Lycocerus vita sp. nov.

Figs. 10, 54–56.

Type locality. Northern Laos, Oudomxai province, 17 km NEE of Oudom Xai, 20°45ˏN 102°09ˏE, ca 1100 m a.s.l.

Type material. Holotype (NHMB), male, “Laos-N, (Oudomxai [province]), OUDOM XAI (17 km NEE), 20°45ˏN 102°09ˏE, ~ 1100 m, Vít Kubáň leg. [white label, printed] / Collection Naturhistorisches Museum Basel [white label, printed]”. Paratypes (NHMB, NMPC), same label data, 2 males.

Description. Coloration (Fig. 10). Head sepia, before eyes including mandibles and around antennal pits honey yellow, maxillary palpi and antennae sooty. Prothorax honey yellow with wide, mediolongitudinal sepia stripe, not reaching posterior margin of pronotum. Meso- and metasternum, scutellum, ventral part of abdomen and legs sepia, claws ferrugineous. Elytra honey yellow, sutural area in basal half more or less darkened to sienna, this darker coloration not sharply delimited.

Male. Eyes comparatively small, moderately protruding, head across eyes moderately wider than pronotum, behind eyes narrowing posteriorly, lateral sides nearly straight. Antennae reaching ca elytral apex, antennomeres moderately flattened, small, oval matt impressions on antennomeres 5–6 hardly visible. Surface of head very finely imbricate-punctate, with fine, long, sparse, yellow decumbent pubescence, semilustrous. Pronotum ca as long as wide, anterior margin moderately convex, anterior corners rounded, lateral margins diverging posteriorly, slightly sinuate in anterior portion, posterior corners obtuse, posterior margin slightly convex. Surface of pronotum sculptured and pubescent like that of head, semilustrous. Claws simple. Elytra moderately dilated posteriorly, elytral venation well developed, moderately costate. Surface of elytra rugulose-lacunose, with fine, brown decumbent pubescence, matt. Aedeagus as in Figs. 54–56.

Female unknown.

Length (male). 7.1–9.0 mm.

Differential diagnosis. In size and coloration Lycocerus vita sp. nov. resembles Lycocerus nepalensis (Wittmer, 1958) (Nepal) and Lycocerus mimeticus (Švihla, 2006) (Nepal), however it differs from both by its longer antennae, arcuate laterophyses in lateral view and different shape of dorsal part of the aedeagus (cf. Wittmer 1995 and Švihla 2006).

Etymology. Patronymic, named after Víťa, a diminutive of the first name of the collector, Vítĕzslav Kubáň (NMPC). To be treated as a noun in apposition.

Distribution. Northern Laos.