Lathrobium kuan Peng & Li

Peng, Zhong, Sun, Zhuo, Li, Li-Zhen & Zhao, Mei-Jun, 2015, Four new species and additional records of Domene and Lathrobium from the Dayao Mountains, southern China, ZooKeys 508, pp. 113-126 : 117-120

Taxon classification Animalia Coleoptera Staphylinidae

Lathrobium kuan Peng & Li sp. n. Figs 4B, 6

Type material.

Holotype: ♂, labelled 'China: Guangxi Prov., Jinxiu Hsien, Shengtang Shan, 23°59'32"N, 110°06'26"E, 1160 m, 23.VII.2014, Peng, Song, Yan & Yu leg.' (SNUC). Paratypes: 1 ♂, 1 ♀, same label data as holotype (SNUC).

Description.

Measurements (in mm) and ratios: BL 9.17-9.40, FL 4.00-4.11, HL 1.05-1.11, HW 1.05-1.15, AnL 2.00-2.15, PL 1.48-1.51, PW 1.18-1.26, EL 0.78-0.83, AL 1.90-1.93, HL/HW 0.97-1.00, HW/PW 0.89-0.91, HL/PL 0.71-0.74, PL/PW 1.20-1.25, EL/PL 0.53-0.55.

Habitus as in Fig. 4B. Body dark brown, legs and antennae brown.

Head approximately as long as broad; punctation coarse and moderately dense, somewhat sparser in median dorsal portion; interstices with shallow microreticulation; eyes small and composed of approximately 30 ommatidia.

Pronotum nearly parallel-sided; punctation similar to that of head; impunctate midline moderately broad; interstices glossy and without microsculpture.

Elytral punctation dense and well-defined. Hind wings completely reduced. Protarsi without sexual dimorphism.

Abdomen with fine and dense punctation, that of tergite VII sparser than that of anterior tergites; interstices with distinct microsculpture; posterior margin of tergite VII without palisade fringe; tergite VIII without sexual dimorphism, posterior margin (Fig. 6A) obtusely angled in the middle.

Male. Sternites III-VI unmodified; sternite VII (Fig. 6D) with very shallow postero-median impression, this impression with weakly modified setae, posterior margin nearly truncate; sternite VIII (Fig. 6E) with very narrow median impression posteriorly, this impression with numerous short dark setae, posterior excision V-shaped and symmetrical; aedeagus as in Figs 6F, G; ventral process asymmetrical, broad and furcate; internal sac with a long strong sclerotized spine and a shorter weakly sclerotized spine.

Female. Posterior margin of sternite VIII (Fig. 6B) strongly convex; tergite IX (Fig. 6C) almost completely divided; tergite X (Fig. 6C) nearly reaching anterior margin of tergite IX.

Comparative notes.

Based on the modifications of the male sternite VIII, the furcate ventral process of the aedeagus, the presence of long sclerotized spines in the internal sac of the aedeagus, and the divided female tergite IX, Lathrobium kuan belongs to the Lathrobium fissispinosum group, which was previously known from Shaanxi, Gansu, Hubei, Guizhou and Sichuan. The new species is distinguished from the other representatives of this group by the chaetotaxy and shapes of the male sternites VII and VIII, the strongly asymmetrical ventral process and the presence of two (rather than one) sclerotized spines in the internal sac of the aedeagus. For illustrations of the species of the Lathrobium fissispinosum group see Assing (2013b, in press b) and Peng et al. (2013b, 2014b).

Etymology.

The specific name is the Chinese adjective “kuan” (broad). It refers to the broad ventral process of the aedeagus of this species, when compared with the other species known from Dayao Mountains.

Distribution and natural history.

The type locality is situated in the Shengtang Shan to the southwest of Jinxiu, central Guangxi. The specimens were sifted from leaf litter in a beech forest at an altitude of 1,160 m.