Pseudocephennium maximum Jałoszyński

Jałoszyński, Paweł, 2016, A new species and new records of Pseudocephennium Reitter in Venezuela, with notes on movable endophallic structures (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Scydmaeninae), Zootaxa 4088 (4), pp. 563-570 : 564

Pseudocephennium maximum Jałoszyński

( Figs 1 , 3–6, 15–18, 22)

Pseudocephennium maximum Jałoszyński, 2012: 467 , figs 10E–G, 11J–K.

Material studied: VENEZUELA (Aragua State): 6 ♂♂, 2 ♀♀, Rancho Grande (i.e., Henri Pittier National Park), near Maracay, presumably spring 1982 (see Materials and methods), leg. H. Franz (NHMW, cPJ).

Remarks. This species has been known so far from a single holotype male collected in the same area (Jałoszyński 2012). The aedeagi of newly collected specimens show some degree of variability, restricted to apical structures. Closer examination revealed that the aedeagus of the holotype (Figs 5–6) was fully erected, with the median projection (mep) rotated dorsally until it touched the dorsal wall of median lobe, lateral apical projections (lap) slightly spread apart, and membranous projections (mmp) extended laterally and inflated. In repose (Figs 3– 4), the median projection (mep) is pointing dorsodistally, the apical portions of lateral projections (lap) overlap at middle, and the membranous projections (mmp) are parallel to the long axis of the aedeagus and touching mesally, forming loosely folded membranous sacks. In the erected condition the aedeagus looks so different that initially newly found specimens with the endophallus in repose were taken for a new species. However, during preparation it was found that the median projection was movable and could rotate dorsally, and analysis of all apical structures revealed that they were movable but in all studied specimens their shape was the same. The only exception are the membranous projections, which are irregular in shape and can be inflated to various extent; in the holotype (Figs 5–6) one projection is inflated to a greater extent than the other.

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 2. Dorsal habitus of Pseudocephennium maximum (1) and P. araguanum (2).