Scydmaenus ovatus Jałoszyński, Paweł, 2021

Jałoszyński, Paweł, 2021, New taxonomic and nomenclatural acts in Cephenniini (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae Scydmaeninae), Zootaxa 4996 (1), pp. 171-176 : 172

Cephennodes (incertae sedis) ovatus (Nietner) , comb. n.

( Fig 1 )

Scydmaenus ovatus Nietner, 1856: 553 .

Cephennium ovatum (Nietner) ; Schaufuss, 1884: 394 (in key).

Cephennium (Cephennium) ovatum (Nietner) ; Csiki, 1919: 12.

Cephennium breviusculum Motschulsky, 1858: 32 . Synonymized with C. ovatum in Csiki, 1919: 12.

Type material examined. Syntype of Cephennium breviusculum : Sri Lanka: ♀, four labels: “Typus” [red, printed], “ Cephennium / breviusculum / Motsch. / Mt. Nura El. Ceylon ” [yellowish, handwritten in black ink], small yellow circle, and small pink quadrate glued onto white modern mounting card. The specimen bears also Claude Besuchet’s label “ Cephennodes (s. str.) / breviusculus / Cl. Besuchet / dét. 1973” with “ Lectotypus ” on left margin ( ZMUM) .

Remarks. Depository of the type specimen(s) of Scydmaenus ovatus Nietner remains unknown; it was suggested that this material had been lost or destroyed ( Franz 1982). For this reason, it is not possible to verify if Csiki (1919) correctly established synonymy between C. ovatum and C. breviusculum . However, original descriptions of both species include the antebasal pronotal pits, which do not occur in Cephennium . This is stated explicitly in Nietner (1856): “the foveae or basal impressions are two, and rather distant from each other”; and in Motschulsky (1858) “thorace (...) utrinque foveolato”, i.e., the pronotum at both sides with foveae.

One specimen of Cephennium breviusculum was found in Motschulsky’s collection housed at ZMUC. The number of type specimens was not specified in the original description, and therefore this single specimen is a syntype. The label data agree with the locality given by Motschulsky as “Nura Ellia”, which may be Nuwara Ellia, a city in a mountainous region of the Central Province of Sri Lanka. The lectotype designation by Besuchet, suggested by the label, has never been published .

Unfortunately, the syntype is a rather unremarkable female ( Fig. 1 ) similar to many other Asian Cephennodes species , and it may be difficult to identify males, if they are ever found. This female undoubtedly belongs in Cephennodes ; it is small (1.16 mm of body length), has relatively elongate elytra (elytral index 1.17), and dense, sharply marked punctures on the pronotum separated by spaces subequal to their diameters. Punctures on the frons and vertex are also distinct and dense, but much smaller and shallower than those on the pronotum; punctures on elytra are dense and only slightly smaller than those on pronotum, but much shallower and with diffuse margins.

The subgenera of Cephennodes are defined solely by the structure of the male and female genitalia. Some external characters seem to correlate with the form of the aedeagus at least in Cephennodes s. str. and Cephennodes (Fusionodes) ; adults of the latter subgenus tend to be distinctly larger and more densely setose than those of the former. The small, densely punctate and relatively slender body of the syntype of Cephennodes breviusculus is typical of many species of the nominotypical subgenus. However, external characters are not sufficient and the placement of this species within Cephennodes remains unknown.

Figures

FIGURES 1–4. Syntype female of Cephennium breviusculum Motschulsky (1); aedeagus of Cephennodes zwaluwenburgi Zim- merman in ventral (2) and lateral (3) views; holotype female of Cephennium felicitas Scott (4).