Cephennodes (Cephennodes) yeti, 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 : 34-35

Cephennodes (Cephennodes) yeti sp. n.

( Figs 42–43 , 62, 84–85, 92)

Type material. Holotype: NEPAL (Ramechap District): ♂, one label: "506 NEPAL: Ramechap Distr. / Mohabir Khola E Shivalaya / 2500–2600 m, 6.–7.V.1997 / leg. W. SCHAWALLER" [white, printed] ( SMNS). Paratype: ♀, same data as for holotype ( SMNS).

Diagnosis. Body stout, large (BL 1.85 mm) and remarkably hairy; elytra stout, EI only 1.05–1.08; protibia in male slightly thickened and slightly curved, with mesal patch of dense spatulate setae, subapical region of each elytron in male with large rounded and shallow impression, setae on anteromesal margin of impression forming thick tuft directed posteromesally (both tufts forming a letter V in posterodorsal view); parameres with strongly broadened apical region, spatulate, with about 7 very thin setae along apical margin.

Description. Body of male ( Fig. 42 ) reddish-brown, very stout, with shallow constriction between pronotum and elytra, strongly convex, covered with light brown setae; BL 1.85 mm.

Head subtrapezoidal, HL 0.25 mm, HW 0.45 mm; vertex and frons confluent and weakly convex; supraantennal tubercles very small and weakly elevated; eyes moderately large, strongly convex, coarsely faceted. Punctures on vertex and frons small and shallow, very unevenly distributed, separated by spaces 0.5–4 × as wide as diameters of punctures; setae moderately long, sparse, suberect. Antennae long and slender, moderately thickened, AnL 1.05 mm, pentamerous club so indistinctly delimited that antennae appear gradually thickened; antennomere I 1.5 × as long as broad; II distinctly narrower than I but similar in length, 1.8 × as long as broad; III–VI each subequal in width, gradually increasing in length from 1.6 to 1.8 × as long as broad, each slightly narrower than II; VII slightly longer and broader than VI, 1.8 × as long as broad; VIII slightly broader than VII but similar in length, 1.7 × as long as broad; IX distinctly broader and slightly longer than VIII, 1.5 × as long as broad; X yet larger, 1.5 × as long as broad; XI distinctly broader than X, slightly shorter than IX–X together, about 2.2 × as long as broad.

Pronotum in dorsal view subtrapezoidal, broadest between middle and anterior third, very convex at middle and strongly flattened at sides, especially in posterior half; PL 0.60 mm, PW 0.83 mm; anterior margin long and strongly arcuate; lateral margins not serrate, strongly rounded in anterior half, indistinctly constricted between middle and posterior third and weakly convergent toward nearly right-angled hind corners; posterior margin shallowly bisinuate; lateral carinae very narrow, fused to lateral margins; antebasal pits small and shallow, each slightly closer to posterior than to lateral pronotal margin. Punctures on disc very small, shallow, moderately sharply marked and unevenly distributed, those in central portion of disc separated by spaces 1–3 × as wide as diameters of punctures; setae long, relatively dense, suberect to erect.

Elytra stout, oval, broadest near anterior third, EL 1.00 mm, EW 0.93 mm, EI 1.08. Humeral calli small but distinct; subhumeral lines very short, equal to merely 0.10 EL, developed as moderately sharply marked stepwise border between more convex humeral region and less convex adsutural area; basal pit on each elytron relatively small and connected to arcuate, shallow impression extending posteromesally; each elytron in subapical region with large, shallow, round impression adjacent to suture ( Fig. 43 ); apices of elytra separately rounded. Punctures similar to those on pronotum; setae distinctly longer and more erect than those on pronotum; additionally each subapical impression surrounded by fringe of sparse, long setae along its anterior and lateral margin, setae on anteromesal margin of each impression form a tuft directed posteromesally, so that both tufts in posterodorsal view appear as a letter V, with its tip on suture ( Fig. 43 ).

Hind wings well developed, functional.

Metaventrite lacking postmesocoxal impressions, covered with very fine punctures.

Abdomen unmodified.

Protibiae (Fig. 62) modified, slightly thickened and slightly curved, with concave mesal margin bearing a long patch of dense spatulate setae.

Aedeagus ( Figs 84–85 ) in ventral view with slightly asymmetrical, stout median lobe broadest near base, AeL 0.43 mm, median lobe in ventral view with concave and asymmetrical distal margin, oblique in relation to the long axis of aedeagus; apical projection in ventral view broad and slightly narrowing distally, in lateral view apical projection weakly curved ventrally; only one paramere is preserved in the studied male, it is conspicuously broadened at apex and with a row of several very thin setae along apical margin.

Female. Externally similar to male, differs in unmodified elytra and more slender protibiae bearing shorter and sparser setae along mesal margin; BL 1.85 mm; HL 0.25 mm, HW 0.46 mm, AnL 1.00 mm; PL 0.58 mm, PW 0.90 mm; EL 1.03 mm, EW 0.98 mm, EI 1.05.

Distribution ( Fig. 92 ). Central Nepal.

Etymology. The name (noun in apposition) refers to the exceptionally large body covered with long, dense and somewhat wooly setae.

Remarks. This is another highly unusual member of the C. excavatus group; its body shape and wooly vestiture of setae are so different from those in the remaining species of this group that its placement may seem incorrect. However, males have a modified elytral apex, as some non-Himalayan species of the C. excavatus group, and, more importantly, they have the protibiae modified in a similar way as C. bagmatianus , C. popeye , C. yangrianus , C. suturalis , C. karnaliensis , C. churtanus and C. sermathangensis . Moreover, the aedeagus of C. yeti does not deviate from the general form known within the C. excavatus group. For those reasons, this morphologically puzzling and easily distinguishable species is tentatively placed in the same group. Cephennodes yeti may represent a link between the C. excavatus and C. longipes species groups; the latter includes C. guizhouanus Jałoszyński, 2012b , which is similar to C. yeti in the body shape, vestiture and the general structure of the aedeagus, but lacks the protibial modification characteristic of the Himalayan subgroup of the C. excavatus group.

Figures

FIGURES 40 – 44. Dorsal habitus of Cephennodes (s. str.) sermathangensis sp. n. (40), C. (s. str.) tipulipes sp. n. (41), C. (s. str.) yeti sp. n. (42), and C. (s. str.) inflaticornis sp. n. (44), and elytral apex in dorsolateral view (43) of C. (s. str.) yeti sp. n.

FIGURES 80 – 87. Aedeagus in ventral (80, 82, 84, 86) and lateral (81, 83, 85, 87) views. Cephennodes (s. str.) sermathangensis sp. n. (80 – 81), C. (s. str.) tipulipes sp. n. (82 – 83), C. (s. str.) yeti sp. n. (84 – 85), and C. (s. str.) inflaticornis sp. n. (86 – 87). Abbreviations: ap, apical projection.

FIGURES 92 – 93. Distribution of Cephennodes (s. str.) tipulipes sp. n. (92, circle), C. (s. str.) yeti sp. n. (92, triangle), C. (s. str.) inflaticornis sp. n. (93, circle).