Cephennodes (Fusionodes) medusa, Jałoszyński, Paweł, 2015

Jałoszyński, Paweł, 2015, The Cephenniini of China. VII. New species and new records of Cephennodes Reitter of Shaanxi, Gansu and Sichuan (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Scydmaeninae), Zootaxa 4033 (3), pp. 393-410 : 408-409

Cephennodes (Fusionodes) medusa sp. n.

( Figs 25 , 32–34 )

Type material. Holotype: CHINA (Sichuan Province): ♂, two labels: " CHINA: N-Sichuan [ CH 12-26] / 70 km N Songpan, road S 301, above / Gan lake, 33º15'26''N, 103º46'03''E, / 2700 m, spruce forest with birch, / litter, mushrooms, moss, and dead / wood sifted, 12.VIII.2012, M. Schülke" [white, printed]; " CEPHENNODES / (FUSIONODES) / medusa m. / det. P. Jałoszyński, '15 / HOLOTYPUS " [red, printed] (cMS).

Diagnosis. Externally unremarkable species; aedeagus in ventral view with apical assemblage of projections with large proximal lobes and apical lamina broadly rounded at apex and with convex lateral margins; dorsal subapical projection with rounded apex; each paramere with numerous setae.

Description. Body of male ( Fig. 25 ) moderately convex, oval with indistinct constriction between pronotum and elytra, uniformly dark brown, covered with light brown vestiture. BL 1.75 mm.

Head broadest at moderately large but strongly convex and coarsely faceted eyes, HL 0.25 mm, HW 0.40 mm; vertex and frons confluent, weakly convex; supraantennal tubercles weakly raised. Punctures on frons and vertex distinct, moderately large and deep with sharp margins, separated by spaces subequal to diameters of punctures; setae short, sparse, suberect. Antennae moderately long, gradually broadening distally from antennomere VII, AnL 0.93 mm, antennomeres I–III distinctly elongate, IV–VI each about as long as broad, VII slightly elongate, VIII–X each slightly transverse, XI about as long as IX–X together, about twice as long as broad, with pointed apex.

Pronotum subrectangular, strongly convex at middle and distinctly flattened near hind corners, broadest near middle but only indistinctly narrowing posteriorly; PL 0.53 mm, PW 0.80 mm. Anterior margin broadly and weakly rounded; lateral margins strongly rounded in anterior half and nearly straight in posterior third; posterior pronotal corners nearly right-angled; posterior margin shallowly bisinuate; lateral carina narrow and sharply demarcated from disc on its entire length; lateral antebasal pits developed as very large elongate and deep impressions each adjacent to lateral marginal carina and slightly wider separated from posterior pronotal margin, impressions are as long as more than one-third of PL. Punctures on pronotal disc very small and shallow but distinct and dense, those in median region separated by spaces subequal to diameters of punctures, those near each anterior pronotal corner denser but not larger or deeper, appear as slightly coarse scale-like but fine microsculpture; setae moderately dense and long, only slightly suberect.

Elytra as convex as pronotum, oval, broadest near anterior fourth and strongly narrowing caudad; EL 0.98 mm, EW 0.85 mm, EI 1.15; subhumeral lines sharply but finely carinate, as long as 0.25 EL and weakly divergent caudad; basal fovea on each elytron located slightly closer to lateral margin of mesoscutellum than to subhumeral line; elytral apices unmodified, separately rounded. Punctures on elytra slightly less distinct than those on pronotal disc, superficial; setae similar to those on pronotum but nearly recumbent. Hind wings not studied.

Metaventrite with very short setose postmesocoxal impressions.

Legs moderately long and slender; all tibiae nearly straight.

Aedeagus ( Figs 32–34 ) relatively stout, AeL 0.48 mm; median lobe in ventral view with oval capsular part with its apical margin forming abruptly delimited subtriangular and rounded apical lobe; apical assemblage of projections complicated, in ventral view with large proximal lobes and moderately long apical lamina with convex lateral and apical margins; dorsal component with broadly rounded dorsal subapical projection; each paramere with numerous robust apical and subapical setae.

Female. Unknown.

Distribution. Central China: Sichuan Province.

Etymology. The name medusa (a noun in apposition) refers to the striking multiple waving and disordered parameral setae, just like the mythical Medusa's snake hairs.

Remarks. Within the graeseri species group, C. medusa is the only species with multisetose parameres; all allied species have 3–4 setae only. Moreover, the shape of apical lamina in ventral and dorsal views is also unique, no other similar species has the lamina symmetrical and with both lateral margins convex. See also remarks for C. gutta .

Figures

FIGURES 23 – 25. Dorsal habitus of holotype males. Cephennodes (Fusionodes) corpulentus sp. n. (23); Cephennodes (Fusionodes) gutta sp. n. (24); Cephennodes (Fusionodes) medusa sp. n. (25).

FIGURES 32 – 34. Aedeagus of Cephennodes (Fusionodes) medusa sp. n. in ventral (32), dorsal (33) and lateral (34) views. Abbreviations: al, apical lamina; dsp, dorsal subapical projection; prl, proximal lobe.