Cephennodes taurus

Jałoszyński, Paweł, 2015, The Cephenniini of China. VII. New species and new records of Cephennodes Reitter of Shaanxi, Gansu and Sichuan (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Scydmaeninae), Zootaxa 4033 (3), pp. 393-410 : 398

Cephennodes taurus species group

A species group characterized by a pair of long and thick bristles, usually with thickened apices, located on the vertex and directed anteriorly or anterodorsally. The frontoclypeal area is modified in most species (with one exception), and the aedeagus represents the simonis form, with the subapical area of the dorsal wall bearing numerous tiny setae. Seven species were placed in this group, all known only from China: C. taurus Jałoszyński, 2007a , C. tauroides Jałoszyński, 2007b , C. qiongdaoanus Jałoszyński, 2012a , C. capra Jałoszyński, 2012b , C. clypeicornis Jałoszyński, 2012b , C. capricornis Jałoszyński, 2012b and C. bicavatus Jałoszyński, 2015 . Another Chinese species is described below.

Species of the taurus group have extremely similar aedeagi, whereas modifications of the head in males are clearly different in most species. To identify a species, external characters, measurements (especially the body length and pronotal and elytral indices) as well as fine details of the aedeagus (studied in ventral and lateral views) must be carefully compared with data and illustrations given in original descriptions.