Lathrobium bicuspidatum ASSING, 2013

Assing, V. & S, Longwang, 2013, New species and records of Lathrobium from China and Nepal (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Paederinae), Linzer biologische Beiträge 45 (2), pp. 1643-1655 : 1650-1651

Lathrobium bicuspidatum ASSING nov.sp.

( Figs 14-18 )

Type material Holotype: " CHINA: Jilin province, Chang Bai Shan, N42°01.733', E128°03.?00 [?: number illegible] / 7.vi.2006, Under stones near crater lake, ca 2195 m, Leg. J. Cooter / Holotypus Lathrobium bicuspidatum sp.n., det. V. Assing 2013" ( cAss).

Etymology: The specific epithet (Latin, adjective: with two apices) alludes to the shape of the apex of the aedeagus.

Description: Small species; body length 4.8 mm; length of forebody 2.5 mm. Coloration: body dark-brown, except for the reddish-brown elytra; legs pale yellowishbrown; antennae yellowish-red.

Head ( Fig. 14 ) approximately as long as broad; punctation rather coarse and moderately sparse, even sparser in postero-median dorsal portion; interstices with shallow microreticulation, but glossy. Eyes weakly projecting from lateral contours of head, slightly more than one third the length of postocular region in dorsal view and composed of approximately 50 ommatidia. Antenna short, 1.3 mm long; antennomere II barely 1.5 times as long as broad, III weakly oblong, and IV-X weakly transverse.

Pronotum ( Fig. 14 ) 1.23 times as long as broad and 0.98 times as broad as head; lateral margins subparallel in dorsal view; punctation slightly finer than that of head; impunctate midline broad; interstices without microsculpture, on average somewhat broader than diameter of punctures.

Elytra ( Fig. 14 ) approximately 0.58 times as long as pronotum, very weakly dilated posteriad; humeral angles marked; punctation shallow, fine, and sparse; interstices without microsculpture. Hind wings completely reduced.

Abdomen 1.08 times as broad as elytra; punctation fine and moderately dense, only slightly sparser on tergites VII and VIII than on tergites III-VI; interstices with distinct microsculpture; posterior margin of tergite VII without palisade fringe.

: protarsomeres I-IV moderately dilated; sternite VII ( Fig. 15 ) moderately transverse, posteriorly with small median impression, this impression with weakly modified setae, posterior margin weakly concave in the middle; sternite VIII ( Fig. 16 ) weakly transverse, with shallow postero-median impression, this impression without pubescence in the middle, posterior excision weakly asymmetric and in slightly asymmetric position, approximately 0.15 times as deep as length of sternite; aedeagus ( Figs 17-18 ) 1.07 mm long, slender, and weakly asymmetric in basal half; ventral process apically distinctly bifid; dorsal plate reduced; internal sac without appreciable structures, aside from a membranous ring-shaped structure.

: unknown.

Comparative notes: Based on the morphology of the aedeagus and the male secondary sexual characters, L bicuspidatum is undoubtedly closely related to L. molodovae TICHOMIROVA 1976 and allied species, which are distributed in the Russian Far East and East Siberia, and which were attributed to the L. sibiricum group by RYVKIN (2007). It is reliably distinguished from them only by the morphology of the aedeagus. For illustrations of the male and female sexual characters of other species of this group see RYVKIN (2007).

The only other Lathrobium species known from the Chinese province Jilin is L. jingyuetanicum LI & CHEN 1990 , which was described from the Jingyuetan National Park to the southeast of Changchun, a locality of relatively low altitude separated from the type locality of L. bicuspidatum by nearly 300 km. Unfortunately, aside from an indication of the body size (6 mm) and a reference to eye size (one sixth as long as postocular region), the original description of L. jingyuetanicum is practically devoid of relevant information and does not include any illustrations.

Distribution and natural history: Thetypelocalityissituatedin the Chang Bai Shan in the southeast of Jilin province, very close to the border with North Korea. The holotype was collected from under stones at an altitude of nearly 2200 m.

Figures

Figs 9-18: Lathrobium barbiventre (9-10), L. rougemonti (11), L. mancum (12-13), and L. bicuspidatum (14-18): (9, 12) female sternite VIII; (10, 11, 13) female tergites IX-X; (14) forebody; (15) male sternite VII; (16) male sternite VIII; (17-18) aedeagus in lateral and in ventral view. Scale bars: 14: 1.0 mm; 9-13, 15-18: 0.5 mm.