Pseudobium hunanicum, Assing, 2012

Assing, V., 2012, On the Pseudobium species of the Palaearctic region. III. A new species from China, a new synonymy, a new combination, and additional records (Insecta Coleoptera Staphylinidae Paederinae), Linzer biologische Beiträge 44 (1), pp. 409-419 : 416

Pseudobium hunanicum nov.sp. ( Figs 8 - 9 , 12 )

T y p e m a t e r i a l: Holotype: " China: P. M. Hammond. B.M. 1967-215. / Hunan, Shaoshan, 18-10-66 / Holotypus Pseudobium hunanicum sp.n. det. V. Assing 2012" ( BMNH).

E t y m o l o g y: The specific epithet is an adjective derived from the name of the province where the type locality is situated.

D e s c r i p t i o n: Body length 4.7 mm; length of forebody 2.9 mm. Coloration (note that the holotype is slightly teneral): head and pronotum reddish; elytra yellowish; abdomen blackish with yellowish apex (posterior margin of segment VII; segments VIII-X); legs yellowish; antennae reddish.

Head ( Fig. 9 ) relatively weakly oblong, 1.15 times as long as broad; lateral margins subparallel; posterior angles not marked, broadly convex in dorsal view; punctation coarse and rather dense; interstices without microsculpture, narrower than diameter of punctures, except for median dorsal portion. Eyes large and convex, slightly less than half as long as distance from posterior margin of eye to neck in dorsal view. Antenna slender, approximately 1.8 mm long; antennomeres V-X twice as long as broad, or nearly so.

Pronotum ( Fig. 9 ) 1.5 times as long as broad and 0.85 times as wide as head, relatively weakly convex in cross-section, in median portion almost flattened; lateral margins almost straight and indistinctly converging posteriad in dorsal view; on either side of the broadly impunctate midline densely punctate, without defined dorsal series.

Elytra ( Fig. 9 ) 1.1 times as long as, and distinctly broader than pronotum, humeral angles marked; macropunctation arranged in somewhat irregular series only in anterior two thirds; microsculpture absent. Hind wings fully developed.

Abdomen distinctly narrower than elytra, widest at segment VII; punctation moderately fine and moderately dense; interstices without distinct microsculpture, glossy; posterior margin of tergite VII with palisade fringe.

: sternite VII unmodified; sternite VIII with broadly V-shaped posterior excision of moderate depth, otherwise unmodified ( Fig. 12 ); aedeagus 0.55 mm long, laterally somewhat compressed, and with strongly curved dorsal plate ( Fig. 8 ).

C o m p a r a t i v e n o t e s: Pseudobium hunanicum is distinguished from the similarly coloured P. assimile by somewhat larger size, darker abdomen, longer and more slender antennae, less pronounced posterior angles of the head, and by the much denser punctation of the pronotum. It is separated from all its congeners by the shape of the aedeagus.

D i s t r i b u t i o n: The type locality is situated in Hunan province ( Map 1 ). Pseudobium hunanicum is the first representative of the genus to become known from China.

Figures

Map 1: Distributions of Pseudobium seminigrum (KRAATZ) (open triangles), P. laeviventre CHAMPION (filled circles: revised records; open circles: literature records), and P. hunanicum nov.sp. (filled square).

Figs 1-9: Pseudobium seminigrum (KRAATZ) (1-6; 1-4: lectotype; 5-6: male from Uttaranchal), P. laeviventre CHAMPION (7), and P. hunanicum nov.sp. (8-9): (1) habitus; (2, 9) forebody; (3, 5, 7, 8) aedeagus in lateral view; (4, 6) aedeagus in lateral view. Scale bars: 1-2, 9: 1.0 mm; 3-8: 0.2 mm.

Figs 10-12: Pseudobium seminigrum (KRAATZ), lectotype (10), P. laeviventre CHAMPION (11), and P. hunanicum nov.sp. (12): male sternite VIII. Scale bars: 0.2 mm.