Liotesba itoi Bordoni, 2002

Zhou, Yu-Lingzi & Zhou, Hong-Zhang, 2013, Taxonomy and phylogeny of the genus Liotesba Scheerpeltz (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Staphylininae: Xantholinini) with descriptions of four new species, Journal of Natural History 47 (45 - 46), pp. 2869-2904 : 2891-2893

Liotesba itoi Bordoni, 2002

Bordoni, 2002: 322 (type locality: China, Taiwan, Yushan, Nantou-Hsien); Bordoni, 2007b: 71 (catalogue); Bordoni, 2011: 25 ( Taiwan; Kaohsiung Hsien)

Material examined. male, with labels as follows: “ Holotypus ”/“ Mt. Yushan , Taiwan, 21.V.1981, T. Ito”/“ Liotesba itoi n.sp., Det. A. Bordoni, 1997”. ( CI) .

Description

Measurement. BL = 16.95 mm, FL = 7.35 mm, HL = 2.04 mm, HW = 1.80 mm, PL = 2.40 mm, PW = 1.65 mm, EL = 2.67 mm, EW = 2.07 mm.

Body nearly cylindrical, large-sized. Body black, except elytra, posterior margin of abdominal segment VII, and entire segment VIII reddish. Legs dark brown, except tarsi much lighter in colour. Antennae dark brown, basal three antennomeres smoother and darker than remaining antennomeres. Maxillary and labial palpi brown.

Head. Subquadrated (HL to HW ratio 1.1), tempora parenthesis-shaped, posterior angles rounded. Dorsal integument shiny, rather smooth, extensively bearing micropunctures, with few sparsely scattered punctures behind eyes and on posterior half of head, also with a row of medium-sized punctures on deflexed portion of tempora. Each side of cranium with anterolateral puncture near antennal insertion, midlateral puncture about a distance of three punctures’ diameter from dorsal margin of eye, temporal puncture at the posterior one-fifth, also with occipital puncture at the lateral third. Frontal furrows relatively short, narrow; anteocular furrows absent. Eye mediumsized, slightly shorter than half the length of tempora (eye: tempora = 0.42: 0.90 mm), distinctly protruding laterad; one large and one small puncture next to dorsal margin of eye; two or three larger punctures confluent to a short furrow behind eye. Epistoma distinctly broad, subrectangular. Distance between antennal insertions 0.60 mm being distinctly shorter than distance from antenna to eye (0.72 mm).

Antennae. Scape stout, thickened apically, slightly longer than three subsequent antennomeres combined, 0.81 mm; antennomere II elongate, 0.30 mm; III slightly longer than II, 0.33 mm; IV and V subequal in length, 0.21 mm; last antennomere short, 0.33 mm, distinctly shorter than two preceding antennomeres combined.

Mouthparts. Labrum transverse, with a pair of median teeth, and lateral teeth at each side; median teeth distinctly protruding forwards, but lateral not distinctly protruding anteriad. Mandibles falciform, right one with a sharp tooth on inner edge. Maxillary palpus elongate, second segment longest; last segment fusiform, as long as the penultimate, with subtruncated apex. Labial palpus slender, each segment in same length, last segment slightly dilated subapically.

Neck. Normally wide (0.75 mm), narrower than half the width of head.

Pronotum. Subrectangular (PL to PW ratio 1.5), longer, narrower than head. Widened anteriad, posterior one-third of lateral margins convergent backwards, anterior angles well defined, posterior angles broadly rounded. Dorsal integument extensively covered with micropunctures, with two large punctures on each anterolateral corner, one large puncture on each posterolateral corner, and also with additional irregular punctures near anterior and lateral margins of pronotum.

Mesoscutellum. Shiny, surface with five or six irregularly scattered punctures.

Elytra. Short, subquadrate (EL to EW ratio 1.1), longer, wider than pronotum. Humeri well developed, lateral margins divergent posteriorly, hind margin rounded. Dorsal integument shiny, flattened, without microsculpture; each elytron with two rows of dense punctures along median suture, a row along width, also with three or four rows of punctures on deflexed portion.

Legs. First four segments of protarsi heart-shaped, dilated, and those of mesotarsi and metatarsi slender. Last segment of protarsi and mesotarsi shorter than the II–IV, respectively; last segment of metatarsi subequal to the length of II–IV.

Abdomen. Cylindrical, broadest at segment VI. Tergites III–VII shiny, each segment covered with distinct transverse microstriae, also with small, sparsely scattered punctures, distance between punctures about three to four puncture diameters. Each tergite with a basal impression near anterior margin, shiny, bearing transverse microstriae, but without any punctures. All abdominal sternites shiny, with microstriae and punctures as those on tergites.

Distribution. China (Taiwan).

Remarks. This species is similar in coloration and large size to L. rubescens Bordoni, 2005 , but it can be distinguished from the latter by mesoscutellum with irregular punctures, narrower pronotum, two rows of dense punctures along median suture of elytra and the sharply curved shape of the parameres.