Cephennomicrus minor (Scott)

Jałoszyński, Paweł, 2019, Review of Cephennomicrus and Pomphopsilla of the Seychelles (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Scydmaeninae), Zootaxa 4568 (2), pp. 357-371 : 361-362

Cephennomicrus minor (Scott)

( Figs 3 , 10 , 18–19, 30–31, 40)

Neseuthia minor Scott, 1922: 203 , pl. 19, fig. 4, 4a.

Cephennomicrus minor (Scott) ; Jałoszyński, 2008: 33.

Type material. Lectotype (here designated; labels in Fig. 40 ): ♂, mounted on modern cardboard, but with original thick cardboard placed on the same pin, bearing two male symbols and numbers 120 and 150 or 158, the latter crossed out in black ink, with eight labels: "Percy Sladen / Trust Exped. / Brit.Mus. / 1926-246" [white, printed], "Mahe, '08-9 / Seychelles Exp." [white, printed], " Neseuthia minor / H.Scott / Paratype " [white, printed], " minor Scott / Cl. Besuchet / dét. X 1957 " [white, printed and handwritten], "Figured specimen / on right hand side" [red, printed and handwritten], " Paratype " [white circle with yellow margin, printed], " NESEUTHIA / minor / Scott, 1922 / LECTOTYPE / P. JAŁOSZYŃSKI, 2019" [white, printed], and " CEPHENNOMICRUS / minor / (Scott, 2019) / det. P. JAŁOSZYŃSKI, 2019" [white, printed] ( NHM) . Paralectotypes: 1 ♂, 1 ♀ mounted on one thick cardboard with number 45 written in black ink, same data as for lectotype, except for original identification label annotated as " TYPE / ♂, ♀ " on a blue piece of paper glued onto white label, white " PARALECTOTYPUS " label, and white circle with red margins with printed "Type" ( NHM) .

Revised diagnosis. BL ~ 0.85 mm; frontal impression in male subrectangular, conspicuously large, sides and posterior margin of impression weakly elevated, forming rounded ridges, vertex with a pair of large impressions; aedeagus with moderately slender ventral apical plate and pointed apex, flagellum in ventral view with one small submedian loop.

Redescription. Body of male ( Fig. 3 ) moderately stout, strongly convex, umber brown; setae on head, pronotum and elytra very short but well-visible. BL 0.8 3– 0.85 mm.

Head ( Fig. 10 ) broadest at large, strongly convex and coarsely faceted eyes, HL 0.10 mm, HW 0.23 mm; frons with large, subquadrate frontal impression with broadly rounded posterior margin, posterior margin and sides of impression distinctly, but not strongly elevated to form rounded ridges; frons with a pair of tiny tubercles, each with a porous field; vertex with a pair of large, shallow and diffuse impressions (in Fig. 10 hidden under the anterior margin of pronotum; impressions are similar to those in Fig. 12 ), supraantennal tubercles weakly elevated. Punctures on frontal impression distinct and dense, on sides of frons and vertex and on posterior portion of vertex indistinct, moderately dense, very small; setae on frontal impression moderately dense, short and suberect, setae on sides of frons and vertex and along posterior margin of vertex sparse, short and recumbent, impressions on vertex and ridges of frontal impression asetose. Antennae slender, with indistinctly delimited trimerous club, AnL 0.40 mm, antennomeres I–II strongly elongate, III–X each about as long as broad, XI about as long as IX–X combined, about 1.6 × as long as broad.

Pronotum subtrapezoidal, broadest near anterior fourth; PL 0.25 mm, PW 0.30–0.31 mm; anterior and posterior margins weakly convex, sides rounded in anterior third and barely noticeably sinuate in posterior third; anterior corners broadly rounded, posterior corners strongly obtuse-angled and blunt; base with two lateral pairs of small but distinct pits, inner pair connected by a shallow transverse groove, additionally with a very small, barely noticeable median pit; lateral pronotal carinae not serrate. Punctures on pronotal disc dense but superficial and diffuse; setae short, moderately dense, recumbent.

Elytra oval, broadest near anterior third; EL 0.48–0.50 mm, EW 0.38–0.40 mm, EI 1.19–1.33; humeral calli distinct; triangular adscutellar area abruptly elevated. Punctures on elytra similar to those on pronotum but deeper and elytral surface appears finely shagreened; setae short, moderately dense, recumbent.

Legs moderately long and slender, unmodified.

Aedeagus (Figs 18–19) stout; AeL 0.14 mm; median lobe in ventral view with subtriangular, relatively elongate apical plate; flagellum (Figs 30–31) in ventral view with small distal loop; each paramere with thick apical and thin subapical seta.

Female. Externally similar to male but with unmodified head; frons and vertex weakly, evenly convex. BL 0.85 mm; HL 0.10 mm, HW 0.23 mm, AnL 0.38 mm; PL 0.25 mm, PW 0.31 mm; EL 0.50 mm, EW 0.39 mm, EI 1.29.

Distribution. Seychelles, Mahé Island.

Remarks. Scott (1922) mentioned 14 ♂♂ and 14 ♀♀; only three specimens were available for my study. The lectotype designated here was remounted on a modern card, presumably by Claude Besuchet, but the original thick mounting cardboard is placed under the specimen on the same pin. This cardboard bears two male symbols and two specimens must have been originally mounted.

Males of this species can be identified solely by the large, subquadrate frontal impression delimited laterally and posteriorly by rounded ridges.

Figures

FIGURES 1–7. Habitus of Cephennomicrus cordithorax (1), C. cornutus (2), C. minor (3), C. perexiguus (4), C. politus (5), C. typicus (6), and Pomphopsilla crenata (7).

FIGURES 8–13. Head of males in dorsal (8‾12) and anterodorsal (13) views. Cephennomicrus cordithorax (8), C. cornutus (9), C. minor (10), C. politus (11), and C. typicus (12‾13).

FIGURES 38–44. Historical (Scott's and Besuchet's) set of labels of holotypes (38, 39, 42) and lectotypes (40, 41, 43, 44). Neseuthia cordithorax (38), N. cornuta (39), N. minor (40), N. perexigua (41), N. polita (42), N. typica (43), and N. crenata (44).