Lathrobium yaoluopingense 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 : 10-11

Lathrobium yaoluopingense Peng and Li , new species

( Figs 5 B, 7)

Type material. (9 ♂♂, 16 ♀♀). HOLOTYPE: ♂, labelled ‘ CHINA: Anhui Prov., Yuexi County, Yaoluoping N. R., 31°00'N, 116°07'E, 18.vi.2013 alt. 1,400 m, Dai & Peng leg.’ ( SNUC). PARATYPES: 4 ♂♂, 9 ♀♀, same label data as holotype; 3 ♂♂, 3 ♀♀, same data, but ‘ 30°58'N, 116°07'E, 19.vi.2013 alt. 1,600 m’; 1 ♂, 4 ♀♀, same data, but ‘ 30°57'N, 116°04'E, 20.vi.2013 ’ ( SNUC).

Description. Measurements (in mm) and ratios: ♂: BL 6.71–7.12, FL 3.23–3.67, HL 0.84–0.89, HW 0.98– 1.02, AnL 1.82–1.85, PL 1.19–1.29, PW 1.03–1.09, EL 0.56–0.62, AL 1.12–1.15, HL/HW 0.86–0.89, HW/PW 0.93–0.95, HL/PL 0.69–0.71, PL/PW 1.16–1.18, EL/PL 0.47–0.49. ♀: BL 6.61–6.96, FL 3.11–3.27, HL 0.81–0.85, HW 0.92–0.96, AnL 1.80–1.84, PL 1.09–1.13, PW 0.93–0.96, EL 0.56–0.60, HL/HW 0.88–0.90, HW/PW 0.98– 1.01, HL/PL 0.72–0.75, PL/PW 1.16–1.18, EL/PL 0.51–0.54.

Habitus as in Fig. 5 B. Size subject to weakly pronounced sexual dimorphism, males on average slightly larger; body brown with paler apex, legs and antennae light brown to yellowish brown.

Head weakly transverse; punctation coarse and rather sparse, even sparser in median dorsal portion; interstices with shallow microreticulation. Eyes 0.38–0.41 times as long as postocular region in dorsal view and composed of approximately 50 ommatidia.

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

Elytra short; punctation dense and fine. Hind wings completely reduced. Protarsi with pronounced sexual dimorphism.

Abdomen with fine and dense punctation, that of tergite VII sparser than that of anterior tergites; interstices with shallow microsculpture; posterior margin of tergite VII without palisade fringe; tergite VIII ( Fig. 7 A) without sexual dimorphism, posterior margin truncate.

Male. Sternites III–VI unmodified; sternite VII ( Fig. 7 D) strongly transverse, median impression shallow and extensive, of subtriangular shape, with very sparse setae, with discontinuous row of short black setae along posterior margin of this impression, posterior margin deeply concave in the middle; sternite VIII ( Fig. 7 E) weakly asymmetric, with deep and extensive median impression, this impression without setae in the middle and delimited by cluster of strongly modified short black setae on either side, posterior excision deep and nearly semi-circular; aedeagus as in Figs 7 F, G, asymmetric and of highly distinctive morphology; ventral process weakly asymmetric and broad; dorsal plate weakly sclerotized and lamellate; internal sac with single highly distinctive sclerotized spine.

Female. Posterior margin of sternite VIII ( Fig. 7 B) strongly convex; tergite IX ( Fig. 7 C) with short undivided antero-median portion and with moderately long postero-lateral processes; tergite X flat, 2.2 times as long as antero-median portion of tergite IX ( Fig. 7 C).

Comparative notes. This new species resembles L. imadatei Watanabe & Luo, 1992 from Zhejiang in having a similarly shaped male sternite VIII and a broad ventral process of the aedeagus. Lathrobium yaoluopingense is distinguished from L. imadatei by smaller body size, by the presence of several short black setae on the male sternite VII and by the lamellate dorsal plate of the aedeagus. For illustrations of L. imadatei see Watanabe & Luo (1992). Lathrobium yaoluopingense is distinguished from the sympatric L. ayui sp. n. by smaller body size, sparser punctation of the forebody, a weakly asymmetric male sternite VII and VIII, as well as the shape of the aedeagus.

Distribution and biological notes. The type locality is situated in the Yaoluoping Natural Reserve to the northwest of Yuexi, western Anhui. The specimens were sifted from leaf litter and humus from the floor of a pine forest at altitudes of 1400 and 1600 m.

Etymology. The species is named after its type locality.

Figures

FIGURE 5. Habitus of Lathrobium spp., A — L. ayui; B — L. yaoluopingense; C — L. chenae. Scale bars: 1.0 mm.

FIGURE 7. Lathrobium yaoluopingense. 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.