Dactylosternum songxiaobini Mai et Jia 2022, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Mai, Zuqi
name: Hu, Jian
name: Minoshima, Yûsuke N.
name: Jia, Fenglong
name: Fikáček, Martin
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Hydrophilidae
Dactylosternum
Dactylosternum songxiaobini

description: Dactylosternum songxiaobini Mai et Jia, sp. nov.
(Figs. 5, 14–16, 44, 48)
Type material examined. HOLOTYPE: female (SYSU), Guangxi, Jinxiu County, Yinshan Conservation Station, 24°10′01″N 110°14′38″E, lives with Hodotermopsis sjostedti in a fallen wood, 1200 m, 11.VII.2014, Zhong Peng & Xiaobin Song leg.
Diagnosis. Length 3.75 mm, widest in the middle. Body broadly oval, outline not parallel-sided (Fig. 5), strongly convex (Figs. 14–16). Antenna yellowish brown, club loosely segmented. Dorsal dark brown to black, Vertex, pronotum, scutellum and elytron with fine punctures, each puncture attached with a cambered microsculpture, forming flying-bird-like shape (Fig. 44). Elytron sutural stria reaching half of elytra, with 20 rows of serial punctures.
Description. Total length 3.75 mm; maximum width 2.27 mm; body broadly oval, strongly convex.
Coloration. Dorsal dark brown to black, with lateral margin of elytron reddish brown (Fig. 5). Maxillary palps and antenna yellowish brown. Ventral black, legs and mouthparts reddish brown, tarsomeres reddish yellow (Fig. 14).
Head. Clypeus weakly convex, surface with two sizes of punctures, each puncture with a cambered microsculpture at margin, the coarser punctures attached with fine short microsculpture, finer punctures with long deep microsculpture, forming flying-bird-like shape. Anterior margin of clypeus without marginal rim. Frons with punctures sparser than those on clypeus. Eyes of moderate size, minimum interocular distance in dorsal view, ca. 5.2× as wide as one eye, nearly semicircular in dorsal view, distinctly emarginate anteriorly in lateral view, smooth medially. Maxilla with basistipes bearing sparse long setae. Mentum transverse, ca. 1.7× as wide as long, bearing sparse setae, moderately concave anteromedially, lateral sides with series of fine setae. Submentum reddish brown, pubescent. Labial palps with three palpomeres, rather stout, palpomere 1 minute, palpomere 2 strongly widened distally, with dense brush of long yellow setae on its inner face and distal margin. Antennal scapus longest, rather thick, ca. 2.6× as long as pedicellus, antennomere 3 thin and a little shorter than pedicellus, ca. 2× as long as antennomere 4, antennomeres 4 and 5 slightly widening distally, club with few long setae, loosely segmented, ca. 4.5× as long as wide, antennomeres 7 and 8 almost equal in length, antennomere 9 symmetrical, ca. 2× as long as penultimate.
Prothorax. Pronotum transverse, strongly convex, widest basally, arcuately narrowed in front, anterolateral angles nearly indistinct, posterolateral angles obtusely rounded, surface with flying-bird-like shape microsculpture and punctures similar to those on vertex (Fig. 44). Prosternum moderately tectiform, without median carina.
Meso- and metathorax. Scutellum slightly longer than wide, in shape of equilateral triangle, with punctures similar to those on pronotum. Elytron strongly convex, sutural stria reaching half of elytra, each elytron with 10 longitudinal primary serial punctures, all nearly reaching elytral base, with 10 shorter and more or less irregular secondary serial punctures that with similar size as primary series, intervals between series with sporadic trichobothria and shallow fine punctures that similar to those on vertex (Fig. 48).
Legs. Reddish brown, rather short. Procoxae globular, pubescent; profemora bearing dense pubescence throughout; protarsomeres with dense pubescence ventrally.Ventral surface of mesofemora covered with pubescence on marginal portion. Metafemora without pubescence, with fine punctures and sparse microsculptures; meso- and metatarsomeres with dense pubescence ventrally, almost equal in length.
Abdomen. Pubescent, ventrite 1 with complete median carina, other ventrites uniformly convex, with complete marginal bead. Posterior margin of ventrite 5 rounded, with a stria in front of the marginal bead.
Etymology. This species is named after Mr. Song Xiao-bin, a specialist of staphylinid beetles of Shanghai Normal University, who collected and donated the specimen to us.
Biology. The single specimen collected from a decaying fallen wood living with termite Hodotermopsis sjostedti Holmgren, 1911.
Remark. The specimen of D. songxiaobini sp. nov. collected with termites may be the first known termitophilous Dactylosternum. No other known species of Dactylostetnum has elytra with 20 rows (10 primary and 10 secondary) of serial punctures. Hence, although we have only examined one female, we are still confident that it represents a new species.
Distribution. China (Guangxi).
description: Published as part of Mai, Zuqi, Hu, Jian, Minoshima, Yûsuke N., Jia, Fenglong & Fikáček, Martin, 2022, Review of Dactylosternum Wollaston, 1854 from China and Japan (Coleoptera, Hydrophilidae, Sphaeridiinae), pp. 269-300 in Zootaxa 5091 (2) on page 284, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5091.2.3, http://zenodo.org/record/5843837