On the Lathrobium fauna of China I. The fauna of the Qinling Shan, the Daba Shan, and adjacent regions (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Paederinae)

Types and additional material of the paederine genus Lathrobium Gravenhorst, 1802 from the Qinling Shan, the Daba Shan, and adjacent mountain ranges in Central China (Gansu, Shaanxi, northern Sichuan, western Hubei) are revised. In all, 34 species are recognized, 29 of which are described and illustrated for the first time: L. aquilinum sp. n. (Shaanxi: Daba Shan); L. biapicale sp. n. (Sichuan: Songpan env.); L. bifidum sp n. (Hubei: Daba Shan); L. biforme sp. n. (Gansu: Qinling Shan); L. brevilobatum sp. n. (Shaanxi: Qinling Shan); L. brevisternale sp. n. (Sichuan: Min Shan); L. brevitergale sp. n. (Shaanxi: Qinling Shan); L. concameratum sp. n. (Shaanxi: Qinling Shan); L. crassispinosum sp. n. (Shaanxi/Sichuan: Micang Shan); L. curvispinosum sp. n. (Hubei: Daba Shan); L. declive sp. n. (Shaanxi: Qinling Shan); L. detruncatum sp. n. (Sichuan: Songpan env.); L. effeminatum sp. n. (Shaanxi: Qinling Shan); L. falcatum sp. n. (Gansu: Qinling Shan); L. fissispinosum sp. n. (Hubei: Daba Shan); L. gansuense sp. n. (Gansu: Qinling Shan); L. huaense sp. n. (Shaanxi: Qinling Shan); L. inflexum sp. n. (Gansu: mountains SE Longnan); L. lentum sp. n. (Sichuan: Songpan env.); L. longispinosum sp. n. (Shaanxi/Sichuan: Micang Shan); L. lunatum sp. n. (Gansu: Qinling Shan); L. minicum sp. n. (Gansu: Min Shan); L. rectispinosum sp. n. (Shaanxi: Daba Shan); L. serrilobatum sp. n. (Shaanxi/Sichuan: Micang Shan); L. sociabile sp. n. (Shaanxi: Qinling Shan); L. spinigerum sp. n. (Shaanxi: Micang Shan); L. tectiforme sp. n. (Shaanxi: Qinling Shan); L. trifidum sp. n. (Shaanxi/Chongqing: Daba Shan); L. varisternale sp. n. (Shaanxi: Qinling Shan). A lectotype is designated for Lathrobium chinense Bernhauer, 1938. Aside from one widespread macropterous species and one wing-dimorphic species distributed from Gansu to Jiangsu, all the species of the study region are locally endemic and micropterous. The distributions are mapped. The endemic micropterous and wing-dimorphic species are attributed to seven species groups. Several species are subject to more or less pronounced sexual size dimorphisms (males larger than females). The locally endemic species were collected primarily by sifting leaf litter, moss, and grass roots in forest and shrub habitats at altitudes of 1000–4080 m. The material of most species is represented partly by teneral adults found in July and August, suggesting pre-imaginal development in spring and early summer. A key to the species of the study region and a checklist of the Lathrobium species recorded from China and Taiwan are provided. Five species previously reported from China are excluded from the Chinese Lathrobium fauna; these records are most likely based on misidentifications. One widespread East Palaearctic species is recorded from China for the first time. The genus is now represented in mainland China by 89 and in Taiwan by 13 species.