Pseudolathra cyanea ( LAST , 1984), 2014

Assing, V., 2014, A revision of Palaearctic and Oriental Pseudolathra. IV. New species, new combinations and additional records (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Paederinae), Linzer biologische Beiträge 46 (2), pp. 1151-1166 : 1159

Pseudolathra cyanea ( LAST, 1984) , nov.comb.

( Fig. 13 , Map 2 )

Lathrobium cyanea LAST, 1984: 121 f.

Type material examined: Holotype: " Middle Waria, New Guinea, 29-7-1970, R. Hornabrook / Holotype / Brit. Mus. 1985-401 / Lathrobium cyanea sp.n., H.R. Last. det., Type / Pseudolathra cyanea (Last) , det. V. Assing 2014" ( BMNH).

Comment: The original description is based on a unique female holotype from "Middle Waria, ..., beaten from foliage"" ( LAST 1984). The species clearly does not belong to Lathrobium . Based on the external characters (punctation pattern, habitus, presence of an epipleural line), it is attributed to Pseulolathra.

Redescription: Body length 8.2 mm; length of forebody 3.9 mm. Coloration highly distinctive: body shiny and black, with pronounced metallic greenish-blue hue; abdomen black with weak bluish hue; legs blackish, with the tarsi and the narrow bases of the tibiae yellowish-brown; antennae reddish, with the median antennomeres somewhat darker.

Head ( Fig. 13 ) 1.05 times as broad as long; posterior angles obsolete; lateral margins behind eyes smoothly rounded towards posterior constriction in dorsal view; dorsal surface with few scattered coarse macropunctures in anterior and lateral portions, otherwise impunctate; microsculpture absent. Eyes large, much longer than distance from posterior margin of eye to posterior constriction. Antenna slender, 2.6 mm long; all antennomeres oblong; antennomeres IV-X gradually decreasing in length and decreasingly oblong.

Pronotum ( Fig. 13 ) strongly convex in cross-section, 1.11 times as long as broad and approximately as broad as head, widest near anterior angles, distinctly tapering posteriorly; dorsal series broadly separated, each composed of 1+3 coarse punctures; lateral portions with few scattered macropunctures; microsculpture absent.

Elytra ( Fig. 13 ) 0.93 times as long as pronotum; epipleural line pronounced (lateral view); dorsal surface with a sutural series composed of 6-7 punctures, a median series composed of 3-4 punctures, and a lateral series composed of 5-7 punctures, otherwise impunctate. Hind wings fully developed. Metatarsomere I shorter than II. Protarsomeres I-IV moderately strongly dilated.

Abdomen slightly narrower than elytra; punctation rather sparse, sparser on posterior than on anterior tergites; interstices with microsculpture; posterior margin of tergite VII with palisade fringe.

: unknown.

Comparative notes: This species is distinguished from all its congeners by the conspicuous coloration alone.

Distribution and natural history: Thetypelocalityisapparently a river valley in the Bowutu Mountains in eastern Papua New Guinea ( Map 2 ). According to LAST (1984), the holotype was beaten from the foliage of a tree.

Figures

Map 2: Distributions of Pseudolathra armata (black triangles), P. bisinuata (star), P. sepikensis (white circle), P. naviculum (black circle), P. puncta (white triangle), and P. cyanea (diamond).

Figs 12-17: Pseudolathra puncta (LAST), holotype (12), P. cyanea (LAST), holotype (13), and P. armata nov.sp., holotype (14-17): (12-14) forebody; (15) antenna; (16-17) aedeagus in lateral and in ventral view. Scale bars: 12-15: 1.0 mm; 16-17: 0.5 mm.