Cephennodes (Cephennodes) sulcatus, Jałoszyński, 2017

Jałoszyński, Paweł, 2017, Ant-like stone beetles on the roof of the world. Cephenniini of Nepal and Bhutan (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Scydmaeninae), Zootaxa 4349 (1), pp. 1-120 : 105-106

Cephennodes (Cephennodes) sulcatus sp. n.

( Figs 283 , 288–289 , 294 )

Type material. Holotype: NEPAL ( Parbat District ): ♂, two labels: "173a Parbat Dist. ,zwieschen / Chitre und Ghandrung , Chi- / tre-Seite, Abies-Rhododend / Berlese 2950–3050m MARTENS / & AUSOBSKY leg. 5 Mai 1980 " [white, printed], "NEPAL-Expeditionen / Jochen Martens" [white, printed] ( SMNS) . Paratypes (8 exx): 4 ♀♀, same data as for holotype ; 3 ♀♀, " Nepal 430 Parbat Distr. / betw. Deorali and Chitre / 2700 m, 1.2. V.1995 / MARTENS & SCHAWALLER" [white, printed] (paratypes in SMNS and cPJ).

Diagnosis. BL ~ 1.5 mm; body strongly elongate; each elytron with deep and narrow groove extending from basal fovea posteriorly and very weakly toward suture; apex of median lobe of aedeagus in ventral view slightly curved toward apical projection; apical projection widely separated from apical portion of median lobe, its distolateral margin straight.

Description. Body of male ( Fig. 283 ) dark brown, elongate, with shallow constriction between pronotum and elytra, strongly convex, covered with very thin, grayish setae; BL 1.51 mm.

Head subtrapezoidal, HL 0.21 mm, HW 0.35 mm; vertex and frons confluent, evenly convex, vertex with a pair of tiny tubercles; supraantennal tubercles barely marked; eyes small and weakly convex, coarsely faceted. Punctures on vertex and frons very small and shallow, slightly irregular in shape, densely and unevenly distributed, those on median portion of frons separated by spaces 0.5–1.5 × as wide as diameters of punctures; setae very short, sparse, recumbent to suberect. Antennae slender and unusually long, with relatively loosely assembled antennomeres, AnL 0.90 mm, pentamerous club moderately distinctly delimited and longer than half AnL; antennomere I 1.5 × as long as broad; II distinctly narrower and slightly shorter than I, 1.8 × as long as broad; III– IV equal in length and width, each slightly narrower and much shorter than II, 1.3 × as long as broad; V–VI equal in size, each as broad as IV but slightly longer, 1.6 × as long as broad; VII distinctly broader and longer than VI, 1.5 × as long as broad; VIII much broader but slightly shorter than VII, slightly broader than long; IX slightly larger than VIII, slightly broader than long; X yet larger, nearly as long as broad; XI much broader than X, as long as IX– X together, nearly twice as long as broad.

Pronotum in dorsal view subtrapezoidal, broadest slightly anterior to middle; PL 0.45 mm, PW 0.65 mm; anterior margin arcuate; lateral margins not serrate, strongly rounded in anterior half, nearly straight in posterior half, slightly convergent toward slightly obtuse-angled hind corners; posterior margin shallowly bisinuate; lateral carinae very narrow, fused with lateral margins; antebasal pits small but deep and sharply marked, each much closer to posterior than to lateral pronotal margin. Punctures very small, shallow, with moderately sharp margins, slightly unevenly and densely distributed, those on central area of disc separated by spaces subequal to diameters of punctures; setae very short, sparse, only slightly suberect.

Elytra elongate, oval, broadest between middle and anterior third, EL 0.85 mm, EW 0.73 mm, EI 1.17. Humeral calli barely marked; subhumeral lines equal to 0.26 EL, very narrow, each developed as a moderately sharply marked stepwise border between more convex humeral region and slightly less convex adsutural area; basal fovea on each elytron large and connected to nearly straight, deep and narrow groove extending posteriorly and only very weakly toward suture, demarcating elongate, subtrapezoidal, convex area around scutellum; apices of elytra rounded together. Punctures and setae similar to those on pronotum.

Hind wings absent.

Metaventrite lacking postmesocoxal impressions, covered with very fine punctures.

Abdomen and legs unmodified.

Aedeagus ( Figs 288–289 ) of simonis form, AeL 0.28 mm, median lobe with elongate and curved apical part; apical projection subtriangular, long and moderately broad, broadly separated from apex of median lobe; parameres slender, unequal in length, each with one apical and one subapical seta.

Female. Externally differs from male in distinctly shorter antennae and slightly stouter elytra; BL 1.53–1.56 mm (mean 1.54); HL 0.20–0.23 mm (mean 0.21 mm), HW 0.39–0.40 mm (mean 0.40 mm), AnL 0.73–0.78 mm (mean 0.77 mm); PL 0.46–0.48 mm (mean 0.47 mm), PW 0.70–0.75 mm (mean 0.72 mm); EL 0.83–0.88 mm (mean 0.85 mm), EW 0.78–0.80 mm (mean 0.79 mm), EI 1.03–1.13.

Distribution ( Fig. 294 ). Central Nepal.

Etymology. The name sulcatus refers to long, deep and relatively narrow impressions extending posteriorly from basal elytral foveae.

Remarks. The aedeagus of C. sulcatus is very similar to that of the mahisapala species group, but unmodified elytra exclude it from the latter.

Figures

FIGURES 282 – 285. Dorsal habitus of Cephennodes (s. str.) penicillipes sp. n. (282), C. (s. str.) sulcatus sp. n. (283), C. (s. str.) kalopanianus sp. n. (284), and C. (s. str.) poonensis sp. n. (285).

FIGURES 286 – 293. Aedeagus in ventral (286, 288, 290, 292) and lateral (287, 289, 291, 293) views. Cephennodes (s. str.) penicillipes sp. n. (286 – 287), C. (s. str.) sulcatus sp. n. (288 – 289), C. (s. str.) kalopanianus sp. n. (290 – 291), and C. (s. str.) poonensis sp. n. (292 – 293). Abbreviations: aml, apex of median lobe; ap, apical projection.

FIGURES 294 – 295. Distribution of Cephennodes (s. str.) penicillipes sp. n. (294, circle), C. (s. str.) sulcatus sp. n. (294, triangle), C. (s. str.) kalopanianus sp. n. (295, circle), and C. (s. str.) poonensis sp. n. (295, triangle).