Lathrobium illustre Peng & Li

Peng, Zhong, Li, Li-Zhen & Zhao, Mei-Jun, 2013, Eight new apterous Lathrobium species (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae) from Sichuan, Southwest China, ZooKeys 303, pp. 1-21 : 14-16

Lathrobium illustre Peng & Li sp. n. Figs 6C, 9, 15

Type material.

(1 ♂, 2 ♀♀). Holotype: ♂, labelled 'CHINA: Sichuan Prov., Shimian County, Liziping. Yele, 28°54'N, 102°13'E, 15.vii.2012 alt. 2,600 m, Dai, Peng & Yin leg.' (SNUC). Paratypes: 2 ♀♀, same label data as holotype (SNUC).

Description.

Measurements (in mm) and ratios: BL 7.84-9.23, FL 3.34-3.77, HL 1.02-1.05, HW 1.11-1.15, PL 1.44-1.50, PW 1.18-1.22, EL 0.74-0.78, AL 1.76, HL/HW 0.91-0.92, HW/PW 0.94, HL/PL 0.70-0.71, PL/PW 1.22-1.23, EL/PL 0.51-0.52.

Habitus as in Fig. 6A. Body dark brown with paler apex, legs and antennae dark brown to light brown.

Head weakly transverse; punctation coarse and moderately sparse, sparser in median dorsal portion; interstices with fine microreticulation; eyes 1/4-3/8 times as long as postocular region in dorsal view.

Pronotum weakly convex in dorsal view; punctation somewhat denser than that of head; impunctate midline broad; interstices without microreticulation and shining.

Elytra 0.51-0.52 times as long as pronotum; punctation fine, shallow, and moderately dense. Hind wings completely reduced. Protarsi with weakly 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 without sexual dimorphism; posterior margin broadly convex (Fig. 9A).

Male. Sternites III-VI unmodified; sternite VII (Fig. 9D) transverse, with median impression of triangular shape posteriorly, this impression with numerous distinctly modified, short and stout black setae; posterior margin distinctly concave in the middle; sternite VIII (Fig. 9E) impressed along the middle, this impression with dense short setae, posterior excision small and nearly V-shaped; sternite IX (Fig. 9F) symmetric; aedeagus as in Figs 9G, 9H; ventral process bilobed apically, asymmetric and of distinctive shape; dorsal plate long and sclerotized; internal sac with two long and slender sclerotized spines.

Female. Sternite VIII (Fig. 9B) much longer than tergite VIII, distinctly produced posteriorly; tergite X (Fig. 9C) 5.7 times as long as antero-median portion of tergite IX (Fig. 9C).

Distribution and biological notes.

This species is currently known only from the type locality. The specimens were collected by sifting bamboo leaves and humus from the floor of a bamboo forestat an altitude of 2,600 m (Fig. 15).

Etymology.

The specific epithet (Latin, adjective: shining) alludes to the shining pronotum.

Comparative notes.

Based on the apically bilobed ventral process and the anteriorly short and undivided median portion of the female tergite IX, Lathrobium illustre may belong belongs to the Lathrobium fissispinosum group. It is distinguished from the other representatives of this group by the shining pronotum, the shape and chaetotaxy of the male sternite VII and male sternite VIII, as well as by the morphology of the aedeagus.