Lomechusoides penicillatus, Assing, 2015

Assing, Volker, 2015, New species and additional records of Lomechusini from the Palaearctic region, primarily from China (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae), Beiträge Zur Entomologie = Contributions to Entomology 65 (2), pp. 243-262 : 260

Lomechusoides penicillatus spec. nov.

( Figs 76–81 )

Type material: Holotype ♂ [with worker of Formica chinensis attached to the pin]: “ China [18a] – S-Gansu, mts. SE Longnan, nest of Formica , 33°11'17"N, 105°14'12"E, 2060 m, 7.VIII.2012, V. Assing / Holotypus ♂ Lomechusoides penicillatus spec. nov. det. V. Assing 2014” ( cAss).

Paratypes: 2 ♂♂ [each with worker of Formica chinensis attached to the pin]: same data as holotype (cAss); 2 ♀♀, 1 sex?: same data as holotype, but leg. Wrase (cSch, cAss) .

Etymology: The specific epithet (Latin, adjective: with brushes) alludes to the pronounced tufts of golden glandular setae on the anterior segments of the abdomen.

Description: Large and robust species; body length 7.1–8.0 mm; length of forebody 3.4–3.6 mm; width of pronotum (across posterior angles) 2.0– 2.2 mm; combined width of elytra 2.3–2.5 mm. Coloration: head dark-brown to blackish-brown; pronotum brown to dark-brown; elytra reddish to reddish-brown; abdomen dark-reddish, with segment VI and anterior portion of segment VII more or less distinctly darker; legs darkbrown; antennae blackish-brown.

Head ( Fig. 76 ) with deep, shallowly microreticulate, and somewhat glossy median groove; remainder of dorsal surface with pronounced microreticulation and matt; punctation relatively fine and barely noticeable in the microsculpture; pubescence short, depressed to suberect, silvery to golden, and directed anteriad. Antenna ( Fig. 77 ) 3.4–3.7 mm long; antennomere I large; II much smaller than I and weakly oblong (length including basal portion); III club-shaped and nearly twice as long as broad; IV very weakly oblong; V–X distinctly oblong; XI coniform and apically acute, slightly more than three times as long as broad and (without basal portion) approximately as long as combined length of IX and X; III–XI with very fine and dense, II with stouter and sparser pubescence; inner faces of IV and of anterior half of III with brush-like clusters of short erect setae in addition to the fine pubescence.

Pronotum ( Fig. 76 ) approximately 1.6 times as broad as long and 2.2 times as broad as head, distinctly narrowed in anterior half and weakly dilated in posterior half, widest across posterior angles; lateral margins weakly sinuate in posterior half in dorsal view; lateral margins relatively weakly thickened; posterior margin strongly convex in the middle; punctation moderately sparse, distinct, and granulose; lateral margin separated from disc by longitudinal impression; disc, including anterior and posterior margins, with shallow microreticulation and somewhat glossy; lateral margins with pronounced microreticulation and matt.

Elytra ( Fig. 76 ) slightly broader than, and nearly as long as pronotum; anteriorly with 5–6 long black setae each; posterior margin weakly sinuate near posterior angle; punctation much finer than that of pronotum; interstices with fine microreticulation. Hind wings present.

Abdomen ( Fig. 78 ) broader than elytra, broadest at segment V; tergites II–V laterally with pronounced tufts of long golden glandular setae and in posterior halves with scattered punctures with long black setae; tergite VI with sparse setiferous punctures bearing long black setae at posterior margin, otherwise impunctate; tergites VII– VIII with micropunctation; all segments with shallow microreticulation; posterior margin of segment VIII broadly and deeply concave posteriorly, postero-lateral angles each with tuft of golden setae; posterior margin of tergite VII with palisade fringe.

♂: median lobe of aedeagus 1.2 mm long and shaped as in Figs 79–80 .

♀: spermatheca as in Fig. 81 .

Comparative notes: Based on the characters specified by JÁSZAY & HLAVÁČ (2013), the new species belongs to the L. strumosus group; which previously included five species: L. inflatus (ZETTERSTEDT, 1828) , L. mongolicus , L. sibiricus (MOTSCHULSKY, 1860) , L. strumosus (FABRICIUS, 1792) , and L. teres (EPPELSHEIM, 1884) . Among these species, L. penicillatus is most similar to L. strumosus , together with which it would key out using the key in WASMANN (1897) and from which it differs by the broader and more transverse pronotum, the more oblong preapical antennomeres, the much less thickened lateral margins of the pronotum, the more extensively glossy pronotum ( L. strumosus : anterior and posterior margins with pronounced microreticulation and matt), the shorter tibiae, the much more pronounced lateral tufts of glandular setae on the abdominal segments II–V, the posteriorly much more deeply concave tergite VIII, and by the different sexual characters.

Distribution and natural history: The type locality is situated in a mountain range to the southeast of Longnan in southern Gansu province, China. All the specimens were collected from the same nest of Formica chinensis WHEELER, 1913 ( Formica truncorum group) on a slope with scree, shrubs, and small trees.

Figures

Figs 76–81: Lomechusoides penicillatus spec. nov.: forebody (76); antenna (77); abdomen (78); median lobe of aedeagus in lateral and in ventral view (79–80); spermatheca (81). Scale bars: 76–78: 1.0 mm; 79–80: 0.5 mm; 81: 0.2 mm.