Lathrobium kongmaicum, Assing, 2017

Assing, Volker, 2017, Four new species and additional records of Lathrobium from Nepal and China (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Paederinae), Linzer biologische Beiträge 49 (1), pp. 285-297 : 286-291

Lathrobium kongmaicum nov.sp. ( Figs 1-8 )

T y p e m a t e r i a l: Holotype 3: " NEPAL, E, Kongma Danda , env. Kongma, 3800 m, 14.+ 25.V.2015, leg. J. Schmidt, 27°39'22''N 87°12'13''E / Holotypus 3 Lathrobium kongmaicum sp. n., det. V. Assing 2016 " ( NME) . Paratypes: 433, 2♀♀: same data as holotype ( NME, cAss) ; 13: "E-NEPAL, Kongma Danda , S of Kongma, 3200 m, 27°38'45''N, 87°12'40''E, 14.V.2015, leg. J. Schmidt " ( NME) .

E t y m o l o g y: The specific epithet (adjective) is derived from the name of the mountain range (Kongma Danda) where this species is probably endemic.

D e s c r i p t i o n: Size without appreciable sexual dimorphism. Body length 6.0-7.0 mm; length of forebody 2.8-3.0 mm. Coloration: body blackish with the abdominal apex paler brown; legs brown; antennae dark-brown.

Head ( Fig. 1 ) 1.00-1.05 times as long as broad; punctation moderately coarse and rather sparse, very sparse in anterior and median dorsal portions; interstices with distinct microreticulation. Eyes ( Fig. 2 ) small, approximately one-fifth to one-fourth as long as distance from posterior margin of head to posterior constriction of head in dorsal view, and composed of approximately 50 ommatidia. Antenna approximately 1.6 mm long.

Pronotum ( Fig. 1 ) approximately 1.2 times as long as broad and 1.05 times as broad as head; punctation somewhat finer than that of head; midline broadly impunctate; interstices with distinct microreticulation.

Elytra ( Fig. 1 ) 0.52-0.55 times as long as pronotum; humeral angles weakly marked; punctation shallow and ill-defined; interstices without microsculpture. Hind wings completely reduced.

Abdomen slightly broader than elytra; punctation moderately fine and dense, somewhat less dense on tergites VII and VIII than on anterior tergites; interstices with fine microsculpture; posterior margin of tergite VII without palisade fringe; posterior margin of tergite VIII subject to sexual dimorphism.

3: protarsomeres I-IV ( Fig. 1 ) strongly dilated; tergite VIII with weakly convex posterior margin; sternite VII ( Fig. 3 ) strongly transverse, approximately 1.65 times as broad as long, impressed along middle, on either side of the non-pubescent middle with a cluster of numerous moderately dense, weakly modified black setae, posterior margin weakly, broadly concave; sternite VIII ( Fig. 4 ) 1.15 times as broad as long, narrowly impressed along middle, on either side of middle with an oblong cluster of dense moderately modified setae, posterior margin weakly convex, without median excision; aedeagus ( Figs 5-6 ) approximately 0.95 mm long; ventral process symmetric, nearly angular in lateral view, slender and apically acute in ventral view; dorsal plate with lamellate, long, and moderately sclerotized apical portion and with very short basal portion; internal sac with dark membranous structures, but without sclerotized spines.

♀: protarsomeres I-IV moderately dilated; posterior margin of tergite VIII obtusely pointed in the middle; sternite VIII ( Fig. 7 ) approximately 1.2 times as long as broad, with micropubescence in apical portion, posterior margin convexly produced in the middle; antero-median portion of tergite IX ( Fig. 8 ) very short, undivided and without suture in the middle, postero-lateral processes of moderate length; tergite X ( Fig. 8 ) very long and strongly convex in cross-section, nearly five times as long as antero-median portion of tergite IX.

C o m p a r a t i v e n o t e s: As can be inferred from the external (head and pronotum with distinct microsculpture), as well as the male sexual characters (shapes and chaetotaxy of sternites VII and VIII; morphology of the aedeagus), L. kongmaicum belongs to the L. nepalense group (see ASSING 2012), which was previously represented by 18 locally endemic and externally similar species distributed in Central and East Nepal ( ASSING 2012, 2013b, 2014, 2016). Regarding the shape of the aedeagus, L. kongmaicum is most similar to L. milkeense ASSING, 2012 (East Nepal: Milke Danda), from which the new species differs by a smaller aedeagus ( L. milkeense : 1.1 mm) with an apically longer and more acute (lateral view) ventral process and with a more distinctly sinuate dorsal plate (lateral view), and by more pronounced clusters of longer modified setae on the male sternites VII and VIII. For illustrations of L. milkeense see ASSING (2012). For characters separating L. kongmaicum from the geographically close and even syntopic L. latilobatum see the comparative notes in the following section.

D i s t r i b u t i o n a n d n a t u r a l h i s t o r y: The type locality is situated near Kongma, Kongma Danda, East Nepal. The specimens were collected at altitudes of 3200 and 3800 m.

Figures

Figs 1-8: Lathrobium kongmaicum nov.sp.: (1) male forebody; (2) head in lateral view; (3) male sternite VII; (4) male sternite VIII; (5-6) aedeagus in lateral and in ventral view; (7) female sternite VIII; (8) female abdominal segments IX-X. Scale bars: 1: 1.0 mm; 2-8: 0.5 mm.