Lathrobium (Lathrobium) acutissimum Peng, Li & Zhao

Peng, Zhong, Li, Li-Zhen & Zhao, Mei-Jun, 2012, Three new species of Lathrobium Gravenhorst (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Paederinae) from Sichuan, Southwest China, ZooKeys 205, pp. 33-44 : 34-36

Lathrobium (Lathrobium) acutissimum Peng, Li & Zhao sp. n. Figs 1A, 2

Type locality.

Labahe Natural Reserve, Sichuan Province, Southwest China

Type material (5 ♂♂, 4 ♀♀)

Holotype: ♂, labeled 'CHINA: Sichuan Prov. / Tianquan County / Labahe N. R. / 30°09'N, 102°26'E / 30.vii.2006, alt. 2,000 m / Hu & Tang leg.'. Paratypes: 4 ♂♂, 2 ♀♀, same label data as holotype; 2 ♀♀, same label data, except ‘29.v.2006’.

Description.

Measurements and ratios:BL 8.12-10.00, FL 3.78-4.11, HL 1.18-1.26, HW 1.26-1.31, PL 1.52-1.63, PW 1.30-1.41, EL 0.98-1.05, HL/HW 0.93-0.96, HW/PW 0.94-0.97, HL/PL 0.76-0.79, PL/PW 1.16-1.17, EL/PL 0.64-0.67.

Habitus as in Fig. 1A. Body brown with paler apex, legs brown to light brown, antennae brown to reddish brown.

Head subquadrate (HL/HW 0.93-0.96); punctation coarse and dense; interstices with shallow and netlike microsculpture; eyes small, approximately 1/5-1/4 of length of postocular region in dorsal view.

Pronotum nearly parallel-sided; punctation sparser than that of head; impunctate midline narrow; interstices shining without microsculpture.

Elytra with punctation denser than that of pronotum and well defined; hind wings reduced.

Abdomen with dense punctation; interstices with very shallow, transversely striate microsculpture.

Male. Sternite VII (Fig. 2A) with short, darkish setae in U-shaped posterio-median impression; sternite VIII (Fig. 2B) with triangular, symmetrical emargination and short, darkish setae in shallow impression; sternite IX (Fig. 2C) long and nearly symmetrical; aedeagus (Fig. 2D, 2E) with very slender, ventral process.

Female. Posterior margin of tergite VIII (Fig. 2F) somewhat convex; sternite VIII (Fig. 2G) slightly longer than that of male, posterior margin broadly convex; tergite X (Fig. 2H) not acute basally and not reaching anterior margin of tergite IX (Fig. 2H).

Distribution.

Southwest China: Sichuan.

Etymology.

The specific epithet (Latin, adjective: sharp) alludes to the apical margin of the male sternite IX.

Remarks.

It resembles Lathrobium lijiangense Watanabe & Xiao, 1997 from Yunnan in having a similar shape of the male sternite VII. The new species can be readily distinguished from these species by the male sternite VIII with a triangular emargination at the apical margin and by the aedeagus with a much longer ventral process. In Lathrobium lijiangense , the male sternite VIII has a semi-elliptical emargination at the apical margin and the ventral process of the aedeagus is short.