Lathrobium hartmanni, Assing, 2013

Assing, V., 2013, Six new species and additional records of Lathrobium from the Palaearctic region, Linzer biologische Beiträge 45 (1), pp. 247-266 : 255-256

Lathrobium hartmanni nov.sp.

( Figs 14-20 , Map 2 )

Type material: Holotype ♂: " Nepal P: Seti, D: Bajhang, 42 km NE Chainpur , Kalapani Khola , N29°48'23'' / E81°29'04''E, 3750 m, 22.-23.VI.2009, leg. M. Hartmann, riverside (shrub/pasture) ♂27 / Holotypus ♂ Lathrobium hartmanni sp.n., det. V. Assing 2012" ( NME) . Paratype ♀: same data as holotype ( cAss) .

Etymology: The species is dedicated to Matthias Hartmann (NME), who collected the type specimens.

Description: Body length 7.5-7.8 mm; length of forebody 3.3 mm. Habitus as in Fig. 14 . Coloration: body blackish-brown; legs, except for the paler tarsi, dark-brown; antennae reddish-brown.

Head ( Fig. 15 ) as long as broad; punctation moderately coarse and moderately dense, slightly sparser in median dorsal portion; interstices with distinct microreticulation, on average somewhat broader than diameter of punctures. Eyes weakly projecting from lateral contours of head, approximately 1/3 the length of postocular region in dorsal view and composed of approximately 30 ommatidia.

Pronotum ( Fig. 15 ) approximately 1.18 times as long as broad and as broad as head; punctation similar to that of head, but slightly coarser; interstices without microsculpture.

Elytra short, approximately 0.55 times as long as pronotum ( Fig. 15 ); humeral angles weakly marked; punctation shallow; interstices without distinct microsculpture. Hind wings completely reduced. Metatibia slightly compressed.

Abdomen broader than elytra; punctation moderately fine and dense, somewhat sparser on posterior than on anterior tergites; posterior margin of tergite VII without palisade fringe; posterior margin of tergite VIII weakly convex to indistinctly pointed in the middle.

♂: protarsomeres I-IV strongly dilated; sternite VII ( Fig. 16 ) shallowly impressed posteriorly and with sparse long black setae in postero-median portion, posterior margin weakly concave; sternite VIII ( Fig. 17 ) moderately transverse, with shallow median impression, this impression with weakly modified black setae, posterior excision small, not very deep, and anteriorly concave; aedeagus ( Figs 18-19 ) 1.3 mm long, ventral process weakly curved in lateral view and gradually narrowed apicad in ventral view, dorsal plate lamellate and moderately sclerotised, internal sac with a long membranous tube.

♀: protarsomeres I-IV strongly dilated; sternite VIII ( Fig. 20 ) oblong and with smoothly convex posterior margin; tergite IX undivided anteriorly; tergite X approximately as long as antero-median portion of tergite IX in the middle.

Comparative notes: Based on the external and male sexual characters, L. hartmanni belongs to the L. muguicum species group, which previously included only L. muguicum, whose female sexual characters are unknown. Both species are externally extremely similar. The new species is distinguished from L. muguicum by the somewhat darker legs (L. muguicum: legs and antennae reddish), the broader and not distinctly Vshaped posterior excision of the male sternite VIII, and particularly by the morphology of the aedeagus. In L. hartmanni , the aedeagus is smaller (L. muguicum: 1.5 mm), the ventral process is apically abruptly narrowed (ventral view), stouter (lateral view), apically curved, and somewhat truncate, and the internal tube is less massive.

Distribution and natural history: The type locality is situated to the southeast of the Saipal peak in Bajhang district, Seti province, northwestern Nepal ( Map 2 ). The specimens were collected near a river bank at an altitude of 3750 m.

Figures

Map 2: Type localities of Lathrobium uttaricum nov.sp. (triangle), L. hartmanni nov.sp. (circle), and L. makaluicum nov.sp. (diamond).

Figs 14-20: Lathrobium hartmanni nov.sp.: (14) habitus; (15) forebody; (16) male sternite VII; (17) male sternite VIII; (18-19) aedeagus in lateral and in ventral view; (20) female sternite VIII. Scale bars: 14-15: 1.0 mm; 16-20: 0.5 mm.