Anthobium transversale Shavrin & Smetana, 2019

Shavrin, Alexey V. & Smetana, Aleš, 2019, A revision of Eastern Palaearctic Anthobium Leach, 1819 (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Omaliinae: Anthophagini). III. Consanguineum, crassum and reflexum groups, and an additional species of the fusculum group, Zootaxa 4688 (4), pp. 451-482 : 478-480

Anthobium transversale Shavrin & Smetana , sp.n.

( Figs. 77 , 87–89 )

Type material examined: Holotype ♂: ‘ CHINA Sichuan, Gongga | Shan, Hailuogou , above | Camp 3, 3000m 6.VII.96 | 29°35N 102°00E C53’ <rectangular label, printed>, ‘collected by | A. Smetana, J. Farkač | and P. Kabátek’ <rectangular label, printed >, ‘ HOLOTYPE | Anthobium | transversale sp.n. | Shavrin A.V. & Smetana A. 2018’ <red rectangular label, printed> ( NSMT) .

Paratypes (4 specimens): 2 ♂♂ [one specimen dissected], 2 ♀♀: same data as the holotype, with additional red rectangular printed label : ‘ PARATYPE | Anthobium | transversale sp.n. | Shavrin A.V. & Smetana A. 2018’ (1 ♂, 1 ♀: NSMT; 1 ♂, 1 ♀: CS) .

Description. Measurements (n=5): HW: 0.75–0.80; HL: 0.42–0.45; AL(holotype): 1.41; OL: 0.20–0.22; PL: 0.57–0.65;PW:1.17–1.27; ESL:1.20–1.66;EW:1.67–1.71;AW:1.43–1.53; MTbL(holotype):0.82;MTrL(holotype): 0.34 (MTrL 1–4: 0.19; MTrL 5: 0.15); AedL: 0.65; TL: 3.12–3.47(holotype: 3.45).

Head, pronotum, abdomen and antennomeres 4–11 reddish-brown to brown; lateral and basal portions of pronotum and elytra yellow-brown (one paratype with brown elytra); mouthparts, antennomeres 1–3 and legs yellow. Forebody without microsculpture except for posterior portion of infraorbital ridges and lateral portions of neck with distinct transverse meshes; abdomen with distinct isodiametric microsculpture. Head with fine and deep punctation, markedly denser and deeper on infraorbital ridges; neck with fine and sparse punctation; pronotum with fine, moderately deep punctation, finer and sparser in middle and larger and deeper on lateral portions (some paratypes with denser and deeper punctation on medioapical portion), usually with small impunctated area on mediobasal third; scutellum with several fine punctures; punctation of elytra as that in pronotum, finer and denser in prescutellar area, each elytron bearing indistinct six to seven vague and tangled longitudinal rows of punctures; abdominal tergites with indistinct, fine and dense punctation, Habitus as in Fig. 77 .

Head 1.7 times as wide as long; middle portion slightly elevated, with wide triangular or semicircular impression at level of posterior third of eyes between narrow and deep grooves in front of ocelli, almost reaching level of midlength of eyes; surface between punctures on infraorbital ridges slightly elevated; postocular ridges acute; anterior portion between antennal insertion and anterior nargin of eye with distinct, wide, semicircular notch. Distance between ocelli slightly longer than distance between ocellus and posterior margin of eye. Length × width of antennomeres (holotype): 1: 0.16 × 0.08; 2: 0.12 × 0.06; 3: 0.13 × 0.05; 4–5: 0.12 × 0.05; 6–8: 0.12 × 0.06; 9: 0.12 × 0.07; 10: 0.11 × 0.07; 11: 0.17 × 0.08.

Pronotum about or twice as wide as long, 1.5 times as wide as head; apical margin rounded, slightly protruded anteriad; posterior angles obtuse, with indistinctly emarginated posteriolateral margins; edges of lateral margins of pronotum with irregular, small crenulation; middle portion with wide and moderately deep, transverse, irregular, mediobasal impressions (one paratype with additional longitudinal impression, connecting medioapical and mediobasal impressions); surface between punctures in medioapical portion with transverse irregular elevations; lateral portions moderately wide, slightly explanate.

Elytra wider than long, more than twice as long as pronotum, distinctly widened posteriad, reaching middle or apical margin of abdominal tergite V, with slightly rounded posterior margins truncated at suture; lateral portions moderately wide, slightly explanate; surface of each elytron with very indistinct four to five longitudinal elevations in middle.

Male. Protarsomeres 1–4 slightly slightly widened. Apical margins of abdominal tergite VIII slightly and sternite VIII widely emarginated. Aedeagus ( Fig. 88 ) with wide median lobe, truncated apically; parameres long and narrow, slightly exceeding apex of median lobe, with two apical and two preapical setae; internal sac long and wide, spirally rolled in basal portion. Aedeagus laterally as in Fig. 89 .

Female. Protarsomeres 1–4 moderately narrow. Apical margin of abdominal tergite VIII somewhat straight. Apical margin of abdominal sternite VIII widely rounded.

Comparative notes. Based on the coloration, body length, and shape of the forebody, A. transversale sp.n. is similar to the Himalayan A. altivagans ( Cameron, 1941) , from which it differs by longer antennomeres 5–10, more protruded apical angles of the pronotum, more irregular crenulation of the lateral edges of the pronotum, and different shape and internal structure of the aedeagus.

Distribution. The species is known from two locations in Gongga Shan in Sichuan, China ( Fig. 87 ).

Bionomics. Specimens were collected at elevations from 2900 to 3000 m a.s.l. The specimens from Gonga Shan range (locality: C53) were taken by sifting various debris, leaf litter and moss accumulated on sandy flats of a creek in the primary Abies forest with rich undergrowth of rhododendrons.

Etymology. The specific epithet is the Latin adjective transversalis, - is, - e (transverse). It refers to the markedly transverse pronotum of the species.

Figures

FIGURE 87. Distribution of Anthobium deplanatum (black circles), A. gaoligongshanense (black square) and A. transversale (black triangle) in the south-western China.

FIGURES 88–89. Aedeagus of Anthobium transversale (paratype): 88—parameral view, 89—lateral view. Scale bar: 0.1 mm.

FIGURES 73–77. Habitus of Anthobium: 73—A. reflexum (Kazakhstan) 74—A. deplanatum (holotype), 75—A. gaoligongshanense (holotype), 76—A. kashmiricum, 77—A. transversale (holotype). Scale bar: 1.0 mm.