Cephennodes (Cephennodes) pokharensis, 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 : 94-95

Cephennodes (Cephennodes) pokharensis sp. n.

( Figs 251 , 263–264 , 273 )

Type material. Holotype: NEPAL (Sindhupalchowk District): ♂, one label: " NEPAL Bagmati / Pokhare NE Barah- / bise, 2800m, 3.5.81 / Löbl - Smetana" [white, printed] ( MHNG). Paratype: 1 ♂, " NEPAL (Prov. Bagmati) / Dobate Ridge NE Barah- / bise, 2800 m, 2.V.81 / Löbl & Smetana" [white, printed] ( MHNG).

Diagnosis. BL 1.30 mm; pronotum distinctly narrower than elytra; elytra broadest far in front of middle; antennomeres V indistinctly longer 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 rounded and asymmetrical, lacking lateroapical corners; apical margin of apical projection strongly oblique in relation to the long axis of aedeagus and nearly straight, in ventral view its left lateroapical corner forming short rounded lobe, and its right corner forming long, nearly straight and pointed triangular projection.

Description. Body of male ( Fig. 251 ) light brown, elongate, with shallow constriction between pronotum and elytra, strongly convex, covered with yellowish setae; BL 1.30 mm.

Head subtrapezoidal, HL 0.15–0.18 mm, HW 0.30–0.31 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, much denser on sides, where they are separated by spaces shorter than diameters of punctures, and much sparser at middle, median portion of frontoclypeal region nearly impunctate; setae short, sparse, suberect. Antennae moderately long and with loosely assembled antennomeres, AnL 0.63–0.65 mm, club appears trimerous, indistinctly delimited and relatively strongly thickened; antennomere I 1.4 × as long as broad; II slightly narrower and shorter than I, 1.3 × as long as broad; III–IV similar in shape, each narrower than II and about 1.2 × as long as broad, V slightly longer but not broader than IV, about 1.2 × as long as broad, VI slightly shorter than but about as broad as V, about as long as broad, VII distinctly broader and indistinctly longer than VI, about as long as broad, VIII slightly smaller than VII, slightly transverse, IX and X each distinctly larger than preceding one, distinctly transverse; XI distinctly broader than X, about as long as IX–X together, about 1.4 × as long as broad.

Pronotum in dorsal view subtrapezoidal, broadest slightly anterior to middle but very indistinctly narrowing posteriorly, PL 0.38 mm, PW 0.55 mm; anterior margin arcuate; lateral margins not microserrate, strongly rounded in anterior third and straight in posterior half; posterior corners slightly obtuse-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 and deeper than those on frons and vertex, on median area separated by spaces 0.5–1 × as wide as diameters of punctures, punctures become gradually smaller and shallower toward posterior and lateral pronotal margins, less so toward anterior margin; setae relatively long, moderately dense, suberect.

Elytra elongate, oval, broadest between near anterior third, EL 0.75–0.78 mm, EW 0.63–0.65 mm, EI 1.19– 1.20. Humeral calli small and weakly elevated; subhumeral lines equal to only about 0.2 EL but relatively 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 slightly larger and denser than those on pronotum, very distinct; setae similar to those on pronotum but more erect.

Hind wings present, long.

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

Abdomen and legs unmodified.

Aedeagus ( Figs 263–264 ) elongate, AeL 0.20 mm, median lobe in ventral view with long, relatively broad apical portion weakly constricted in subapical region and with rounded, asymmetrical apex; apical projection broadly T-shaped, with apical margin strongly oblique in relation to the long axis of aedeagus and straight; parameres slender, unequal in length, each with three setae.

Female. Unknown.

Distribution ( Fig. 273 ). Central-eastern Nepal.

Etymology. Locotypical, after the locality Pokhare near Bahrabise (not the better known Pokhara of Kaski District).

Remarks. This middle-sized member of the C. oblongopunctatus group can be distinguished on the basis of the elytral punctures even larger from those on the median area of pronotum; its aedeagus is unique in having a broadly rounded but asymmetrical apex of the rod-like apical portion of median lobe. The aedeagus is most similar to that of C. sindhupalchowk described below, which also has a rounded and asymmetrical apex of the median lobe. However, in the latter species the rod-like portion of median lobe is much stronger constricted in subapical region, and the adult has a larger, more elongate body with distinctly longer antennae, with antennomere VII distinctly elongate, whereas in C. pokharensis antennomere VII is slightly transverse.

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).