Lathrobium wuyicum, 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 : 48-49

Lathrobium wuyicum sp. n.

( Figs 103-111 )

Type material:

Holotype : “ CHINA: JIANGXI prov., Wuyi Shan Nat. Res., Huangganshan [sic], (1800-2050 m), 5.vi.2001,

Hlaváč & Cooter lgt / Holotypus  Lathrobium wuyicum sp. n., det. V. Assing 2012” (cAss). Paratypes: 3, 4: same data as holotype (cAss) .

Etymology:

The specific epithet (adjective) is derived from the name of the mountain range where this species is probably endemic.

Description:

Species of broad and somewhat depressed habitus and of intermediate size, with weakly pronounced sexual size dimorphism; body length 6.3-7.3 mm (), 5.8-6.5 mm (); length of forebody 3.1-3.3 mm (), 2.9-3.2 mm (). Habitus as in Fig. 103 . Coloration: body brown to dark-brown, posterior margin of elytra and often also suture more or less distinctly reddish; legs and antennae reddish.

Head ( Fig. 104 ) weakly transverse, approximately 1.05 times as broad as long; punctation coarse and rather sparse, even sparser in median dorsal portion; interstices with shallow fine microreticulation. Eyes moderately small, approximately 0.4 times as long as postocular region in dorsal view and composed of slightly more than 50 ommatidia. Antenna 1.6-1.7 mm long.

Pronotum ( Fig. 104 ) broad, approximately 1.17 times as long as broad and 1.1 times as broad as head; punctation similar to that of head; impunctate midline rather broad; interstices without microsculpture.

Elytra ( Fig. 104 ) short, approximately 0.52 times as long as pronotum; punctation shallow and weakly defined. Hind wings completely reduced. Protarsus with pronounced sexual dimorphism.

Abdominal tergites III-VI with fine and dense, tergite VII with distinctly sparser punctation; interstices with shallow microsculpture and somewhat glossy; posterior margin of tergite VII without palisade fringe; tergite VIII with moderately pronounced sexual dimorphism.

: protarsomeres I-IV strongly dilated; tergite VIII with weakly convex posterior margin; sternites III-VI unmodified; sternite VII ( Fig. 105 ) strongly transverse, with small and shallow median impression posteriorly, this impression with sparse and moderately modified short black setae; sternite VIII ( Fig. 106 ) as long as broad, gradually tapering posteriad, and symmetric, with shallow median impression, middle of sternite narrowly without setae, posterior portion of sternite with weakly modified setae not forming defined clusters, pos- terior excision moderately deep and broadly U-shaped; aedeagus ( Figs 107-108 ) approximately 1.1 mm long and nearly symmetric; ventral process very slender and apically acute, subapically curved in lateral view; dorsal plate lamellate and smoothly curved in lateral view, basal portion very long, approximately as long as apical portion; internal sac with sclerotized apical spine.

: protarsomeres I-IV distinctly less dilated than in male; posterior margin of tergite VIII obtusely pointed in the middle ( Fig. 109 ); sternite VIII ( Fig. 110 ) approximately 1.0 mm long and distinctly oblong, posterior margin convexly produced in the middle; tergite IX with moderately long and undivided median portion, and with moderately long and slender postero-lateral processes; tergite X nearly flat, slightly longer than median portion of tergite IX ( Fig. 111 ).

Comparative notes:

Although similar in the broad and somewhat depressed habitus to other species distributed in the Wuyi Shan, except L. depravatum , closer phylogentic affiliations are not suggested by the completely different male and female sexual characters. Apart from the sexual characters, L. wuyicum is readily distinguished from other geographically close congeners with a broad and depressed body by its smaller body size.

Distribution and natural history:

The species is most likely endemic to the Wuyi Shan. The specimens were collected in the Huanggang Shan in Jiangxi province at an altitude of 1800-2050 m, together with Lathrobium depravatum and L. cornigerum .

Figures

Figs 103-113:Lathrobium wuyicumsp. n. (103-111) andL. depravatum sp. n. (112-113): habitus (103); forebody (104); male sternite VII (105); male sternite VIII (106); aedeagus in lateral and in ventral view (107-108); female tergite VIII (109, 112); female sternite VIII (110); female tergites IX-X (111, 113). Scale bars: 103-104: 1.0 mm; 105-113: 0.5 mm.