂, 2 ♀♀). HOLOTYPE: ♂, labelled ‘ China: Guangxi Prov., Wuming County Mt. Damingshan, 23°23'N 108°29'E, alt. 1,500 m 29.vii.2012, Hu & Song leg.’ (SNUC). PARATYPES: 2 ♀♀, same label data as holotype (SNUC).

Description. Measurements (in mm) and ratios: BL 7.57–9.43, FL 3. 73–4.31, HL 1.00–1.10, HW 1.10–1.25, PL 1.37–1.55, PW 1.23–1.35, EL 0.67–0.76, AL 1.39, HL/HW 0.88–0.91, HW/PW 0.89–0.93, HL/PL 0.71–0.73, PL/PW 1.11–1.15, EL/PL 0.49–0.50.

Habitus as in Fig. 3C. Body dark brown with paler apex, legs brown, antennae brown to light brown.

Head weakly transverse, more or less dilated posteriad; punctation coarse and moderately dense, sparser in median dorsal portion; interstices with distinct microreticulation, eyes large, 1/3 times as long as postocular region in dorsal view and composed of numerous (> 60) defined ommatidia. Antenna 2.3 mm long.

Pronotum stout, lateral margins conspicuously convex in dorsal view; punctation somewhat sparser than that of head; interstices without microsculpture; impunctate midline moderately broad.

Elytra 0.49–0.50 times as long as pronotum; punctation moderately coarse and dense. Hind wings completely reduced. Protarsi with moderate sexual dimorphism.

Abdomen with fine and dense punctation; interstices with distinct microsculpture; posterior margin of tergite VII without palisade fringe; tergite VIII without appreciable sexual dimorphism, broadly convex posteriorly ( Fig. 5 A).

Male. Sternites III–VI unmodified; sternite VII ( Fig. 5 D) strongly transverse and with very shallow posterior impression, this impression without distinctly modified setae, posterior margin weakly concave in the middle; sternite VIII ( Fig. 5 E) transverse, with shallow postero-median impression, this impression with long setae, posterior margin distinctly concave; sternite IX ( Fig. 5 D) asymmetric; aedeagus as in Figs 5 G, 5H; ventral process nearly symmetric and tongue-shaped; dorsal plate sclerotized, thin and long; internal sac with membranous structures and usual ring-shaped structure.

Female. Sternite VIII ( Fig. 5 B) oblong, posterior margin convexly produced; tergite IX ( Fig. 5 C) with short antero-median portion and with long postero-lateral processes, median portion with median suture; tergite X ( Fig. 5 C) 5.8 times as long as antero-median portion of tergite IX ( Fig. 5 C).

Comparative notes. This species is readily distinguished from all other Lathrobium species recorded from China by the shape and chaetotaxy of the male sternite VIII, by the shape of the tergites IX–X, and in particular by the distinctive shape and inner structures of the aedeagus. Closer affiliations to any of the described Lathrobium species from China are unclear.

Distribution and biological notes. This species is currently known only from the type locality. The specimens were collected by sifting leaf litter from the floor of a beech forest at an altitude of 1,500 m (Song & Hu, pers. comm.).

Etymology. The species is named after its type locality “Daming Shan”.

Figures

FIGURE 5. Lathrobium damingense. A — female tergite VIII; B — female sternite VIII; C — female tergites IX – X. D — male sternite VII; E — male sternite VIII; F — male sternite IX; G — aedeagus in lateral view; H — aedeagus in ventral view. Scale bars: 0.5 mm.