Lathrobium smetanai, Assing, 2014

Assing, Volker, 2014, New species and records of Lathrobium from the Palaearctic region, primarily from Nepal (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Paederinae), Beiträge Zur Entomologie = Contributions to Entomology 64 (1), pp. 1-28 : 27

Lathrobium smetanai sp. n.

( Figs 149–154 )

Type material: Holotype : “ CHINA, Gansu, Dalijia Shan [ca. 35°34'N, 102°44'E], 46 km W Linxia, 2980 m, 10.VII.1994, A. Smetana [C5] / Holotypus  Lathrobium smetanai sp. n., det. V. Assing 2013” (cAss).

Etymology: This species is dedicated to Aleš Smetana, one of the foremost taxonomists of Staphylinidae of all times and collector of the holotype.

Description: Body length 6.4 mm; length of forebody 2.7 mm. Habitus as in Fig. 149 . Coloration: body black; legs and antennae reddish.

Head ( Fig. 150 ) small in relation to body and distinctly oblong, 1.1 times as long as broad; punctation sparse and moderately coarse; interstices without microreticulation, distinctly broader than diameter of punctures. Eyes weakly projecting from lateral contours of head and of moderate size, approximately one-third as long as postocular region in dorsal view and composed of approximately 40 ommatidia. Antenna 1.5 mm long.

Pronotum ( Fig. 150 ) 1.23 times as long as broad and 1.08 times as broad as head; punctation similar to that of head; midline broadly impunctate; interstices without microsculpture.

Elytra ( Fig. 150 ) broad and short, 0.58 times as long as pronotum, very weakly dilated posteriad; humeral angles moderately marked; punctation moderately sparse and fine, but distinct and defined; interstices without microsculpture. Hind wings completely reduced. Legs short.

Abdomen large in relation to forebody, approximately 1.2 times as broad as elytra; punctation fine and rather sparse; interstices with fine transverse microsculpture; posterior margin of tergite VII without palisade fringe.

: protarsomeres I–IV moderately strongly dilated; tergite VIII with weakly convex posterior margin; sternite VII ( Fig. 151 ) strongly transverse, posteriorly with shallow median impression with cluster of distinctly modified short and stout black setae, on either side of this impression with additional cluster of stout and long black setae, posterior margin broadly concave; sternite VIII ( Fig. 152 ) distinctly transverse, approximately 1.2 times as broad as long, aside from scattered long black setae with very short and rather sparse pubescence, posterior margin very weakly concave in the middle; aedeagus ( Figs 153–154 ) 1.25 mm long and asymmetric; ventral process slender in lateral view and apically acute; dorsal plate with lamellate apical portion and without noticeable basal portion; internal sac with long dark structures, but without sclerotized spines.

: unknown.

Comparative notes: Based on the external (small oblong head without microsculpture; short legs; large abdomen with transverse microsculpture and sparse fine punctation) and the male sexual characters (shapes and chaetotaxy of the male sternites VII and VIII; morphology of the aedeagus), L. smetanai clearly belongs to the L. lentum group (see ASSING 2013a), which previously included only L. lentum ASSING, 2013 from the environs of Songpan in northern Sichuan. It is distinguished from this species by smaller body size ( L. lentum : length of male forebody: 3.0– 3.4 mm), the reddish legs ( L. lentum : legs dark-brown), the different chaetotaxy of the male sternite VII, the sparser pubescence and more weakly concave posterior margin of the male sternite VIII, and by the smaller and differently shaped aedeagus. For illustrations of L. lentum see ASSING (2013a).

Distribution and natural history: The type locality is situated in the Dalijia Shan in the southwest of Gansu province, close to the border with Qinghai province, at an altitude of nearly 3000 m. The holotype was sifted from wet debris and moss among lush vegetation in pastures with willow bushes (SMETANA pers. comm.).

Figures

Figs 140–154: Lathrobium glabrimpressum sp. n. (140–148) and L. smetanai sp. n. (149–154): habitus (140, 149); forebody (141, 150); male sternite VII (142, 151); male sternite VIII (143, 152); aedeagus in lateral and in ventral view (144–145, 153); apex of dorsal plate of aedeagus in dorsal view (146); female sternite VIII (147); female tergites IX–X (148); apical portion of aedeagus in ventral view (154). Scale bars: 140–141, 149–150: 1.0 mm; 142–145, 147–148, 151–154: 0.5 mm; 146: 0.1 mm.