Lobrathium kirgisicum, Assing, 2007

Assing, V., 2007, A revision of Palaearctic Lobrathium MULSANT & REY. III. New species, new synonyms, and additional records (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Paederinae), Linzer biologische Beiträge 39 (2), pp. 731-755 : 731-755

Lobrathium kirgisicum nov.sp. ( Figs 11-25 )

H o l o t y p e 3: Kyrgyzstan: Kyrgyzhky Alatau , foothills, O.to-Say, ca. 1000 m / Holotypus 3 Lobrathium kirgisicum sp. n. det. V. Assing 2007 (cAss). P a r a t y p e s: 233, 1♀: same data as holotype (cSch, cAss) ; 13: Kyrgyzstan: Kyrgyzhky Alatau , Ala Artcha, 1650 m, 29.X.2000 (cSch) .

E t y m o l o g y: The name (adj.) is derived from the ancient name of the region where the species was discovered.

D e s c r i p t i o n: 5.8-6.7 mm. Habitus as in Fig. 11 . Coloration: head and abdomen blackish; pronotum dark brown to blackish brown, with the anterior area or the anterior angles indistinctly paler; elytra dark reddish or bicoloured, with the anterior 1/2-3/5 dark brown and the posterior 2/5-1/2 reddish; legs and antennae rufous.

Head 1.04-1.10 times as long as wide, of subrectangular shape ( Fig. 12 ); posterior angles moderately marked; puncturation coarse, sparser in median dorsal area and dense on remainder of dorsal surface, with interstices on average approximately as wide as or slightly narrower than diameter of punctures; interstices without trace of microsculpture and glossy; eyes relatively small ( Fig. 13 ), weakly projecting from lateral contours of head and less than half the length of postocular region in dorsal view, horizontal diameter in lateral view approximately 0.4 times the distance between posterior margin of eyes and and neck. Antennae rather short; antennomere III approximately as long as II; IV-X weakly oblong ( Fig. 14 ).

Pronotum slender, approximately 0.90-0.95 times as wide as head and 1.25 times as wide as long; puncturation slightly coarser and less dense than that of head ( Fig. 12 ); interstices without microsculpture and glossy, in lateral areas on average as wide as diameter of punctures.

Elytra 1.15-1.20 times as wide and at suture approximately 0.95 times as long as pronotum ( Fig. 12 ); puncturation shallower and less defined than that of head and pronotum, not arranged in rows; interstices without microreticulation. Hind wings of reduced length, projecting from under the elytra by approximately 1/3 of elytral length, when unfolded.

Abdomen approximately 1.1 times as wide as elytra, widest at segment VII; puncturation fine and moderately dense; surface with distinct microsculpture composed of transverse meshes; posterior margin of tergite VII with narrow (reduced) palisade fringe.

3: sternite VII with similar modifications as in L. novum , in posterior half with U-shaped median impression without puncturation or pubescence, on either side of this impression with cluster of short black modified setae directed diagonally postero-mediad ( Figs 16- 17 ); tergite VIII with moderately convex posterior margin ( Fig. 15 ); sternite VIII posteriorly broadly excised, anterior to this excision with cluster of few short black modified setae ( Fig. 18 ); aedeagus of distinctive morphology ( Figs 19-22 ).

♀: posterior margin of tergite VIII distinctly convex, almost pointed ( Fig. 23 ); sternite VIII posteriorly broadly convex ( Fig. 24 ); lateral tergal sclerites IX apically with spinelike processes ( Fig. 25 ).

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C o m p a r a t i v e n o t e s: The new species is distinguished from all its congeners by the distinctive male primary and sexual characters. From other geographically close small-sized species with short and narrow elytra it is additionally distinguished as follows:

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from L. ciliciae by slightly smaller size, smaller eyes, a more subrectangular head shape, distinctly shorter legs and antennae, larger size, darker coloration of the head, pronotum, and abdomen, the larger and more bulging eyes, the much coarser puncturation of the head, the distinctly longer and broader elytra, the less coarse puncturation of the elytra, the longer rudiments of the hind wings (in L. cilicae almost completely reduced), the shorter legs (especially shorter tibiae), the denser puncturation and more pronounced microsculpture of the abdomen, the more pronounced palisade fringe at the posterior margin of tergite VII, as well as by the strongly convex posterior margin of the abdominal tergite VIII; for illustrations of the male sexual characters of L. ciliciae see ASSING (2004);

from L. reitteri by slightly smaller size, slightly smaller eyes, more rectangular head shape, distinctly finer puncturation of the forebody (especially of the elytra), a less convex and more parallel-sided pronotum, the distinctly microsculptured and matt abdomen (in L. reitteri without microsculpture and glossy), and by the presence of a rudiment of a palisade fringe at the posterior margin of tergite VII (in L. reitteri absent); for illustrations of the aedeagus of L. reitteri see SOLODOVNIKOV (2001);

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from L. alaiense by smaller size, a more slender body, smaller eyes, slightly shorter legs and antennae, as well as by finer, shallower, and less defined puncturation of the elytra; for illustrations of the aedeagus of L. alaiense see GUSAROV (1995);

from L. novum , possibly its sister species (as is suggested by the similar derived modifications of the male sternites VII and VIII, as well as by the similar general morphology of the aedeagus), by slightly smaller size, a more slender body, slightly shorter legs and antennae, and by the presence of only few modified short dark setae on the male sternite VIII; for an illustration of the male sternite VIII of L. novum see Fig. 26 . For illustrations of the aedeagus of L. novum see GUSAROV (1995).

The aedeagus is rather similar to that of L. sahlbergi (FAUVEL 1900) from Kazakhstan (a species that I have not seen), but distinguished by an apically more acute (ventral view), broader, and distinctly bent (lateral view) ventral process, as well as by internal structures of different shape; for illustrations of the aedeagus of L. sahlbergi see GUSAROV (1995).

D i s t r i b u t i o n a n d b i o n o m i c s: The species has become known only from the Kyrgyzhky Alatau in Kyrgyzstan, where the types were collected at altitudes of 1000 and 1650 m.

Figures

Figs 11-20: Lobrathium kirgisicum nov.sp. (11-14, 20: holotype): (11) habitus; (12) forebody; (13) head in lateral view; (14) antenna; (15) male tergite VIII; (16) male sternite VII; (17) posterior median part of male sternite VII; (18) male sternite VIII; (19-20) aedeagus in lateral and in ventral view. Scale bars: 11-12: 1.0 mm; 13-14: 0.5 mm; 15-20: 0.2 mm.

Figs 21-26: Lobrathium kirgisicum nov.sp. (21-25) and L. novum (BERNHAUER & SCHUBERT) (26): (21) dorso-apical structures of aedeagus in lateral view; (22) apex of ventral process of aedeagus in lateral view; (23) female tergite VIII; (24) female sternite VIII; (25) female terminalia (segments IX-X); (26) male sternite VIII. Scale bars: 23-24, 26: 0.5 mm; 25: 0.2 mm; 21-22: 0.1 mm.