Lathrobium taiye Peng

Peng, Zhong, Li, Li-Zhen & Zhao, Mei-Jun, 2016, On the Lathrobium fauna of the Luoxiao Mountains, Central China, Zootaxa 4158 (3), pp. 385-402 : 396-398

Lathrobium taiye Peng and L.-Z. Li, new species

(Map 1, Figs 9 A, 10)

Type material. HOLOTYPE: Ƌ, labeled ‘ Jiangxi Prov., Pingxiang, Wugong Shan , 27°27'39''N 114°10'03''E, 1340– 1400 m, 19.VII.2013, Song, Yu & Yin leg.’ ( SNUC) . Paratypes: 4 ƋƋ, 3 ♀♀ [1 Ƌ, 1 ♀, teneral], same label data as holotype (SNUC); 3 ƋƋ, 1 ♀, same data, but ‘ 27°27'55''N 114°09'58''E, 1000–1350 m, 20.VII.2013 ’ ( SNUC) ; 2 ƋƋ, 3 ♀♀ [1 ♀, teneral], same data, but ‘ 27°27'26''N 114°10'12''E, 1500–1750 m, 21.VII.2013 ’ ( SNUC) ; 1 Ƌ, 1 ♀ [1 Ƌ, 1 ♀, teneral], same data, but ‘ Luxi County, Yangshimu , 27°34'25''N 114°14'14''E, 910–1550 m, 16.VII.2013 ’ ( SNUC) ; 2 ƋƋ, 3 ♀♀, same data, but ‘ 27°27'59''N 114°09'54''E, 1050 m, 28.X.2013, Peng, Shen & Yan leg.’ ( SNUC) .

Description. Measurements (in mm) and ratios: BL 7.45–9.01, FL 3.56–4.17, HL 0.94–1.07, HW 1.11–1.20, AnL 2.06–2.28, PL 1.33–1.48, PW 1.15–1.26, EL 0.76–0.85, AL 0.67–0.71, HL/HW 0.85–0.89, HW/PW 0.94– 0.97, HL/PL 0.71–0.73, PL/PW 1.16–1.18, EL/PL 0.55–0.57.

Habitus as in Fig. 9 A. Body brown, legs light brown, antennae brown.

Head transverse; punctation coarse and moderately dense, distinctly sparser in median dorsal portion; interstices with distinct microsculpture. Eyes moderately small and composed of approximately 50 ommatidia.

Pronotum with weakly convex lateral margins in dorsal view; punctation somewhat sparser than that of head; impunctate midline moderately broad; interstices without microsculpture.

Elytral punctation dense and defined. Hind wings completely reduced. Protarsi with distinct sexual dimorphism.

Abdomen with moderately fine and dense punctation, that of tergite VII somewhat sparser than that of anterior tergites; interstices with distinct microsculpture; posterior margin of tergite VII without palisade fringe; tergite VIII with pronounced sexual dimorphism.

Male. Posterior margin of tergite VIII convex; sternites III–VI unmodified; sternite VII ( Fig. 10 D) strongly transverse, with extensive median impression, this impression with numerous distinctly modified, short dark seta, posterior margin weakly concave; sternite VIII ( Fig. 10 E) as long as broad, with shallow median impression posteriorly and slightly asymmetric, somewhat V-shaped posterior excision, pubescence unmodified; aedeagus as in Figs 10 F, G; ventral process slender and long, weakly asymmetric in ventral view; dorsal plate with very long, slender apical portion and short basal portion; internal sac with a long sclerotized spine.

Female. Posterior margin of tergite VIII ( Fig. 10 A) strongly produced; sternite VIII as in Fig. 10 B, with dense micropubescence in posterior portion, posterior margin convexly produced in the middle; tergite IX ( Fig. 10 C) with long antero-median portion and moderately long postero-lateral processes; tergite X ( Fig. 10 C) 0.8 times as long as antero-median portion of tergite IX.

Comparative notes. Lathrobium taiye sp. n. resembles L. yipingae sp. n. from Jinggangshan in body size, the shapes of the male sternites VII–VIII and the presence of a long sclerotized spine in the internal sac of the aedeagus. Lathrobium taiye is distinguished from L. yipingae by lighter coloration of the body, a more slender pronotum, the chaetotaxy of the male sternites VII–VIII and the more slender ventral process of the aedeagus.

Distribution and natural history. The species is known from several geographically close localities in and near the Wugong Shan, western Jiangxi. The specimens were sifted from leaf litter in a mixed forest and in a coniferous forest at altitudes of 910–1750 m, partly together with L. shuguangi and L. yangshimuense .

Etymology. The specific name is the Chinese noun “ taiye ” (the leaf of the sedge) in apposition. It refers to the shape of the ventral process of the aedeagus in ventral view.

Figures

FIGURE 9. Habitus of Lathrobium spp., A — L. taiye; B — L. yangshimuense; C — L. yipingae. Scale bars: 1.0 mm.

FIGURE 10. Lathrobium taiye. 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.