Anthobium liliputense Shavrin & Smetana, 2018

Shavrin, Alexey V. & Smetana, Aleš, 2018, A revision of Eastern Palaearctic Anthobium Leach, 1819 (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Omaliinae: Anthophagini). II. fusculum group, and two additional species of the nigrum group, Zootaxa 4508 (4), pp. 451-506 : 482-485

Anthobium liliputense Shavrin & Smetana , sp.n.

( Figs. 65 , 74 , 79–80 )

Type material examined: Holotype ♂ [specimen dissected]: ‘P.R. CHINA, Sichuan, | Emei Shan, N 29°33.6' | E103°20.6', 27.vi.-5.vii. | 2009, 1800-2400m, sifti | ng 11-17, V.Grebennikov’ <rectangular label, printed >, ‘ HOLOTYPE | Anthobium | liliputense sp.n. | Shavrin A. & Smetana des. A. 2018’ <red rectangular label, printed> ( NSMT) .

Paratypes (6 specimens): 4 ♀♀: same data as the holotype (1 ♀: MHNG; 2 ♀♀: NSMT; 1 ♀: CNC; 1 ♀: CS) ; 1 ♀: ‘P.R. CHINA, Sichuan | EmeiShan , N29°33'36.3'' | E103°20'38.0'', | 15.vi.2010, 1947m, | sifting33, V.Grebennikov’ <rectangular label, printed> ( NSMT) ; 1 ♀: ‘P.R. CHINA, Sichuan, | EmeiShan , N29°33'36.3'' | E103°20'38.0'', | 22.vi.2010, 1947m, | sifting39, V.Grebennikov’ ( NSMT) . All paratypes with additional red rectangular printed label : ‘ PARATYPE | Anthobium | liliputense sp.n. | Shavrin A. & Smetana A. des. 2018’.

Description. Measurements (n=7): HW: 0.52–0.55, HL: 0.29–0.35; AL: 0.73; OL: 0.12; PL: 0.40–0.42; PW: 0.85–0.92; ESL: 1.10–1.12; EW: 1.05–1.22; AW: 0.74–0.80; MTbL(holotype): 0.40, MTrL(holotype): 0.23 (MTrL 1–4: 0.15; MTrL 5: 0.08); AedL(holotype): 0.47; TL: 1.81(holotype)–2.18.

Body suboval, subconvex. Body and antennomeres 7–11 yellow-brown, head usually slightly darker; mouthparts, antennomeres 1–6 and legs yellow. Posterior portions of infraorbital ridges with rugose diagonal sculpture and small irregular wrinkles between punctures; middle part of neck and abdominal tergites with distinct wavy microsculpture. Frons and middle portion of head with irregular, sparse and small punctation, distinctly coarser and deeper on posterior parts of infraorbital ridges; neck with several very sparse, small punctures; pronotum with very dense rugose punctation, larger and deeper than that on middle part of head, sparser laterally, some specimens with small impunctate area on basal portion; punctation of elytra as that on pronotum, slightly denser and deeper on parascutellar area and along suture in some specimens, smoothed on apical third, punctures not forming longitudinal rows of punctures; abdominal tergites without distinct punctation. Habitus as in Fig. 74 .

Head 1.5–1.7 times as wide as long, head indistinctly elevated in middle; occipital furrow between ocelli not distinct; grooves in front of ocelli very short and indistinct, very small and deep or slightly elongate, about as long as diameter of ocellus; postocular ridges indistinct, acute or obtuse; anterior portion between antennal insertion and anterior margin of eye with small superficial notch. Ocelli very large and convex, situated at level of posterior margin of eye or postocular ridge; distance between ocelli as long as or slightly longer than distance between ocellus and posterior margin of eye. Apical segment of maxillary palp about two and half times as long as preceding segment. Antenna moderately short, reaching shoulders of elytra when reclined; length × width of antennomeres (holotype): 1: 0.11 × 0.05; 2: 0.07 × 0.03; 3: 0.07 × 0.02; 4: 0.05 × 0.02; 5–6: 0.06 × 0.03; 7–8: 0.06 × 0.04; 9–10: 0.05 × 0.05; 11: 0.10 × 0.05.

Pronotum transverse, slightly more than twice as wide as long, 1.6 times as wide as head, widest in middle, about evenly narrowed both posteriad and anteriad; apical margin distinctly narrower than posterior margin; anterior angles rounded, distinctly protruded anteriad; posterior angles more or less rounded; lateral edges of pronotum with indistinct, smoothed small crenulation; pronotum with wide middle elevation slightly widened posteriad, with irregular and usually indistinct transverse impression on mediobasal third.

Elytra wide, slightly widened apicad, reaching apical parts of abdominal tergite V to VII, distinctly longer than wide, significantly more than twice as long as pronotum, with widely rounded apical angles; each elytron with indistinct slightly elevated middle portions close to parascutellar area in some.

Male. Apical margin of abdominal tergite VIII straight. Apical margin of abdominal sternite VIII slightly sinuate. Aedeagus ( Fig. 79 ) with median lobe wide, gradually narrowed from about middle toward subtruncate apex; parameres narrow, each from about middle markedly turned mediad, exceeding apex of median lobe, with two short apical and preapical setae; internal sac with numerous elongate thorns, spiralled in basal portion. Aedeagus laterally as in Fig. 80 .

Female. Apical margins of abdominal tergite VIII and sternite VIII straight to slightly rounded.

Comparative notes. Based on the irregularly arranged punctation of elytra, A. liliputense Shavrin & Smetana , sp.n. is most similar to the Himalayan A. cavicrus , from which it differs by paler coloration, smaller body, wider pronotum, elytra and aedeagus, and spiraled basal portion of the internal sac.

Distribution. Anthobium liliputense sp.n. is known from two locations ( Fig. 65 ) in the Emei Shan range in Sichuan, China.

Bionomics. All specimens were taken by sifting forest litter at elevations from 1800 to 2400 m.

Etymology. The specific epithet is derived from Lilliput, the fictional island with small people that appear in the novel “Gulliver's Travels” by the famous English writer Jonathan Swift. It refers to the very small size of the species.

Figures

FIGURE 65. Distribution of Anthobium confucii (black circles) and A. liliputense (black square) in the south-western China.

FIGURES 74–78. Habitus of Anthobium fusculum group: 74—A. liliputense (paratype), 75—A. monticola (NEPAL: Lamjung), 76—A. rugosum (NEPAL: Dhaulagiri), 77—A. sociale (INDIA: Uttarakhand), 78—A. splendidulum (CHINA: Yunnan, Gaoligong Shan). Scale bar: 1.0 mm.

FIGURES 79–82. Aedeagus of Anthobium liliputense (79–80: holotype) and A. monticola (81–82: NEPAL: Lamjung): 79, 81—parameral view, 80, 82—lateral view. Scale bar: 0.1 mm.