Cephennium dilatatum, Assing, 2021

Assing, Volker, 2021, On the Cephennium fauna of Greece (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Scydmaeninae), Linzer biologische Beiträge 52 (2), pp. 869-889 : 873

Cephennium dilatatum nov.sp. ( Figs 1 , 17-18 )

Type material: Holotype ♂: " Greece, W Kavala, Oros Pangéo , 1410 m, Buchenwald, Hang mit Schneerest, Gesiebe, 40°54'22''N, 24°07'14''E, 5.V.2019, M. Schülke [GR2019-3a] / Holotypus ♂ Cephennium dilatatum sp. n. det. V. Assing 2020" ( MNB) . Paratypes: 1♂: same data as holotype (cAss) ; 1♀: " GREECE, W Kavala, Oros Pangéo , 1080 m, Farnwurzeln und Streu gesiebt, 40°55'14''N, 24°10'17''E, 2.V.2019, leg. M. Schülke [GR2019-4]" ( MNB) .

Etymology: The specific epithet is the past participle of the Latin verb dilatare (to widen). It alludes to the subapically dilated median lobe of the aedeagus (ventral view).

Description: Body length 1.3-1.4 mm; antenna 0.7 mm long. Habitus ( Fig. 1 ) robust (body rather broad and strongly convex in cross-section). Body reddish-brown to dark-brown with the elytra at least slightly darker than head and pronotum.

Eyes composed of approximately ten ommatidia with pigmentation. Antenna with antennomeres V and VII longer and more oblong than antennomeres VI and VIII; antennomeres X approximately 1.5 times as broad as long and XI approximately twice as long as broad.

Pronotum approximately 1.2 times as broad as long, strongly convex in cross-section, posteriorly with weakly keel-shaped median elevation; punctation very fine.

Elytra broader than pronotum, strongly convex in cross-section, anteriorly each with a transverse impression with tomentose whitish pubescence; punctation very fine.

♂: protibia apically strongly excavate and curved; metaventrite extensively and shallowly impressed; aedeagus ( Figs 17-18 ) 0.38-0.40 mm long; median lobe subapically dilated and apically with a short median projection in ventral view; internal structures distinctive; parameres curved and slender, nearly reaching apex of median lobe, with moderately long apical seta.

Comparative notes: Based on external (robust habitus; body strongly convex in cross-section) and the male primary and secondary sexual characters (protibia apically curved and excavate; median lobe of aedeagus long and slender, apically with a median process in ventral view; parameres curved and with relatively long apical seta), C. dilatatum belongs to the C. perispinctum group (see ASSING & MEYBOHM in press). It is reliably distinguished from other species of this group only by the shape and internal structures of the aedeagus.

Distribution and natural history: The type specimens were found in two localities in Oros Pangéo (Northeast Greece), a mountain remarkably rich in endemic species. They were sifted from leaf litter and fern roots in beech forests at altitudes of 1080 and 1410 m.

Figures

Figs 1-5: Male habitus of Cephennium dilatatum (1), C. olympicum (2), C. pellucidum (3), C. brachati (4), and C. aciferum (5). Scale bar: 1.0 mm.

Figs 11-19: Cephennium lesinae (11-12), C. granulum (13-14), C. puncticolle (15-16), C. dilatatum (17-18), and C. olympicum (19): (11, 13, 15, 17-19) aedeagus in dorsal, lateral, and in ventral view; (12, 14, 16) internal structures of aedeagus. Scale bars: 11, 13, 15, 17-19: 0.1 mm; 14, 16: 0.05 mm; 12: 0.02 mm. Figs 11-16 based on C. Besuchet (unpubl.).