Orphnebius (Deroleptus) carinatus spec. nov.

(Figs 64, 102, 117, 351–353)

Type material: Holotype ♀: “ Laos-N (Louangphrabang), 11–21.v.2002, 19°35'N 101°58'E, Tong Khan, ~ 750 m, Vit Kubán leg. / Holotypus ♀ Orphnebius carinatus sp. n., det. V. Assing 2015” (NHMB).

Etymology: The specific epithet (Latin, adjective: keeled) alludes to the short carina near the suture of each elytron.

Description: Body length 4.2 mm; length of forebody 2.0 mm. Coloration: forebody black; abdomen dark-reddish; legs with the femora blackish-brown and the tibiae and tarsi dark-brown; antennae black, with antennomeres II and III dark-brown; maxillary palpi dark-brown with the apical palpomere yellowish.

Head (Fig. 102) distinctly transverse, 1.3 times and broad as long; posterior angles broadly convex, weakly marked; punctation in lateral portions sparse and fine; median dorsal portion extensively impunctate; interstices without microsculpture. Eyes large, approximately as long as the distance from posterior margin of eye to posterior constriction in dorsal view. Antenna (Fig. 64) 1.2 mm long and distinctly incrassate; antennomere IV moderately transverse; antennomeres V–X strongly transverse and of gradually increasing width; X twice as broad as long; XI approximately as long as the combined length of IX and X.

Pronotum (Fig. 102) 1.3 times as broad as long and nearly as broad as head, strongly convex in cross-section; lateral margins weakly convex in dorsal view; posterior angles very weakly marked, nearly obsolete; midline broadly impunctate, lateral portions of disc with extremely fine, barely visible and sparse punctation; pubescence short, fine, and pale.

Elytra (Fig. 102) slightly longer and much broader than pronotum; in anterior portion with a pair of distinct sutural carinae; punctation fine and moderately sparse; pubescence longer than that of pronotum. Hind wings present. Legs of moderate length and moderately slender; metatibia 0.9 mm long; metatarsus 0.9 times as long as metatibia; metatarsomere I slightly longer than the combined length of II and III.

Abdomen (Fig. 117): sternite III with very short, sternite IV with slightly longer, broad and apically acute postero-lateral processes; sternite III with a lateral setiferous puncture on either side; sternites IV–VI with two lateral setiferous punctures on either side; tergite VII with dense non-setiferous punctation and with a transverse row of oblong setiferous tubercles near posterior margin, posterior margin with palisade fringe; tergite VIII (Fig. 351) strongly transverse, posterior margin strongly and broadly concave, laterally with a series of 5–7 sharp teeth on either side.

♂: unknown.

♀: sternite VIII (Fig. 352) strongly transverse, posterior margin truncate in the middle; spermatheca (Fig. 353) 0.35 mm long and of distinctive shape.

Comparative notes and comment: Orphnebius carinatus is characterized by the presence of sutural carinae on the elytra, the transverse head, the antennal morphology, the shape of tergite VIII, and the shape of the spermatheca. It differs from O. tuberipennis (South India), with which it shares the presence of sutural carinae and a similar shape of the abdominal tergite VIII, by distinctly darker coloration, much smaller eyes, much more transverse antennomeres IV–X, much more sparsely and finely punctate elytra, and the absence of a pronounced pair of setiferous tubercles on tergite VII.

Distribution and natural history: The type locality is identical to that of O. retunsus and several other newly described species.