Cephennium varispinosum, Assing & Meybohm, 2021

Assing, Volker & Meybohm, Heinrich, 2021, The Cephennium fauna of Turkey and the Middle East (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Scydmaeninae), Beiträge Zur Entomologie = Contributions to Entomology 71 (1), pp. 1-28 : 17-18

Cephennium varispinosum spec. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:04C4304D-F84A-400B-8710-15407DE9BCCD

( Figs 8–9 , 38–39 , Map 2 )

Type material examined: Holotype : “TR [11] – Ordu, 18 km NE Akkuş , 40°56'03"[N], 37°06'47"[E], 920 m, mixed deciduous forest, 15.VII.2008, V. Assing / Holotypus  Cephennium varispinosum sp. n., det. V. Assing 2020” (cAss) . Paratype : same data as holotype (cAss).

Etymology: The specific epithet is an adjective composed of the adjective varius (various) and spinosum (spinose). It alludes to the presence of spines of various sizes and shapes in the internal sac of the aedeagus.

Description: Body length 1.4–1.5 mm; length of pronotum 0.45 mm; width of pronotum 0.54 mm; length of antennae approximately 0.6 mm. Habitus as in Fig. 9 . Colouration: forebody reddish-brown; elytra reddish.

Eyes reduced to small rudiments without ommatidia ( Fig. 8 ). Antennomeres VIII–X strongly transverse. Pronotum rather large in relation to elytra and as broad as elytra, 1.2 times as broad as long, broadest in anterior half, and strongly convex in cross-section; lateral margins straight in posterior half. Elytra without tomentose impressions anteriorly; humeral carina distinct, approximately as long as the combined length of the basal 3–4 antennomeres.

: protibia subapically not curved, but somewhat flattened on inner side; aedeagus ( Figs 38–39 ) 0.38 mm long; ventral process gradually narrowed apicad in ventral view; internal sac with approximately eight weakly sclerotized and rather small spines of various sizes and shapes ventrally, and with a pair of larger and strongly curved spines dorsally; parameres very thin and indistinct, not sinuate, extending to apical third of ventral process.

Comparative notes: Aside from its aedeagus, C. varispinosum is characterized among the Turkish Cephennium species by a rather large pronotum, strongly reduced eyes, and strongly transverse antennomeres VIII–X. It is additionally separated from the geographically close C. ericinum by much smaller size and weakly modified male protibiae.

Distribution and natural history: The type locality is situated to the northeast of Akkuş, Ordu province, North Anatolia ( Map 2 ). The specimens were sifted from leaf litter in a mixed forest with predominant Fagus at an altitude of 620 m.

Figures

Map 2: Distributions of Cephennium fractum (black circles) and of the species of the C. ericinum group: C. digitale (white triangle); C. spinigerum (black triangle); C. victrix (white circles); C. varispinosum (black diamond); C. ericinum (white diamond).

Figs 1–8: Male habitus in dorsal view (1–6) and head and pronotum in lateral view (7–8) of Cephennium bodemeyeri (1), C. fractum (2–3), C. infractum (4), C. immutatum (5), C. ericinum (6–7), and C. varispinosum (8). Scale bars: 1–6: 1.0 mm; 7–8: 0.5 mm.

Figs 9–16: Male habitus in dorsal view of Cephennium varispinosum (9), C. victrix (10), C. spinigerum (11), C. digitale (12), C. reductum (13), C. corruptum (14), C. marasicum (15), and C. dolucanum (16). Scale bar: 1.0 mm.

Figs 36–47: Aedeagus in ventral view (36, 38, 40, 42, 44), internal structures of aedeagus (37, 39, 41, 43, 45), and apical portion of aedeagus in ventral view (46–47) of Cephennium ericinum (36–37), C. varispinosum (38–39), C. victrix (40–41), C. spinigerum (42–43), C. digitale (44–45), C. fractum (46), and C. infractum (47). Scale bars: 36, 38, 40, 42, 44: 0.2 mm; 37, 39, 41, 43, 45–47: 0.1 mm.