Cephennula titiwangsana, Jałoszyński, Paweł, 2011

Jałoszyński, Paweł, 2011, Ten new species of Cephennula Jałoszyński (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Scydmaeninae) from Malaysia, Zootaxa 3113, pp. 36-52 : 44-48

Cephennula titiwangsana sp. n.

( Figs. 8 , 23, 24)

Holotype: W MALAYSIA: 3, two labels: "W. Malaysia: Pahang \ Genting Highlands # 28 \ Awana, 950m, 4.IV.93 \ Löbl & Calame" [white, printed]; " CEPHENNULA \ titiwangsana m. \ det. P. Jałoszyński, 2011 \ HOLOTYPUS " [red, printed] ( MHNG). Paratype: 3, same data as holotype ( MHNG).

Diagnosis. Body nearly reaching 1 mm in length; antennal club nearly cylindrical and loosely assembled; head unevenly covered with moderately large and deep punctures, those on vertex and sides of frons separated by spaces 0.5– 2 x as wide as puncture diameter; frons with median impunctate area; median part of pronotum with punctures about as fine and sparse as those on elytra; sublateral pronotal carinae weakly marked and developed only in posterior half; subhumeral carinae slightly shorter than 1/ 4x EL and slightly shorter than humeral carinae; aedeagus in ventral view bottle-shaped with apical margin rounded; endophallus with median and apical group of lightly pigmented elongate sclerites.

Description. Body of male ( Fig. 8 ) strongly convex, elongate, with shallow but distinct constriction between pronotum and elytra, moderately glossy, moderately dark brown, covered with yellowish vestiture, legs and antennae slightly lighter. BL 0.91–0.94 mm.

Head broadest at large, coarsely faceted and strongly convex eyes, HL 0.13 mm, HW 0.24 mm; vertex and frontoclypeal area convex; supraantennal tubercles barely marked. Punctures on dorsum of head unevenly distributed, those on vertex and sides of frons and clypeus moderately large, deep and separated by spaces 0.5– 2 x as wide as puncture diameter, median area on frons and clypeus nearly impunctate; setae short and sparse, suberect. Antennae with distinct, loosely assembled and only minimally flattened 3-segmented club, AnL 0.43 mm; antennomere I about 1.5x as long as broad; II twice as long as broad; III as long as broad; IV 1.1x as long as broad; V–VI each 1.2x as long as broad; VII distinctly longer and broader than VI, 1.5x as long as broad; VIII slightly shorter and narrower than VII, 1.2x as long as broad; IX clearly longer and broader than VIII, 1.1x as long as broad; X much broader and longer than IX, slightly transverse; XI nearly as broad as X and 1.6x as long as broad.

FIGURES 13–24. Aedeagus in ventral (13, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23) and lateral (14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24) views. 13, 14― Cephennula densepunctata sp. n.; 15, 16― Cephennula gemina sp. n.; 17, 18― Cephennula minutissima sp. n.; 19, 20― Cephennula penrissenana sp. n.; 21, 22― Cephennula poringana sp. n.; 23, 24― Cephennula titiwangsana sp. n. Scale bars: 0.05 mm.

Pronotum nearly rectangular, broadest near anterior 1/3; PL 0.26 mm, PW 0.39–0.40 mm, anterior margin weakly rounded; lateral margins distinctly microserrate, strongly rounded only in anterior 1/3, then very weakly concave or nearly straight and slightly convergent towards nearly right and acute hind angles; posterior margin very weakly bisinuate; sublateral carinae very fine, developed only in posterior half. Transverse ante-basal groove moderately deep, sharply marked and slightly biarcuate; sublateral ante-basal foveae small but deep and nearly fused with similarly deep but slightly larger lateral foveae. Punctures on entire pronotum, including area between sublateral carinae and lateral margins, much finer than those on sides of frons, relatively sharply marked and sparse; setae sparse, moderately long, suberect.

Elytra strongly convex, oval, broadest near anterior 1/3; EL 0.53–0.55 mm, EW 0.48 mm, EI 1.11–1.16; base of each elytron with rudimentary basal fovea located slightly closer to scutellum than to base of humeral carina; subhumeral carinae distinct, slightly shorter than 1/ 4x EL; humeral carina distinct and slightly longer than subhumeral carina but also shorter than 1/ 4x EL. Punctures on elytra about as fine as those on median part of pronotum, small and shallow but distinct and with slightly raised margins, separated by spaces 1.5– 2 x as wide as puncture diameter; setae similar as those on pronotum.

Legs moderately long and slender; pro- and mesotibiae nearly straight, metatibiae slightly recurved.

Aedeagus (Figs. 23, 24) in ventral view bottle-shaped with broad, subtrapezoidal and rounded apex; AeL 0.16 mm. Endophallus moderately darkly sclerotized, with one pair of broad and dark and three pairs of slender and light, indistinct elongate sclerites directed towards apex of aedeagus, additionally apical part of endophallus with two bunches of lightly pigmented elongate sclerites; parameres relatively broad, not exceeding apex of median lobe, each bearing one apical and one subapical seta.

Female. Unknown.

Distribution. West Malaysia (Pahang).

Etymology. Locotypical, after the Titiwangsa Mountains, where the Genting Highlands are located.

Remarks. The aedeagus of this species shows characters intermediary between those of the minuta and multicarinata species groups. The general shape of the aedeagus is more similar to that found in the multicarinata group, while the presence of the median complex of elongate sclerites is characteristic of the minuta group. In C. titiwangsana the sclerites are lightly pigmented, mostly indistinct, except for one median pair. However, these two sclerites are different in shape from structures typical for the minuta group and form the median complex together with slender, needle-like and lightly pigmented structures. Additionally, the endophallus has the apical complex composed of two densely assembled bunches of elongate sclerites. These structures are not known in any species of the minuta group. Cephennula titiwangsana is also unusual by having nearly cylindrical, loosely assembled antennal club, while in majority of species the club is strongly flattened and more (usually strongly) compact. Only C. porcata from Thailand has a similar antennal club; this species also has the endophallus with apical sclerites, but without any median complex.

Figures

FIGURES 8 – 12. Habitus of males. 8 ― Cephennula titiwangsana sp. n.; 9 ― Cephennula medioglabra sp. n.; 10 ― Cephennula sibugana sp. n.; 11 ― Cephennula gombakiana sp. n.; 12 ― Cephennula micropunctata sp. n. Scale bars: 0.2 mm.