Cephennium tensum, Assing, 2021

Assing, Volker, 2021, On the Cephennium fauna of the Iberian Peninsula and the Atlantic Islands (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Scydmaeninae), Linzer biologische Beiträge 52 (2), pp. 891-931 : 920-921

Cephennium tensum nov.sp. ( Figs 10 , 50 , Map 1 )

Type material: Holotype ♂: "E – Alicante [08], 380 m, Sierra de Aitana , Sella stream valley , floated, 38°36'37N, 00°15'25W, 28.III.2007, C. Andújar / Holotypus ♂ Cephennium tensum sp. n. det. V. Assing 2020" ( cAss) . Paratypes: 2♀♀: same data as holotype (cAss) ; 1♂ [strongly damaged, but aedeagus intact], 1♀: "E – Alicante, S. d'Aitana, Fuente de Alcantara 380 m, 38°36'37N, 00°15'25W, leg. Andujar 28.3.2007 " (cAss) .

Etymology: The specific epithet is the past participle of the Latin verb tendere (to stretch) and alludes to the conspicuously long aedeagus.

Description: Body length 1.0- 1.1 mm. Habitus ( Fig. 10 ) slender, body rather weakly convex in cross-section. Colouration yellowish-red.

Eyes rudimentary, transparent, without defined ommatidia. Antenna with antennomeres VI and VIII small and strongly transverse, IX and X nearly twice as broad as long, and XI barely 1.5 times as long as broad.

Pronotum approximately 1.15 times as broad as long and weakly convex in crosssection; punctation dense and extremely fine, barely noticeable; interstices without microsculpture.

Elytra slender and weakly convex in cross-section, broader than pronotum, anteriorly each with a rather large, subcircular, tomentose impression; humeral carina moderately distinct, approximately as long as the combined length of the basal four antennomeres; punctation extremely fine, barely noticeable; interstices without microsculpture.

♂: protibia weakly curved apically, not distinctly excavate or flattened on inner face; meso- and metatibiae weakly flattened on inner face of apical portion; aedeagus ( Fig. 50 ) of conspicuous shape, very long in relation to body size, approximately 0.5 mm long; ventral process narrow from base to apex and with nearly parallel lateral margins, apically weakly concave; internal structures indistinct; parameres long, slender, straight, and with conspicuously long apical seta.

Comparative notes: Cephennium tensum is readily distinguished from other anophthalmous congeners by the highly distinctive shape of the aedeagus.

Distribution and natural history: Thetypelocalityissituated in Sierra de Aitana, Alicante, Southeast Spain ( Map 1 ). The specimens were collected by washing sandy soil from a slope with vegetation of grasses and herbs in a stream valley at an altitude of 380 m.

Figures

Map 1: Distributions of Cephennium spp. in the Iberian Peninsula: C. constrictum (black triangle); C. validum (black circles: examined material; white circles: based on Besuchet unpubl.)); C. conlectior (white triangle); C. algarvense (black diamonds); C. espunae (white star); C. tenuissimum (white star); C. tensum (black star).

Figs 7-11: Male habitus of Cephennium asturicum (7), C. filabresicum (8), C. espunae (9), C. tensum (10), and C. tenuissimum (11). Scale bar: 1.0 mm.

Figs 46-58: Cephennium catalonicum (46-47), C. filabresicum (48), C. espunae (49), C. tensum (50), C. andujari (51), C. tenuissimum (52-53), C. tensum (54-56; 56: C. p. algeciranum), and C. ibericum (57-58): (46, 48-54, 57) aedeagus in lateral and in dorsal view; (47, 55-56, 58) internal structures of aedeagus. Scale bar: 0.1 mm; 47, 55-56, 58: without scale. 46-47, 54-58: based on Besuchet (unpubl.).