Cephennodes (Cephennodes) parbatensis, 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 : 52-54

Cephennodes (Cephennodes) parbatensis sp. n.

( Figs 101 , 111 , 140–143 , 147 )

Type material. Holotype: NEPAL ( Parbat District ): ♂, one label: " NEPAL Parbat / Distr. Ghoropani / Pass N slope / 2700m 6.X.1983 / Smetana & Löbl" [white, printed] ( MHNG) . Paratypes (4 exx): 2 ♀♀, same data as for holotype ; 1 ♂, " NEPAL Parbat / Distr. Ghoropani / Pass N slope / 2800m 5.X.1983 / Smetana & Löbl" [white, printed] ; 1 ♀, " NEPAL Parbat / Distr. Ridge E / Ghoropani Pass / 3100m 7.X.1983 / Smetana & Löbl" [white, printed] (paratypes in MHNG and cPJ).

Diagnosis. BL 1.43–1.63 mm; body elongate, with elytra weakly narrowing behind the broadest site; distal portion of metatibia strongly thickened, with oval subapical porous field much longer than broad, its external margin slightly folded dorsally and forming a small but distinct tooth; abdomen in ventral view with sternite II bearing broad microserrate and straight carina along its posterior margin, sternite III with broadly rounded median lobe; apical portion of median lobe of aedeagus rounded, its longitudinal axis forming about 45°-angle with long axis of aedeagus; apical projection with strongly sinuate distal margin and subtriangular apex.

Description. Body of male ( Fig. 101 ) brown, with shallow constriction between pronotum and elytra, strongly convex, covered with yellowish setae; BL 1.43–1.50 mm.

Head subtrapezoidal, HL 0.18–0.23 mm, HW 0.36–0.38 mm; vertex and frons confluent, evenly and weakly convex; supraantennal tubercles small and weakly elevated; eyes large, strongly convex, coarsely faceted. Punctures on frons and vertex small but distinct, sharply marked, densely and unevenly distributed, sparser at middle and denser on sides, those in middle of frons between eyes separated by spaces 1–2 × as wide as diameters of punctures; setae short, moderately dense, suberect to erect. Antennae moderately long and moderately slender, AnL 0.75–0.78 mm, pentamerous club indistinctly delimited; antennomere I 1.6 × as long as broad; II slightly narrower but not shorter than I, nearly twice as long as broad; III slightly narrower than II and much shorter, 1.1 × as long as broad, IV–VI similar in shape, each indistinctly longer than III, about 1.2 × as long as broad, VII slightly broader and longer than VI, indistinctly elongate; VIII slightly broader but not longer than VII, about as long as broad; IX distinctly larger than VIII, about as long as broad, X distinctly larger than IX, slightly transverse, XI clearly broader than X, about as long as IX–X together, slightly less than twice as long as broad.

Pronotum in dorsal view nearly semicircular, broadest slightly anterior to middle but very weakly narrowing posteriorly, PL 0.43 mm, PW 0.63–0.65 mm; anterior margin slightly concave; lateral margins not serrate, strongly rounded in anterior half, nearly straight in posterior half; posterior corners nearly right-angled; posterior margin shallowly bisinuate; lateral carinae narrow and fused with lateral margins; antebasal pits small and very shallow, the deepest site of each pit located much closer to posterior than to lateral margin of pronotum. Punctures on disc very small and shallow, inconspicuous; setae dense, short, suberect.

Elytra short, oval, broadest slightly in front of middle, EL 0.83–0.85 mm, EW 0.70 mm, EI 1.18–1.21. Humeral calli weakly elevated; subhumeral lines distinct, equal to about 0.3 EL, each developed as a rounded stepwise border between more convex humeral region and less convex adsutural area; basal pit on each elytron large and connected to short, slightly arcuate impression extending posteromesally; apices of elytra separately rounded. Punctures on elytra more distinct than those on pronotum but superficial, diffuse and inconspicuous; setae about as dense and short as those on pronotum but less erect.

Hind wings not studied.

Metaventrite with large and sharply delimited postmesocoxal impressions, median part covered with very fine punctures.

Hind legs with strongly modified tibiae ( Fig. 111 ); in dorsal view lateral (external) tibial margin weakly recurved and spatulate portion of tibia moderately abruptly narrowed distally, its external margin in the broadest site angulate, forming a narrow upturned fold with a narrow distal tooth; dorsodistal porous field much longer than broad; distal fringe of setae with one long bristle.

Abdomen ( Figs 140–141 ) with sternite II bearing a broad microserrate and straight carina along its posterior margin, sternite III bearing broadly rounded, short median lobe.

Aedeagus ( Figs 142–143 ) moderately slender; AeL 0.20 mm, apical portion of median lobe rounded, its longitudinal axis forming about 45°-angle with the long axis of aedeagus; apical projection with sinuate distal margin, its concave portion close to apex, which is subtriangular, not delimited as a well-defined lobe; parameres long and slender, not exceeding apex of median lobe, each bearing one apical seta.

Female. Very similar to male but with unmodified metatibiae; BL 1.50–1.63 mm (mean 1.56 mm); HL 0.20– 0.23 mm (mean 0.21 mm), HW 0.38 mm, AnL 0.75–0.78 mm (mean 0.77 mm); PL 0.48 mm, PW 0.70–0.73 mm (mean 0.71 mm); EL 0.88–0.93 mm (mean 0.88 mm), EW 0.75–0.80 mm (mean 0.77 mm), EI 1.10–1.17.

Distribution ( Fig. 147 ). Central Nepal.

Etymology. Locotypical, after Parbat District.

Remarks. This species is most slender among all Himalayan members of the C. spatulipes group; it also has the most slender metatibiae in males, with the external margin of the distal portion of tibia developed as a slightly upturned fold with a small but distinct tooth visible only at a certain angle. Similarly shaped metafemora are known in the Vietnamese species C. patellatus Jałoszyński & Nomura, 2009 , which clearly differs in a very stout aedeagus, which in ventral view is nearly as long as broad, the apex of its median lobe is rounded and with a distal subapical notch, and the distal margin of the apical projection is nearly straight.

Figures

FIGURES 94 – 101. Dorsal habitus of Cephennodes (s. str.) dolakhanus s sp. n. (94), C. (s. str.) manangensis sp. n. (95), C. (s. str.) martensi sp. n. (96), C. (s. str.) paramartensi sp. n. (97), C. (s. str.) monolaminatus sp. n. (98), C. (s. str.) thakanus sp. n. (99), C. (s. str.) annapurnaensis sp. n. (100), and C. (s. str.) parbatensis sp. n. (101).

FIGURES 102 – 111. Right metatibia of male in dorsal view. Cephennodes (s. str.) dolakhanus s sp. n. (102, 104), C. (s. str.) manangensis sp. n. (103, 105), C. (s. str.) martensi sp. n. (106), C. (s. str.) paramartensi sp. n. (107), C. (s. str.) monolaminatus sp. n. (108), C. (s. str.) thakanus sp. n. (109), C. (s. str.) annapurnaensis sp. n. (110), and C. (s. str.) parbatensis sp. n. (111). 104 – 111 not to the same scale.

FIGURES 128 – 143. Abdomen of male in right lateral (128, 132, 136, 140) and ventral (129, 133, 137, 141) views and aedeagus in ventral (130, 134, 138, 142) and lateral (131, 135, 139, 143) views. Cephennodes C. (s. str.) monolaminatus sp. n. (128 – 131), C. (s. str.) thakanus sp. n. (132 – 135), C. (s. str.) annapurnaensis sp. n. (136 – 139), and C. (s. str.) parbatensis sp. n. (140 – 143). Abbreviations: aml, apex of median lobe; ap, apical projection.

FIGURES 146 – 147. Distribution of Cephennodes (s. str.) monolaminatus sp. n. (146, circle), C. (s. str.) thakanus sp. n. (144, triangle), C. (s. str.) annapurnaensis sp. n. (147, circle), C. (s. str.) parbatensis sp. n. (147, triangle).