Cephennodes (Cephennodes) sindhupalchowk, 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 : 97-101

Cephennodes (Cephennodes) sindhupalchowk sp. n.

( Figs 254 , 269–270 , 274 )

Type material. Holotype: NEPAL (Sindhupalchowk District): ♂, one label: " NEPAL (Prov. Bagmati) / Dobate Ridge NE Barah- / bise, 2800 m, 2.V.81 / Löbl & Smetana" [white, printed] ( MHNG).

Diagnosis. BL 1.60 mm; pronotum indistinctly narrower than elytra; elytra broadest far in front of middle; antennomere V clearly shorter than VI; subhumeral line on each elytron sharply marked; median lobe of aedeagus in ventral view with its rod-like apical portion strongly broadened in apical region, apex distinctly asymmetrical and rounded; apical margin of apical projection strongly oblique in relation to the long axis of aedeagus and slightly concave, in ventral view its left lateroapical corner forming long rounded subtriangular projection, and its right corner forming long, very slender, nearly straight and pointed triangular projection.

Description. Body of male ( Fig. 254 ) dark brown, elongate, with shallow constriction between pronotum and elytra, relatively strongly convex, covered with light brown setae; BL 1.60.

Head subtrapezoidal, HL 0.20 mm, HW 0.38 mm; vertex and frons confluent, evenly and weakly convex, supraantennal tubercles small and weakly elevated; eyes moderately large, strongly convex and coarsely faceted. Punctures on vertex and frons small but distinct, sharply marked and densely, unevenly distributed, dense on sides of frons where they are separated by spaces distinctly shorter than diameters of punctures, and sparser at middle of frons and on vertex, where punctures are separated by spaces subequal to diameters of punctures or only slightly shorter; setae short, sparse, suberect. Antennae relatively long and with loosely assembled antennomeres, AnL 0.80 mm, club appears trimerous, indistinctly delimited and relatively strongly thickened; antennomere I 1.7 × as long as broad; II slightly narrower and indistinctly shorter than I, 1.4 × as long as broad; III narrower than II and much shorter, about as long as broad, IV as broad as III but distinctly longer, 1.2 as long as broad, V as broad as IV and slightly longer, 1.3 × as long as broad, VI indistinctly broader and clearly shorter than V, 1.2 × as long as broad, VII slightly broader than VI but similar in length, 1.1 × as long as broad, VIII indistinctly broader and slightly shorter than VII, about as long as broad, IX and IX each much larger than preceding one, distinctly transverse; XI distinctly broader than X, distinctly longer than IX–X together, about 1.8 × as long as broad.

Pronotum in dorsal view subtrapezoidal, equally broad between base and middle, PL 0.48 mm, PW 0.68 mm; anterior margin straight; lateral margins indistinctly microserrate, strongly rounded in anterior half, nearly straight in posterior third; posterior corners slightly sharp-angled; posterior margin shallowly bisinuate; lateral carinae very narrow, fused with lateral edges; antebasal pits small, shallow and diffuse, each located slightly closer to posterior than to lateral pronotal margin. Punctures on disc slightly larger, deeper and denser than those on frons and vertex, in median area separated by spaces about half as wide as diameters of punctures, punctures become gradually smaller and shallower toward anterior and lateral pronotal margins, but not toward posterior margin; setae moderately long, moderately dense, suberect.

Elytra elongate, oval, broadest between middle and anterior third, EL 0.93 mm, EW 0.78 mm, EI 1.19. Humeral calli small and weakly elevated; subhumeral lines equal to only 0.15 EL and moderately distinct, each developed as a moderately sharply marked stepwise border between more convex humeral region and less convex adsutural area; basal pit on each elytron large, located in small, relatively shallow and nearly circular basal impression; apices of elytra separately rounded. Punctures similar to those on pronotum; setae relatively short and dense, suberect.

Hind wings not studied.

Metaventrite with short postmesocoxal impressions, not exceeding anterior 1/3 of ventrite length, median portion finely punctate.

Abdomen and legs unmodified.

Aedeagus ( Figs 269–270 ) elongate, AeL 0.28 mm, median lobe in ventral view with long, moderately broad apical portion very strongly constricted in subapical region and with asymmetrical, rounded apex; apical projection broadly T-shaped, with apical margin strongly oblique in relation to the long axis of aedeagus and weakly concave; parameres slender, unequal in length, each with three setae.

Female. Unknown.

Distribution ( Fig. 274 ). Central-eastern Nepal.

Etymology. Locotypical, Sindhupalchowk (a noun in apposition) is the name of a district in Nepal, where this species occurs.

Remarks. This is a large (BL 1.60 mm) and relatively slender (EI 1.19) species with punctures on elytra even more distinct than those on pronotum, with antennomere III clearly shorter than IV, and strongly asymmetrical, rounded apex of median lobe of aedeagus; this set of characters does not occur in any other species of this group.

Figures

FIGURES 247 – 254. Dorsal habitus of Cephennodes (s. str.) gopala sp. n. (247), C. (s. str.) paniporuanus sp. n. (248), C. (s. str.) brachyclavatus sp. n. (249), C. (s. str.) phulchokianus sp. n. (250), C. (s. str.) pokharensis sp. n. (251), C. (s. str.) newar sp. n. (252), C. (s. str.) kusunda sp. n. (253), and C. (s. str.) sindhupalchowk sp. n. (254).

FIGURES 263 – 270. Aedeagus in ventral (263, 265, 267, 269) and lateral (264, 266, 268, 270) views. Cephennodes (s. str.) pokharensis sp. n. (263 – 264), C. (s. str.) newar sp. n. (265 – 266), C. (s. str.) kusunda sp. n. (267 – 268), and C. (s. str.) sindhupalchowk sp. n. (269 – 270). Abbreviations: aml, apex of median lobe; ap, apical projection.

FIGURES 273 – 274. Distribution of Cephennodes (s. str.) pokharensis sp. n. (273, circle), C. (s. str.) newar sp. n. (273, triangle), C. (s. str.) kusunda sp. n. (274, circle), and C. (s. str.) sindhupalchowk sp. n. (274, triangle).