Pseudolathra fissa, Assing, 2013

Assing, V., 2013, A revision of Pseudolathra of the East Palaearctic and Oriental regions. II. Six new species and additional records, with notes on some New World species, Linzer biologische Beiträge 45 (1), pp. 205-227 : 205-227

Pseudolathra fissa nov.sp. (Figs 1-5, Map 1)

T y p e m a t e r i a l: Holotype 3: " India, Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry 10 km N Auroville , 02.02.- 02.03.2011, leg. F. Burger / Holotypus 3 Pseudolathra fissa sp. n., det. V. Assing 2012" ( NME) . Paratypes: 13, 2♀♀: same data as holotype ( NME, cAss), 433, 1♀ [1 teneral]: " India 53 Madras, Amarawathi Dam [= Amaravathi Reservoir ; 10°24'N, 77°15'E], 20 km. s. d'Udamalpet [= Udumalaipettai], 400 m. 26-XI-72 Besuchet Löbl Mussard" ( MHNG, cAss) .

E t y m o l o g y: The specific epithet (present participle of the Latin verb findere: to split) alludes to the shape of the apical structures of the aedeagus.

D e s c r i p t i o n: Body length 5.5-7.0 mm; length of forebody 2.9-3.2 mm. Habitus as in Fig. 1. Coloration: head blackish-brown; pronotum reddish-brown to dark-brown; elytra dark-brown to blackish-brown, with the humeral angles, the sutural region, and the posterior margins more or less distinctly reddish; abdomen dark-brown, with the posterior portion of segments VII and VIII reddish; legs yellowish to reddish-yellow; antennae reddish.

Head (Fig. 2) with median dorsal surface largely impunctate; punctures confined to the lateral and posterior portions; scattered punctures also in lateral parts of frons (close to eyes). Antennae rather fine and short, approximately 1.8-2.0 mm long. Pronotum (Fig. 2) laterad of dorsal series with very sparse punctation. Elytra (Fig. 2) relatively short and slender, approximately 0.9 times as long as pronotum. Other external characters as in P. pulchella and P. vellicans .

3: sternite VII not distinctly modified; sternite VIII distinctly oblong, posterior excision narrow, sharply acute at apex, and deep, its depth slightly more than half the length of sternite (Fig. 3); aedeagus conspicuously large in relation to body size, 1.4 mm long, and of highly distinctive shape: apically with pair of strongly sclerotised, curved structures extending beyond apex of dorsal plate (Figs 4-5); ventral process apically distinctly bifid in ventral view.

C o m p a r a t i v e n o t e s: As can be inferred from the similar external morphology (very similar habitus; short antennae; punctation of forebody, very sparse punctation of the pronotum) and particularly by the similarly derived morphology of the large aedeagus (shape of ventral process; strongly sclerotised pair of apical structures), P. fissa is the sister species of P. vellicans from northern India. It is reliably distinguished from this species only by the male sexual characters (slightly deeper posterior incision of sternite VIII; shape of the ventral process and of the apical structures of the aedeagus). It differs from the widespread and common P. pulchella by the more slender head, the shorter and finer antennae, the sparser punctation of the pronotum, the slightly shorter and more slender elytra, the much deeper and narrower posterior incision of the male sternite VIII, and by the completely different morphology of the aedeagus. For illustrations of P. vellicans and P. pulchella see ASSING (2012a).

D i s t r i b u t i o n a n d n a t u r a l h i s t o r y: This species is currently known only from two localities in Tamil Nadu, southern India (Map 1). Some of the specimens were collected at an altitude of 400 m.

Figs 1-6: Pseudolathra fissa nov.sp. (1-5) and P. tichomirovae BOHAČ (6): (1) habitus; (2) forebody; (3) male sternite VIII; (4-5) aedeagus in lateral and in ventral view; (6) male sternite VII. Scale bars: 1-2: 1.0 mm; 3-6: 0.5 mm.