A new species and additional records of Lobrathium Mulsant & Rey (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Paederinae) from South China

Abstract Material of the genus Lobrathium Mulsant & Rey, 1878 from the Chinese provinces Fujian, Hunan, Sichuan, Guangdong and Guangxi is examined. Six species are identified, four of them described previously and two undescribed. Lobrathium kedian Peng & Li, sp. n. (Guangxi: Shiwangda Shan) is described and illustrated. One probably undescribed species remains unnamed. The female sexual characters of Lobrathium flexum Assing, 2014 are described and illustrated for the first time. The genus is now represented in mainland China by 43 species.


Material and methods
The following abbreviations are used in the text, with all measurements in millimeters: Body length (BL) from the anterior margin of the labrum to the abdominal apex; forebody length (FL) from the anterior margin of the labrum to the posterior margin of the elytra; head length (HL) from the anterior clypeal margin to the occipital constriction; head width (HW): maximum width of head; length of antenna (AnL); length of pronotum (PL) along midline; maximum width of pronotum (PW); elytral length (EL) at the suture from the apex of the scutellum to the posterior margin of the elytra (at the sutural angles); maximum width of the elytra (EW); length of aedeagus (AL) from the apex of the dorsal plate to the base of the aedeagal capsule.
Pronotum distinctly longer than wide, with impunctate midline; punctation coarse and dense, but distinctly sparser than that of head; interstices glossy.
Elytra distinctly broader than pronotum; punctation coarse, arranged in irregular series only laterally. Hind wings approximately 1.85-2.02 times as long as elytra.
Abdomen somewhat narrower than elytra; punctation fine and dense; posterior margin of tergite VII with palisade fringe.
Male. Sternite VII (Fig. 3D) strongly transverse and with shallow median impression posteriorly, without modified setae, posterior margin broadly concave; sternite VIII ( Fig. 3E) posteriorly with deep impression, this impression with a cluster of numerous short peg-setae, postero-laterally with a cluster of short black setae; posterior excision large, deep and U-shaped; aedeagus (Figs 3F, G) with apically bifid ventral process in ventral view and broad dorsal plate.
Distribution and natural history. The type locality is situated in Shiwangda Shan to the south of Shangsi, southern Guangxi. The specimens were sifted from leaf litter in broad-leaved forests at altitudes of 300-500 m (Fig. 7).
Etymology. The specific name is the Chinese noun "kedian" (punctation) in apposition. It refers to the punctation of the head of L. kedian, which is denser than that of other species known from Guangxi. Comparative notes. Lobrathium kedian shares a bifid ventral process with L. digitatum Assing, 2010 from Taiwan, but differs from it in many respects, particularly by larger body size, the shape and chaetotaxy of the male sternite VIII and by the shape of the aedeagus. For illustrations of L. digitatum see Assing (2010: figures 203-210).  Comment. This species is similar and probably closely related to L. daxuense Assing, 2012. The female represents an undescribed species distinguished from its congeners particularly by the light brown coloration, large body size (8.34 mm), much denser punctation of the head, a slender pronotum, and the female secondary sexual characters.