Lathrobium mongolicum Bohač, 1988

Shavrin, Alexey V., 2007, Contribution to the knowledge of the genus Lathrobium Grav. (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Paederinae) of the Baikal region. I. Catalogue of species and a new synonymy, Baltic Journal of Coleopterology 7 (2), pp. 173-178 : 175

Lathrobium mongolicum Bohač, 1988

= fraternum Ryvkin, 1989 syn. n.

Figs. 1-7 .

Ģaterial examined. 2 males: IRKUTSK Terr., Nizhneudinskij district, valley of Uda River , 5 km

S Vodopadnij, 22- 23.06.1998, in forest litter near water, leg. A. Shavrin (cS); 3 males, 1 females: CHITA Terr., valley of Chikoj River , Osinovka, 20- 21.08.1998, agrocoenozis, leg. A. Shavrin (cS) .

Remarks. The description of L. mongolicum by Bohač (1988) is based on one male from northern Mongolia (Tumenkogt). Ryvkin (1989a) described L. fraternum from the Republic of Buryatia (Vitim River, Bajsa) and northern Mongolia (East ajmak, somon Sumber, Numreg River). In both cases, the authors used Mongolian material of the entomologist K. Ulikpan (Ulan-Bator, Mongolia). In Cisbaikalia and southern Transbaikalia I collected series of males, whose primary sexual characters are identical to those illustrated in Ryvkin´s and Bohač´s papers. The morphological characters, too, are identical to those indicated in the descriptions. Thus, L. fraternum is here placed in the synonymy of the senior name L. mongolicum . The shape of the aedeagus is somewhat variable especially in teneral specimens; for illustrations see Figs. 4-6 and Bohač (1988: 436, figs. 22-23).Also the position of the ventral lamella, which is apically bifid, may vary; for comparison see Figs. 1-3 (male from Chita Terr.) and Fig. 1 in Ryvkin (1989).

Distribution. Up to today, only 12 specimens of L. mongolicum have become known. The species is distributed in steppe biotopes in the Baikal region ( Fig. 7 ): in Cisbaikalia (valley of Uda R.), Republic of Buryatia (Bajsa), in south-western part of Chita Terr. (Chikoj R.), and in northern Mongolia (Tumencogt, Bolshoj Khingan Mts.).

Bionomics. All known material of L. mongolicum was collected at altitudes between 300-600 m, in steppe, steppe slopes and on the edge of forest in June and August.

Figures

Figs. 1-6: Lathrobium mongolicum Bohač (1-3 – aedeagus in 3 projections of male from Chita Terr.; 4- 6 – aedeagus in 3 views of male from Irkutsk Terr.: 1, 4 – in ventral view, 2, 5 – in dorsal view, 3, 6 – in lateral view; Scale 0.25 mm.

Fig. 7. Distribution of Lathrobium mongolicum Bohač in Baikal region and Mongolia.