Cephennodes (Cephennodes) licchavi, 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 : 84-86

Cephennodes (Cephennodes) licchavi sp. n.

( Figs 240, 243–244 , 246 )

Type material. Holotype: NEPAL (Taplejung District): ♂, HT: one label: " NEPAL, Taplejung Distr., / Lassetham NW Yamputhin, / 3300–3500 m, 6.–9.V.1988, / leg. J. Martens & W. Schawaller" [white, printed] ( SMNS). Paratype: 1 ♂, same data as for holotype ( SMNS).

Diagnosis. Body very stout, with pronotum distinctly broader than elytra; elytra with round subapical impression; aedeagus with long, moderately broad and strongly curved apical projection directed toward apex of median lobe; apex of median lobe pointed.

Description. Body of male ( Fig. 240 ) dark brown, very stout, with shallow constriction between pronotum and elytra, strongly convex, covered with light brown setae with slightly grayish shade; BL 1.28–1.29 mm (mean 1.28 mm).

Head subtrapezoidal, HL 0.18 mm, HW 0.24 mm; vertex and frons confluent, strongly convex; vertex with a pair of tiny tubercles; supraantennal tubercles small and weakly raised; eyes small and weakly convex, coarsely faceted. Punctures on vertex and frons inconspicuous, very fine and shallow, densely and slightly unevenly distributed, those on median portion of frons separated by spaces 1–2 × as wide as diameters of punctures; setae sparse, short, suberect. Antennae moderately long, AnL 0.65–0.68 mm (mean 0.66 mm), strongly thickened, pentamerous club indistinctly delimited; antennomere I 1.5 × as long as broad; II much narrower and longer than I, twice as long as broad; III and IV equal in length and width, each narrower than II and subquadrate; V and VI each as broad as IV but slightly longer, 1.1–1.2 × as long as broad; VII slightly broader and longer than VI, 1.3 × as long as broad; VIII distinctly broader but slightly shorter than VII, slightly broader than long; IX slightly longer and much broader than VIII, distinctly transverse; X larger than IX, transverse; XI much broader than X, slightly longer than IX–X together, about 1.5 × as long as broad.

Pronotum in dorsal view nearly subrectangular with rounded sides, broadest near middle, PL 0.41–0.43 mm (mean 0.42 mm), PW 0.66–0.68 mm (mean 0.67 mm); anterior margin in strictly dorsal view arcuate; lateral margins not serrate, strongly rounded in anterior half and broadly rounded in posterior half, distinctly convergent toward nearly right-angled hind corners; posterior margin deeply bisinuate; lateral carinae narrow, not separated from lateral margins; antebasal pits very shallow and diffuse, deepest site of each pit located much closer to posterior than to lateral pronotal margin. Punctures on pronotal disc inconspicuous, extremely small and shallow, densely distributed; setae moderately dense, short, suberect.

Elytra very stout, oval, broadest in anterior third, EL 0.68–0.70 mm (mean 0.69 mm), EW 0.65 mm, EI 1.04– 1.08. Humeral calli weakly elevated; subhumeral lines equal to about 0.2 EL, each developed as moderately sharply marked, stepwise border between more convex humeral region and less convex adsutural area; basal pit on each elytron large and connected to short, distinctly arcuate and deep impression extending posteromesally; subapical region of elytra with shallow, nearly circular circumsutural impression; apices of elytra separately rounded. Punctures slightly more distinct than those on pronotum but still very fine, shallow and slightly irregular in shape, densely distributed; setae short, moderately dense, suberect; setae behind subapical impression slightly longer and more erect, forming diffuse subapical patch.

Hind wings absent.

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

Abdomen and hind legs unmodified.

Aedeagus ( Figs 243–244 ) relatively stout, AeL 0.25 mm, apical part of median lobe elongate, forming subtriangular projection with pointed apex; apical projection large, long and moderately broad, with base broadly separated from apex of median lobe but strongly curved toward it and apical part of projection and apex of median lobe are approximate; parameres strongly unequal in length and slightly in width, in ventral view left paramere broadened, each with two setae.

Female. Unknown.

Distribution ( Fig. 246 ). Central Nepal.

Etymology. The name (noun in apposition) refers to the Licchavi Dynasty ruling in the Kathmandu Valley in the 5th–8th centuries.

Remarks. See remarks for C. mahisapala .

Figures

FIGURES 237 – 244. Dorsal habitus (237, 240), elytral apex in dorsolateral (238) and dorsal (239) views, aedeagus in ventral (241, 243) and lateral (242, 244) views. Cephennodes (s. str.) mahisapala sp. n. (237 – 239, 241 – 242), and C. (s. str.) licchavi sp. n. (240, 243 – 244). Abbreviations: aml, apex of median lobe; ap, apical projection.

FIGURES 245 – 246. Distribution of Cephennodes (s. str.) gokarnaensis sp. n. (245, circle), C. (s. str.) pseudogokarnaensis sp. n. (245, triangle), C. (s. str.) mahisapala sp. n. (246, circle), C. (s. str.) licchavi sp. n. (246, triangle).