Lathrobium barbiventre, Assing, 2013

Assing, Volker, 2013, On the Lathrobium fauna of China III. New species and additional records from various provinces (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Paederinae), Beiträge Zur Entomologie = Contributions to Entomology 63 (1), pp. 25-52 : 44-45

Lathrobium barbiventre sp. n.

( Figs 87-91 )

Type material:

Holotype : “ CHINA: FUJIAN prov., Wuyi Shan Nat. Res., Sangan env. (900 m) 30.v.-12.vi.2001, Hlaváč & Cooter lgt. / Holotypus  Lathrobium barbiventre sp. n., det. V. Assing 2012” (cAss).

Etymology:

The specific epithet is an adjective derived from and composed of the Latin nouns barba (beard) and venter

(abdomen). It alludes to the presence of clusters of modified setae on the male sternites V-VIII.

Description:

Rather large species of stout and somewhat depressed habitus; body length 10.5 mm; length of forebody 4.9 mm. Coloration: forebody black; abdomen blackishbrown; legs and antennae dark-brown.

Head ( Fig. 87 ) distinctly transverse, 1.1 times as broad as long; punctation moderately coarse and rather dense, sparse in median dorsal portion; interstices with distinct fine microreticulation, with subdued shine. Eyes moderately small, approximately 0.4 times as long as postocular region in dorsal view and composed of distinctly more than 50 ommatidia. Antenna 2.5 mm long.

Pronotum ( Fig. 87 ) broad, 1.16 times as long as broad and 1.07 times as broad as head; punctation slightly coarser than that of head; impunctate midline narrow; interstices without microsculpture.

Elytra ( Fig. 87 ) short, 0.53 times as long as pronotum; punctation rather coarse, dense, and defined.

Abdomen with fine and moderately dense punctation, that of tergite VII somewhat sparser than that of anterior tergites; microsculpture fine and shallow; posterior margin of tergite VII without palisade fringe.

: protarsomeres I-IV moderately strongly dilated; tergite VIII with weakly concave posterior margin; sternites V and VI with pronounced subcircular median clusters of strongly modified, short and stout black setae; sternite VII ( Fig. 88 ) strongly transverse, with moderately extensive and shallow median impression posteriorly, this impression with cluster of modified, short and stout black setae, posterior margin broadly and weakly concave; sternite VIII ( Fig. 89 ) moderately transverse, weakly asymmetric, and with pronounced, extensive, and weakly asymmetric median impression, this impression with distinctly modified short and stout black setae posteriorly, posterior excision weakly asymmetric, small, and somewhat U-shaped; aedeagus ( Figs 90-91 ) 1.6 mm long and asymmetric; ventral process stout, asymmetric, and apically acute; dorsal plate with large and lamellate apical portion, and with short, narrow, and thin basal portion; internal sac with two sclerotized spines of different shapes, and with additional membranous structures.

: unknown.

Comparative notes:

Based on the synapomorphically derived shapes and chaetotaxy of the male sternites VII and VIII, the synapomorphically derived chaetotaxy of the male sternites V-VI, and the similarly derived morphology of the aedeagus (presence of two sclerotized spines of different shapes in the internal sac; morphology of the dorsal plate), L. barbiventre is closely allied to L. daicongchaoi from the same mountain range and L. fujianense PENG & LI, 2012 from the Junzifeng Shan. It is distinguished from them by the male sexual characters, from L. daicongchaoi additionally by larger body size.

Distribution and natural history:

Lathrobium barbiventre is most likely endemic to the Wuyi Shan, where the holotype was found in a locality to the southwest of the Huanggang Shan , Fujian, at an altitude of 900 m, together with L. daicongchaoi .

Figures

Figs 87-96: Lathrobium barbiventre sp. n. (87-91) and L. depravatum sp. n. (92-96): forebody (87, 92); male sternite VII (88, 93); male sternite VIII (89, 94); aedeagus in lateral and in ventral view (90-91, 95-96). Scale bars: 87, 92: 1.0 mm; 88-91, 93-96: 0.5 mm.