Cephennium catax, Assing, 2021

Assing, Volker, 2021, On the Cephennium fauna of Greece (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Scydmaeninae), Linzer biologische Beiträge 52 (2), pp. 869-889 : 876-877

Cephennium catax nov.sp. ( Figs 7 , 28-29 , 40-41 )

Type material: Holotype ♂: " GR-Thessalia, Bez. Larissa, Nordhänge Ossa , 27.4.- 8.5.82, leg. Brachat / Holotypus ♂ Cephennium catax sp. n. det. V. Assing 2020" ( cAss) . Paratypes: 10♂♂, 3♀♀: same data as holotype (cAss) ; 1♂: " Griechenland, Region Thessalien, Provinz Larissa, Mont Ossa 1200 m, 6.- 16.6.1986, leg. I. Wolf " (cAss) .

Etymology: The specific epithet (Latin, adjective: lame, with a limp) alludes to the apically distinctly bent male metatibia.

Description: Body length 1.2-1.3 mm; antenna approximately 0.6 mm long. Habitus ( Fig. 7 ) rather slender. Body reddish to reddish-brown.

Eyes composed of approximately ten ommatidia. Antenna with antennomeres X barely 1.5 times as broad as long and XI approximately twice as long as broad.

Pronotum approximately 1.15 times as broad as long, moderately convex in crosssection; punctation denser and as fine as, or slightly finer than that of elytra.

Elytra broader than pronotum, moderately convex in cross-section, anteriorly each with a small transversely oval impression with tomentose whitish pubescence; punctation fine.

♂: protibia straight, in apical two-fifths somewhat flattened, weakly excavate, and with conspicuously dense and long pubescence on inner face; mesotibia with similar modifications in apical third, but pubescence less dense and slightly shorter; metatibia ( Fig. 41 ) somewhat flattened on inner face in apical third and apically strongly bent; metaventrite extensively, shallowly impressed; aedeagus ( Figs 28-29 , 40 ) 0.27-0.28 mm long; median lobe apically conspicuously acute in ventral view; internal structures weakly sclerotized; parameres slender, weakly curved, nearly reaching apex of median lobe, and apically with rather long seta.

Comparative notes: Cephennium catax is distinguished from all other congeners recorded from Greece by the conspicuous modifications of the male pro- and metatibiae, as well as by the structure of the aedeagus.

Distribution and natural history: The type specimens were collected in the northern slopes of Ossa Oros, Thessalia, Greece. One of the paratypes was found at an altitude of 1200 m.

Figures

Figs 6-10: Male habitus of Cephennium vitsiense (6), C. catax (7), C. dramanum (8), C. fibuliferum (9), and C. cornutum (10). Scale bar: 1.0 mm.

Figs 20-29: Cephennium pellucidum (20-22), C. brachati (23), C. vitsiense (24-25), C. vellicans (26-27), and C. catax (28-29): (20-24, 26, 28-29) aedeagus in lateral and in ventral view; (25, 27) internal structures of aedeagus. Scale bars: 20-24, 26, 28-29: 0.1 mm; 25, 27: 0.05 mm.

Figs 30-41: Cephennium dramanum (30-33), C. fibuliferum (34-36), C. cornutum (37-38), C. brachati (39), and C. catax (40-41): (30-32, 34-35, 37-38) aedeagus in lateral and in ventral view; (33, 36, 39-40) internal structures of aedeagus; (41) metatibia. Scale bars: 30-32, 34-35, 37-38, 41: 0.1 mm; 33, 36, 39-40: 0.05 mm.