Lobrathium furcillatum, Assing, 2010

Assing, Volker, 2010, On the Lathrobiina of Taiwan (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Paederinae), Beiträge Zur Entomologie = Contributions to Entomology 60 (2), pp. 301-361 : 346-348

Lobrathium furcillatum sp. n. ( Figs 179-186 )

Type material:

Holotype ♂: " Taiwan, Pingtung Hsien, Peitawushan above Kuai-Ku Hut , 2680 m, 29.IV.1992, A. Smetana [ T106 ] / Holotypus ♂ Lobrathium furcillatum sp. n., det. V. Assing 2010" (cAss) . Paratypes: 1 ♀: same data as holotype (cSme) ; 1 ♀: " Taiwan, Pingtung Hsien, Pietawushan [sic] Kuai-Ku Hut , 2325 m, 20.V.1991, A. Smetana [ T190 ]" (cSme) .

Description:

Body length: 8.5-9.0 mm. Habitus as in Fig. 179 . Coloration: body dark-brown to blackishbrown; legs and antennae brown.

Head as long as wide; posterior angles weakly marked, rounded ( Fig. 180 ); punctation well-defined, very dense (interstices narrower than punctures), and relatively fine; median dorsal portion with sparse punctation; interstices without microsculpture; eyes relatively large, more than half as long as the distance from posterior margin of eye to posterior constriction of head in dorsal view. Antennae of similar morphology as that of L. stimulans .

Pronotum approximately 1.2 times as long as wide and about as wide as head ( Fig. 180 ); punctation somewhat coarser and less dense than that of head; midline narrowly impunctate; interstices without microsculpture.

Elytra short, approximately 0.65 times as long as pronotum; humeral angles almost obsolete ( Fig. 180 ); punctation very dense, coarse, and not arranged in rows; interstices without microsculpture; lateral parts with fine submarginal line of reduced length. Hind wings completely reduced.

Abdomen distinctly (approximately 1.15 x) broader than elytra; punctation fine and dense; interstices with microreticulation; posterior margin of tergite VII without palisade fringe.

♂: posterior margin of tergite VIII convex; posterior margin of sternite VII strongly concave and with row of long black submarginal setae ( Fig. 181 ); sternite VIII with narrow impression along middle, this impression furnished with numerous peg-setae, posterior excision deep and almost V-shaped ( Fig. 182 ); aedeagus as in Figs 183-184 , apically distinctly furcate.

♀: posterior margin of tergite VIII obtusely angled in the middle ( Fig. 185 ); sternite VIII longer than tergite VIII, posterior margin convex, in the middle weakly concave ( Fig. 186 ); segments IX-X slender, but less so than in the species closely allied to L. stimulans ; tergite X acute basally, almost reaching anterior margin of tergite IX, and rather slender apically.

Comparative notes:

This species is distinguished from all the preceding representatives of the L. stimulans group by the shorter elytra with almost obsolete humeral angles, the shorter and less pronounced submarginal carina of the elytra, the broader abdomen (in relation to the elytra), the strongly concave posterior margin of the male sternite VII, the presence of peg-setae on the male sternite VIII, the more slender and less strongly hooked apical lobes of the aedeagus, the less oblong female sternite VIII, and the less slender female segments IX-X.

Etymology:

The specific epithet is an adjective derived from the Latin noun furcilla (fork) and refers to the shape of the apical lobes of the aedeagus.

Distribution and natural history:

The type specimens were collected in the Peitawushan, Pingtung Hsien, southern Taiwan, at altitudes of 2325 and 2680 m. They were sifted from layers of fallen flowers and moist rhododendron leaves in rhododendron stands and from moist to wet leaf litter and other debris in remnants

of original forest.

Figures

Figs 178-186: Lobrathium duplehamatum sp. n. (178) and L. furcillatum sp. n. (179-186): female sternite VIII (178, 186); habitus (179); forebody (180); male sternite VII (181); male sternite VIII (182); aedeagus in lateral and in ventral view (183-184); female tergite VIII (185). Scale bars: 179-180: 1.0 mm; 178, 181- 186: 0.5 mm.