Lobrathium (Lobrathium) pedes, Assing, 2010

Assing, Volker, 2010, On the Lathrobiina of Taiwan (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Paederinae), Beiträge Zur Entomologie = Contributions to Entomology 60 (2), pp. 301-361 : 338-340

Lobrathium (Lobrathium) pedes sp. n. ( Figs 134-144 )

Type material:

Holotype ♂: " Taiwan, Hualien Hsien, Taroko N. P., Nanhushi Hut , 2220 m, 8.V.1990, A. Smetana [ T48 ] / Holotypus ♂ Lobrathium pedespedes sp. n., det. V. Assing 2010" (cSme) . Paratypes: 1 ♂, 1 ♀: same data as holotype (cAss) ; 2 ♂ ♂, 1 ♀ [all teneral]: " Taiwan, Ilan Hsien, Taipingshan , 1820 m, 15.VII.93, A. Smetana [ T154 ]" (cSme) .

Description:

Body length 5.5-7.0 mm. Habitus as in Fig. 134 . Coloration: body blackish; elytra with relatively small, more or less transversely oval reddish-yellow spot near posterior margin; middle and hind legs reddish-brown, forelegs dark-brown with blackish profemora.

Head approximately as long as wide or weakly transverse, weakly tapering behind eyes; posterior angles rounded but noticeable ( Fig. 135 ); punctation coarse and moderately dense, sparser in median dorsal portion and on frons; interstices without microsculpture; eyes moderately large, approximately half the length of postocular region from posterior margin of eyes to neck in dorsal view. Antenna moderately slender, approximately 1.8 mm long; antennomere X almost 1.5 times as long as wide ( Fig. 136 ).

Pronotum approximately 1.25 times as long as broad and 0.95 times as broad as head ( Fig. 135 ); punctation as coarse as that of head, but somewhat sparser; impunctate midline narrow; interstices without microsculpture.

Elytra short, 0.65-0.70 times as long as pronotum; humeral angles weakly marked ( Fig. 135 ); submarginal line present; punctation coarse, dense, well-defined, partly arranged in very irregular series at most.

Abdomen slightly broader than elytra; punctures in anterior impressions of tergites I-IV large, but mostly shallow and rather ill-defined; remainder of tergal surfaces with fine and moderately dense punctation; interstices with shallow microsculpture; posterior margin of tergite VII with fine rudiment of a palisade fringe.

♂: posterior margin of tergite VIII broadly convex ( Fig. 137 ); sternite VII posteriorly with median impression, posterior margin moderately concave, in the middle truncate to indistinctly convex ( Fig. 138 ); sternite VIII with median impression of oblong triangular shape, this impression with approximately 15-20 peg-setae anteriorly and without pubescence posteriorly, on either side of impression with numerous long dark setae, posterior excision large, deep, and U-shaped ( Fig. 139 ); aedeagus approximately 1.1 mm long, ventral process of distinctive shape, slender, apically curved, and with subapical tooth in ventral view ( Figs 140-141 ).

♀: posterior margin of tergite VIII similar to that of ♂ ( Fig. 142 ); sternite VIII approximately as long as tergite VIII, posterior margin broadly convex, in the middle truncate ( Fig. 143 ); segments IX-X relatively short; tergite IX undivided anteriorly, anterior margin strongly emarginate in the middle; tergite X of broadly ovoid shape, approximately 4 times as long as tergite IX in the middle ( Fig. 144 ).

Comparative notes:

This species is distinguished from all its congeners particularly by the morphology of the ventral process of the aedeagus, as well as by the shape and chaetotaxy of the male sternites VII-VIII. From other Taiwanese Lobrathium species with a reddish elytral spot, it is additionally separated by the shorter elytra and by the female secondary sexual characters, particually the anteriorly strongly emarginate tergite IX.

Etymology:

The specific epithet (Latin), a noun in apposition, denotes "pedestrian" and refers to the reduced wings.

Distribution and natural history:

The known distribution is confined to two localities in Ilan and Hualien Hsien, eastern and northeastern Taiwan. The type specimens were collected by sifting leaf litter on a stream bank in an old coniferous forest and by sifting wet moss on large rocks in a creek in a secondary forest at altitudes of 1820 and 2220 m. One specimen found in July is teneral .

Figures

Figs 134-144: Lobrathium pedes sp. n.: habitus (134); forebody (135); antenna (136); male tergite VIII (137); male sternite VII (138); male sternite VIII (139); aedeagus in lateral and in ventral view (140-141); female tergite VIII (142); female sternite VIII (143); female tergites IX-X (144). Scale bars: 134-135: 1.0 mm; 136-144: 0.5 mm.