Lobrathium cornutissimum, Assing, 2010

Assing, Volker, 2010, On the Lathrobiina of Taiwan (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Paederinae), Beiträge Zur Entomologie = Contributions to Entomology 60 (2), pp. 301-361 : 348-349

Lobrathium cornutissimum sp. n. ( Figs 187-194 )

Type material:

Holotype ♂: " Taiwan, Kaohsiung Hsien, Peinantashan trail, 2500 m, 3.V.1995, A. Smetana [ T171 ] / Holotypus ♂ Lobrathium cornutissimum sp. n., det. V. Assing 2010" (cAss) . Paratypes: 1 ♀: same data as holotype (cSme) ; 1 ♀: " Taiwan, Kaohsiung Hsien, Peinantashan trail, 2450 m, 2.V.1995, A. Smetana [ T170 ]" (cSme); 4 ♀ ♀: " Taiwan, Kaohsiung Hsien, Peinantashan trail, 2390-2490 m, 5.VII.1993, A. Smetana [ T138 ]" (cSme, cAss); 1 ♀: " Taiwan, Kaohsiung Hsien, Peinantashan trail, 2500 m, 4.VII.93, A. Smetana [ T136 ]" (cSme) .

Description:

Body length 8.0- 9.5 mm. External characters as in L. furcillatum ( Figs 187-188 ), but submarginal line of elytra even shorter (obsolete in anterior 1/3 of elytra). Reliably distinguished only by the sexual characters:

♂: posterior margin of tergite VIII convex; sternite VII without median impression, posterior margin distinctly concave and with row of long black submarginal setae; sternite VIII with narrow impression along middle, this impression furnished with approximately 40 peg-setae, posterior excision moderately deep and broadly U-shaped ( Fig. 189 ); aedeagus as in Figs 190-191 , apical lobes very long and slender.

♀: posterior margin of tergite VIII very indistinctly angled in the middle ( Fig. 192 ); sternite VIII longer than tergite VIII, posterior margin of similar shape as in L. furcillatum , but slightly more concave in the middle ( Fig. 193 ); segments of similar morphology as in L. furcillatum , tergite X broadly truncate basally and reaching anterior margin of tergite IX ( Fig. 194 ).

Comparative notes:

For characters separating this species from the highly similar L. furcillatum see the description above. From other preceding species of the L. stimulans group it is distinguished by the same characters as L. furcillatum (see the comparative notes in the preceding section).

Etymology:

The specific epithet is the superlative of the Latin adjective cornutum (with horns) and refers to the conspicuously long apical lobes of the aedeagus.

Distribution and natural history:

The species was found in several localities in the Peinantashan, Kaohsiung Hsien, southern Taiwan, at altitudes of 2390-2500 m. The specimens were sifted from wet leaf litter, moss, and other debris in a mature mixed forest and beneath bushes at the margin of an abandoned forest road.

Figures

Figs 187-192: Lobrathium cornutissimum sp. n.: habitus (187); forebody (188); male sternite VIII (189); aedeagus in lateral and in ventral view (190-191); female tergite VIII (192). Scale bars: 187-188: 1.0 mm; 189-192: 0.5 mm.

Figs 193-202: Lobrathium cornutissimum sp. n. (193-194) and L. bisagittatum sp. n. (195-202): female sternite VIII (193); female tergites IX-X (194); habitus (195); forebody (196); male abdominal segments VII-VIII in dorsal view (198); male sternite VIII (199); aedeagus in lateral and in ventral view (200-202). Scale bars: 195-197: 1.0 mm; 193-194, 198-202: 0.5 mm.