Pseudobironium spinipes, Lobl & Liang Tang, 2013

Löbl, Ivan & Tang, Liang, 2013, A review of the genus Pseudobironium Pic (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Scaphidiinae), Revue suisse de Zoologie 120 (4), pp. 665-734 : 680-682

Pseudobironium spinipes sp. nov. Figs 1, 2, 15-17

HOLOTYPE: Ƌ, CHINA, Zhejiang, Longquan city, Fengyang shan 1430m, 6.III.2008, leg. Shen-Long Liu ( SNUC).

DESCRIPTION: Length 2.65 mm, width 1.75 mm. Body, femora and tibiae uniformly light reddish-brown, antennae, tarsi and apical abdominal segment lighter than body. Maxillary palpi with palpomere IV tapering, about 3 times as long as wide. Length ratio of antennomeres as II 12: III 8: IV 15: V 19: VI 15: VII 17: VIII 16: IX 17: X 16: XI 18; antennomere XI about 2.5 times as wide. Punctation on pronotum very fine, somewhat finer than on frons, with puncture intervals mostly about three or four times as large as puncture diameters. Elytra lacking lateral impressions, with inconspicuous subapical humps, in apical part not impressed, punctation near base and lateral margins about as fine as on pronotum, on most surfaces much coarser and consisting of well delimited punctures. Puncture intervals about twice to three times as large as puncture diameters on centre of elytral disc. Prohypomera smooth, with few very fine punctures. Mesoventrite without mesal ridge, distinctly punctate apically, with few striae, lacking pubescence. Metaventrite without microsculpture, convex mesally, lacking impression, median part densely and fairly coarsely punctate and indistinctly pubescent, except on fairly wide smooth mesal area, puncture diameters mostly smaller than puncture intervals, punctures almost evenly large, irregularly spaced. Lateral parts of metaventrite sparsely, very finely punctate. Submesocoxal area about as long as third of shortest interval to metacoxa. Metacoxal process flat, FIGS 13-17

(13, 14) Pseudobironium javanum sp. nov., aedeagus in dorsal (13) and lateral (14) views. (15-17) Pseudobironium spinipes sp. nov., aedeagus in dorsal (15) and lateral (16) views, apical part of mesotibia with tarsomere 1 (17); scale bar = 0.2 mm.

impunctate, not microsculptured, with truncate margin. Meso- and metatibiae weakly curved, ventral mesotibial spur conspicuously long and bent in apical half (Fig. 17). Abdominal sternite 1 with few coarse discal punctures, not microsculptured near base, with strigulate, hardly visible microsculpture near apex, lateral impressions large and deep. Following sternites with indistinct strigulate microsculpture, lacking basal wrinkles.

Male: Protarsus distinctly shorter than protibia, with tarsomeres 1 to 3 widened, narrower than apex of protibia, bearing fairly long tenent setae. Aedeagus (Figs 15, 16) with apical process of median lobe 0.47 mm long, widened posterior basal bulb, gradually narrowed from widest point to apex in dorsal view; tip hook like and ventral margin slightly convex in lateral view. Parameres in dorsal view wide near base, gradually narrowed posteriad, evenly wide up to level of tip of median lobe, slightly widened at apices; in lateral view sinuate, almost evenly wide, toward apices somewhat narrowed. Internal sac membranous, with indistinct mesal guide-sclerites, lacking hairy or striate structures.

DISTRIBUTION: China: Zhejiang.

ETYMOLOGY: The species epithet is Latin and refers to the conspicuous mesotibial spur.

COMMENTS: This species may be easily distinguished from its congeners by the shape of its ventral mesotibial spur. It resembles P. javanum from which it differs notably by the finer and sparser elytral punctation, the metaventrite lacking impression and impunctate on fairly large mesal area, and the parameres wide in lateral view. The aedeagus of the single available specimen is weakly sclerotized and was damaged while dissection, the basal bulb is almost completely lost, and the dorsally extruded internal sac is likely an artefact.