Lathrobium sanqingense Peng and Li

Peng, Zhong, Li, Li-Zhen & Zhao, Mei-Jun, 2014, Seventeen new species and additional records of Lathrobium (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae) from mainland China, Zootaxa 3780 (1), pp. 1-35 : 19-21

Lathrobium sanqingense Peng and Li , new species

( Figs 13 A, 14)

Type material. (2 ♂♂, 2 ♀♀). HOLOTYPE: ♂, labelled ‘ CHINA: Jiangxi Prov., Shangrao City, Sanqing Shan, 28°54'N, 118°03'E, 3.v.2005 alt. 1,500–1,600 m, Hu & Tang leg.’ ( SNUC). PARATYPES: 1 ♂, 2 ♀, same label data as holotype ( SNUC).

Description. Measurements (in mm) and ratios: BL 8.90–9.62, FL 4.00–4.56, HL 1.02–1.10, HW 1.24–1.29, AnL 2.44–2.47, PL 1.41–1.57, PW 1.32–1.39, EL 0.93–1.02, AL 1.57, HL/HW 0.83–0.85, HW/PW 0.93–0.94, HL/PL 0.70–0.72, PL/PW 1.07–1.13, EL/PL 0.65–0.66.

Habitus as in Fig. 13 A. Body dark brown with paler apex, legs and antennae reddish brown.

Head distinctly transverse; punctation coarse and moderately dense, sparser in median dorsal portion; interstices with very shallow microreticulation. Eyes 0.25–0.29 times as long as postocular region in dorsal view and composed of approximately 50 ommatidia.

Pronotum with weakly convex lateral margins in dorsal view; punctation somewhat sparser than that of head; impunctate midline moderately narrow; interstices without microreticulation.

Elytra moderately short; punctation dense, coarse, and moderately defined. Hind wings completely reduced. Protarsi with weakly pronounced sexual dimorphism.

Abdomen with fine and dense punctation, that of tergite VII somewhat sparser than that of anterior tergites; interstices with very shallow microsculpture; posterior margin of tergite VII without palisade fringe; tergite VIII with weakly pronounced sexual dimorphism.

Male. Posterior margin of tergite VIII weakly convex; sternites III–VI unmodified; sternite VII ( Fig. 14 D) strongly transverse with shallow impression, this impression with a narrow transverse cluster of short and stout black setae posteriorly, posterior margin broadly concave; sternite VIII ( Fig. 14 E) moderately transverse and asymmetric, with pronounced and asymmetric median impression posteriorly, this impression with distinctly modified short and stout black setae, posterior excision asymmetric and obliquely U-shaped; aedeagus as in Figs 14 F, G, ventral process asymmetric, apically narrowly truncate in lateral view; dorsal plate with large and weakly sclerotized apical portion, and with thin basal portion; internal sac with two sclerotized spines of different shapes, and with additional small membranous structures.

Female. Posterior margin of tergite VIII ( Fig. 14 A) broadly convex; posterior margin of sternite VIII ( Fig. 14 B) strongly convex; tergite IX ( Fig. 14 C) with undivided median portion and with short postero-lateral processes; tergite X 0.7 times as long as antero-median portion of tergite IX ( Fig. 14 C).

Comparative notes. Based on the derived shapes and chaetotaxy of the male sternites VII and VIII, and the similarly derived morphology of the aedeagus (particularly the presence of two sclerotized spines of different shapes and membranous structures in the internal sac), this new species is closely allied to L. barbiventre Assing, 2013 from the Wuyi Shan. It is distinguished from L. barbiventre additionally by smaller body size, by the chaetotaxy of the male sternite VII (less furnished with modified setae) and the shape of the aedeagus (ventral process, dorsal plate). For illustrations of L. barbiventre see Assing (2013b).

Distribution and biological notes. The type locality is situated in the Sanqing Shan to the west of Shangrao, north-eastern Jiangxi. Lathrobium sanqingense is most likely endemic to the Sanqing Shan. The specimens were sifted from leaf litter and soil from the floor of a pine forest at an altitude of 1,500–1,600 m (Hu, pers. comm.).

Etymology. The species is named after its type locality.

Figures

FIGURE 13. Habitus of Lathrobium spp., A — L. sanqingense; B — L. badagongense; C — L. xui. Scale bars: 1.0 mm.

FIGURE 14. Lathrobium sanqingense. A — female tergite VIII; B — female sternite VIII; C — female tergites IX – X. D — male sternite VII; E — male sternite VIII; F — aedeagus in ventral view; G — aedeagus in lateral view. Scale bars: 0.5 mm.