Lathrobium zizhiense 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 : 29-31

Lathrobium zizhiense Peng and Li , new species

( Figs 21 A, 22)

Type material. (3 ♂♂, 1 ♀). Holotype: ♂, labelled ‘ CHINA: Yunnan Prov., Tengchong County, Mingguang Town, near Zizhi Village, 25°42'57''N, 98°35'42''E, 30.vi.2013 alt. 2,500 m, Zhong Peng leg.’ ( SNUC). Paratypes: 2 ♂♂, 1 ♀, same label data as holotype ( SNUC).

Description. Measurements (in mm) and ratios: BL 8.06–9.12, FL 3.78–3.95, HL 0.91–0.94, HW 1.07–1.13, AnL 2.00–2.07, PL 1.30–1.44, PW 1.11–1.18, EL 0.74–0.78, AL 1.29–1.31, HL/HW 0.83–0.85, HW/PW 0.95– 0.96, HL/PL 0.65–0.70, PL/PW 1.17–1.22, EL/PL 0.54–0.60.

Habitus as in Fig. 21 A. Body dark brown with paler apex, legs brown to light brown, antennae brown.

Head weakly transverse; punctation coarse and dense, sparser in median dorsal portion; interstices with very shallow microreticulation. Eyes 0.26–0.27 times as long as postocular region in dorsal view and composed of approximately 50 ommatidia.

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

Elytra short; punctation shallow and 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; tergite VIII ( Fig. 22 A) without sexual dimorphism, posterior margin convex.

Male. Sternites III–IV unmodified; sternite VII ( Fig. 22 D) strongly transverse, with long and shallow median impression posteriorly, middle of this impression without setae, on either side of middle with cluster of moderately modified black setae, posterior margin concave; sternite VIII ( Fig. 22 E) symmetric, with dense and weakly modified short dark setae and with long and narrow median impression posteriorly, posterior excision small and symmetric; aedeagus as in Figs 22 F, G, with apically slender ventral process; dorsal plate with moderately long and distinctly sclerotized apical portion, and with weakly sclerotized lamellate basal portion; internal sac with pair of long sclerotized spines, with short membranous structure apically, and basally with a membranous ring-shaped structure.

Female. Posterior margin of sternite VIII ( Fig. 22 B) distinctly, convexly produced; tergite IX ( Fig. 22 C) with very short antero-median portion with median suture, and with long postero-lateral processes; tergite X 5.9 times as long as antero-median portion of tergite IX ( Fig. 22 C).

Comparative notes. As can be inferred from the male sexual characters (shape of the ventral process of the aedeagus in lateral view; shape and chaetotaxy of the male sternites VIII; antero-median portion of female tergite IX short and with median suture), L. zizhiense may belong to the L. magnispinosum subgroup ( Assing, 2013d), which previously included four species from the Gaoligong Shan, the Wuliang Shan and the Henduan Shan. This new species is distinguished from the other representatives of this group by somewhat smaller body size, the chaetotaxy of the male sternite VII (middle of median impression without setae), and by the morphology of the aedeagus (apically slender ventral process, internal sac with pair of long sclerotized spines). For illustrations of the species of the L. magnispinosum subgroup see Assing (2013d).

Distribution and biological notes. The type locality is situated near Zizhi village to the north of Tengchong, western Yunnan. All the specimens were sifted from leaf litter, grass and humus in a broad-leaved forest at an altitude of 2,500 m.

Etymology. The specific epithet is derived from the Zizhi, where the type locality is situated.

Figures

FIGURE 21. Habitus of Lathrobium spp., A — L. zizhiense; B — L. guangdongense. Scale bars: 1.0 mm.

FIGURE 22. Lathrobium zizhiense. 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.