Lobrathium spoliatum, Assing, 2010

Assing, Volker, 2010, On the Lathrobiina of Taiwan (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Paederinae), Beiträge Zur Entomologie = Contributions to Entomology 60 (2), pp. 301-361 : 355-356

Lobrathium spoliatum sp. n. ( Figs 219-227 )

Type material:

Holotype ♂: " Taiwan, Taichung Hsien, Hseuhshan [sic], nr. Hsuehshan-Tun-Feng, 3170 m, 11. V.91, A. Smetana [ T76 ] / Holotypus ♂ Lobrathium spoliatum sp. n., det. V. Assing 2010" (cSme) . Paratypes: 2 ♀ ♀: same data as holotype (cSme) ; 1 ♂, 2 ♀ ♀: " Taiwan, Taichung Hsien, Hsuehshan , nr. Hsuehshan-Tun-Feng, 3170 m, 7. V.91, A. Smetana [ T68 ]" (cSme, cAss) .

Description:

Body length: 7.5-9.0 mm. Habitus as in Fig. 219 . Coloration: body, including antennae, darkbrown; legs brown to dark-brown.

Head approximately as long as broad or weakly oblong; posterior angles practically obsolete, broadly rounded ( Fig. 220 ); punctation well-defined, dense (interstices narrower than punctures), and relatively coarse; median dorsal portion with sparser punctation; interstices without microsculpture; eyes relatively small, 0.35-0.40 times as long as the distance from posterior margin of eyes to posterior constriction in dorsal view. Antennae of similar morphology as that of L. stimulans , but somewhat less slender ( Fig. 221 ).

Pronotum approximately 1.2 times as long as wide and about as wide as head ( Fig. 220 ); punctation similar to that of head, but somewhat sparser; midline more or less narrowly impunctate; interstices without microsculpture.

Elytra short, approximately 0.65 times as long as pronotum; humeral angles almost obsolete ( Fig. 220 ); punctation dense, coarse, and irregular; interstices without microsculpture; lateral parts without fine submarginal line. Hind wings completely reduced. Legs moderately slender, metatibia 1.5-1.6 mm long.

Abdomen 1.10-1.15 times as broad as elytra; punctation fine and dense; interstices with shallow microreticulation; posterior margin of tergite VII without palisade fringe.

♂: posterior margin of tergite VIII weakly convex; sternite VII not depressed in the middle, posterior margin almost truncate; sternite VIII without distinct median impression and without clusters of peg-setae, posterior excision moderately deep and almost V-shaped ( Fig. 222 ); aedeagus of characteristic morphology, apical lobes hooked at apex ( Figs 223-224 ).

♀: posterior margin of tergite VIII obtusely angled in the middle ( Fig. 225 ); sternite VIII weakly oblong, longer than tergite VII, posterior margin broadly convex ( Fig. 226 ); tergite IX anteriorly very narrowly separated; tergite X not reaching anterior margin of tergite IX, apically slender, but not conspicuously acute ( Fig. 227 ).

Comparative notes:

This species is distinguished from all the preceding representatives of the L. stimulans group by the shape of the aedeagus and by the morphology of the female segments IX and X. In addition, it is separated from all of them, except L. digitatum and L. bidigitatum , by the absence of the fine submarginal line of the elytra, and from L. digitatum and bidigitatum by the smaller eyes, the longer legs, and the absence of a distinct impression and of clusters of peg-setae on the male sternite VIII.

Etymology:

The specific epithet (Latin, adjective: robbed) alludes to the absence of peg-setae and of a median impression on the male sternite VIII.

Distribution and natural history:

The type specimens were collected in the Hsuehshan, Taichung Hsien, northern central Taiwan, by sifting moist moss, lush vegetation, and other debris in a primary coniferous forest (mostly fir) at an altitude of 3170 m. One of the dissected females had a mature egg in the ovaries.

Figures

Figs 219-227: Lobrathium spoliatum sp. n.: habitus (219); forebody (220); antenna (221); male sternite VIII (222); aedeagus in lateral and in ventral view (223-224); female tergite VIII (225); female sternite VIII (226); female tergites IX-X (227). Scale bars: 219-220: 1.0 mm; 221-227: 0.5 mm.