Lathrobium obstipum Peng & Li

Peng, Zhong, Li, Li-Zhen & Zhao, Mei-Jun, 2012, Five new apterous species of the genus Lathrobium Gravenhorst (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Paederinae) from the Baishanzu Natural Reserve, East China, ZooKeys 251, pp. 69-81 : 75-77

Lathrobium obstipum Peng & Li sp. n. Figs 2B7

Type material

(17 ♂♂, 5 ♀♀). Holotype: ♂, labeled 'CHINA: Zhejiang Prov. / Qingyuan County / Baishanzu N. R. / 27°45'N, 119°13'E / 22-23.ix.2008, alt. 1,500 m / Tang & Zhang leg.'. Paratypes: 10 ♂♂, 5 ♀♀, same label data as holotype; 3 ♂♂, same label data, but ' 27°45'N, 119°12'E / 6.v.2004, alt. 1,400-1,700 m / Hu, Tang & Zhu leg.'; 3 ♂♂, same label data, but ' 27°44'N, 119°13'E / 21.viii.2004, alt. 1,250-1,650 m / Hu, Tang & Zhu leg.'.

Description.

Measurements and ratios:BL 6.34-7.23, FL 2.84-3.12, HL 0.65-0.71, HW 0.87-0.91, PL 1.11-1.19, PW 0.99-1.06, EL 0.76-0.81, HL / HW0.73-0.78, HW/PW 0.86-0.90, HL/PL 0.56-0.62, PL/PW 1.11-1.15, EL/PL 0.67-0.69.

Habitus as in Fig. 2B. Similar to Lathrobium baishanzuense , except for the lighter coloration of legs and antennae, the smaller body size, sparser punctation on the head and pronotum, and the somewhat broader impunctate midline on pronotum.

Male. Sternites III-VI unmodified; posterior margin of sternite VII (Fig. 7G) nearly truncate; posterior margin of sternite VIII (Fig. 7H) truncate and with tuft of short setae in asymmetric position; sternite IX (Fig. 7D) nearly symmetric; aedeagus (Fig. 7E, 7F) with asymmetric, apically forficate ventral process, without sclerotized dorsal plate, and without sclerotized spines in internal sac.

Female. Posterior margin of tergite VIII (Fig. 7A) weakly convex; sternite VIII (Fig. 7C) longer than that of male, posterior margin strongly convex; tergite X (Fig. 7B) convex apically, not reaching anterior margin of tergite IX (Fig. 7B).

Distribution.

East China: Donggong mountain range.

Etymology.

The specific epithet (Latin, adjective: awry) alludes to the chaetotaxy of the male sternite VIII.

Comparative notes and comments.

The new species is similar to Lathrobium sheni Peng & Li, 2012 from Jiulongshan in having similarly shaped male sternites VII and IX. The new species can be distinguished from Lathrobium sheni by a cluster of short setae on the posterior margin of the male sternite VIII and the distinctly flattened aedeagus. In Lathrobium sheni , the male sternite VIII has two rows of dense setae and the aedeagus is stout.

Lathrobium obstipum evidently represents a different lineage than the other species recorded from Baishanzu, since it does not share their derived modifications of the anterior male sternites. It is additionally distinguished from them by the smaller body, yellowish brown legs, the unmodified male sternite III-VI, the nearly truncate posterior margin of the male sternites VII and VIII, and the distinctly flattened aedeagus without a sclerotized dorsal plate.