Lathrobium leii Peng & Li

Peng, Zhong, Sun, Zhuo, Li, Li-Zhen & Zhao, Mei-Jun, 2015, Four new species and additional records of Domene and Lathrobium from the Dayao Mountains, southern China, ZooKeys 508, pp. 113-126 : 120-122

Taxon classification Animalia Coleoptera Staphylinidae

Lathrobium leii Peng & Li sp. n. Figs 4C, 7

Type material.

Holotype: ♂, labelled 'China: Guangxi Prov., Jinxiu Hsien, Shengtang Shan, 23°57'37"N, 110°06'46"E, 1300 m, 21.VII.2014, Peng, Song, Yan & Yu leg.' (SNUC). Paratypes: 1 ♀, same label data as holotype (SNUC).

Description.

Measurements (in mm) and ratios: BL 6.61-6.67, FL 3.11-3.34, HL 0.83-0.87, HW 0.82-0.88, AnL 1.66-1.68, PL 1.12-1.14, PW 0.85-0.90, EL 0.65-0.68, AL 1.26, HL/HW 0.99-1.01, HW/PW 0.96-0.98, HL/PL 0.74-0.76, PL/PW 1.27-1.32, EL/PL 0.58-0.60.

Habitus as in Fig. 4C. Body light brown, legs yellowish brown, antennae light brown.

Head approximately as long as broad; punctation coarse and moderately sparse, distinctly sparser in median dorsal portion; interstices with shallow microreticulation; eyes small and composed of approximately 35 ommatidia.

Pronotum with weakly convex lateral margins in dorsal view; punctation similar to that of head; impunctate midline broad; interstices without microsculpture.

Elytral punctation moderately dense and defined. Hind wings completely reduced. Protarsi without pronounced sexual dimorphism.

Abdomen with fine and moderately dense punctation, that of tergite VII somewhat sparser than that of anterior tergites; interstices with shallow microsculpture; posterior margin of tergite VII without palisade fringe; tergite VIII without sexual dimorphism, posterior margin (Fig. 7A) asymmetricalally obtusely angled.

Male. Sternites III-VI unmodified; sternite VII (Fig. 7D) with truncate posterior margin and without distinctly modified setae; sternite VIII (Fig. 7E) with very shallow postero-median impression, this impression with short dark setae posteriorly, posterior excision small and weakly asymmetrical; aedeagus as in Figs 7F, G; ventral process long and slender; dorsal plate with very long moderately sclerotized apical portion and short weakly sclerotized basal portion; internal sac with a long sclerotized spine.

Female. Posterior margin of sternite VIII (Fig. 7B) convex and with moderately dense micropubescence; tergite IX (Fig. 7C) without median suture; tergite X (Fig. 7C) 4.7 times as long as antero-median portion of tergite IX.

Comparative notes.

Based on the different general morphology of the aedeagus, Lathrobium leii represents a different lineage than the other species recorded from Dayao Mountains. It is additionally distinguished from them by smaller body size, yellowish brown legs, the chaetotaxy of the male sternite VIII, and a slender aedeagus with a long sclerotized spine.

Etymology.

The species is dedicated to Yu-Yang Lei, who supported us on our field trips.

Distribution and natural history.

The type locality is situated in the Shengtang Shan to the southwest of Jinxiu, central Guangxi. The specimens were sifted from leaf litter and humus in a rhododendron forest at an altitude of 1,300 m, together with Lathrobium shengtangshanense .