Lathrobium bamianense Peng

Peng, Zhong, Li, Li-Zhen & Zhao, Mei-Jun, 2016, On the Lathrobium fauna of the Luoxiao Mountains, Central China, Zootaxa 4158 (3), pp. 385-402 : 386-388

Lathrobium bamianense Peng and L.-Z. Li, new species

(Map 1, Figs 1 A, 2)

Type material. HOLOTYPE: Ƌ, labeled ‘ China: Hunan Prov., Guidong County, Bamian Shan , 25°59'53''N 113°41'54''E, 1760 m, 04.VI.2014, Peng & Shen leg.’ ( SNUC) . Paratypes: 1 Ƌ, 4 ♀♀, same label data as holotype (SNUC); 1 Ƌ, 1 ♀, same data, but ‘ 25°59'33''N 113°42'25''E, 1510 m, 01.VI.2014, Peng, Shen, Yu & Yan leg’ ( SNUC) .

Description. Measurements (in mm) and ratios: BL 6.12–7.78, FL 3.17–3.42, HL 0.87–0.93, HW 0.90–0.93, AnL 1.80–1.88, PL 1.15–1.24, PW 0.96–1.02, EL 0.57–0.65, AL 1.41–1.44, HL/HW 0.97–1.00, HW/PW 0.91– 0.96, HL/PL 0.74–0.76, PL/PW 1.20–1.22, EL/PL 0.50–0.52.

Habitus as in Fig. 1 A. Body reddish brown, legs yellowish brown, antennae reddish brown to yellowish brown.

Head: punctation moderately coarse and sparse, and distinctly sparser in median dorsal portion; interstices with shallow microreticulation. Eyes small and composed of approximately 30 ommatidia.

Pronotum nearly parallel-sided; punctation somewhat denser than that of head; impunctate midline broad; interstices without microsculpture.

Elytral punctation moderately dense and shallow. Hind wings completely reduced. Protarsomeres I–IV with weak sexual dimorphism.

Abdomen with fine and dense punctation, punctation of tergite VII slightly less dense than that of anterior tergites; interstices with shallow microsculpture; posterior margin of tergite VII without palisade fringe; tergite VIII with weakly pronounced sexual dimorphism.

Male. Posterior margin of tergite VIII truncate; sternites III–VI unmodified; sternite VII ( Fig. 2 D) strongly transverse, with shallow median impression posteriorly, this impression with rather weakly modified setae directed obliquely postero-mediad, posterior margin concave in the middle; sternite VIII ( Fig. 2 E) weakly transverse, symmetric, with longitudinal and shallow impression in the middle, and with shallow, broadly V-shaped posterior excision; aedeagus as in Figs 2 F, G, ventral process slender and moderately long, somewhat asymmetric in ventral view; dorsal plate with large and sclerotized apical portion, and with short basal portion; internal sac with two sclerotized spines of different shapes.

Female. Posterior margin of tergite VIII ( Fig. 2 A) weakly convex; sternite VIII as in Fig. 2 B, convexly produced posteriorly; tergite IX ( Fig. 2 C) with very short, medially undivided antero-median portion and moderately long postero-lateral processes; tergite X ( Fig. 2 C) 3.8 times as long as antero-median portion of tergite IX.

Comparative notes. Based on the morphology of the aedeagus, this species may be allied to L. jinyuae , from which it is distinguished by somewhat smaller body size, the lighter coloration of the body, the chaetotaxy of the male sternite VII and the nearly straight ventral process of the aedeagus. Lathrobium bamianense is distinguished from the syntopic L. fumingi by smaller body size, reddish coloration of the body, the broadly V-shaped posterior excision of the male sternite VIII, by the shape of ventral process and dorsal plate of the aedeagus, as well as the shape of the female tergite VIII.

Distribution and natural history. The type locality is situated in the Bamian Shan to the west of Guidong, eastern Hunan. The specimens were sifted from leaf litter and humus in a rhododendron forest at altitudes of 1510 and 1760 m, partly together with L. fumingi .

Etymology. The species is named after its type locality (Bamian Shan).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Habitus of Lathrobium spp., A — L. bamianense; B — L. fumingi; C — L. jinyuae (Nanfengmian). Scale bars: 1.0 mm.

FIGURE 2. Lathrobium bamianense. A — female tergite VIII; B — female sternite VIII; C — female tergites IX – X. D — male sternite VII; E — male sternite VIII; F — aedeagus in ventral view; G — aedeagus in lateral view. Scale bars: 0.5 mm.