Cephennium idanum ASSING spec. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org: act: C7F685DD-32CC-4AF7-AA4E-4B3096D86B13

(Figs 111–113, 175)

Type material: Holotype ♂: “GR – Crete [15], Psiloritis, NE Livadia, 35°18'56"N, 24°49'07"E, 440 m, soil washing near stream 26.XII.2018, V. Assing / Holotypus ♂ Cephennium idanum sp. n. det. V. Assing 2019” (cAss). 2 ♀♀: “GR – Crete [21], Psiloritis NE Livadia, 35°18'56"N, 24°49'07"E, 440 m, soil washing near stream, 31.XII.2017, V. Assing ” (cAss); 1 ♂, 1 ♀: “ N35°18'56 E24°49'07, GR Kreta 440 m, Livadia NE 18.3.2019, Brachat & Meybohm (8)” (cMey).

Etymology: The specific epithet is an adjective derived from Ida, one of the names of the mountain range where the type locality is situated.

Description: Body length 1.00– 1.05 mm; width of pronotum 0.39–0.40 mm; width of elytra 0.43–0.45 mm. Coloration: body pale-reddish; legs, antennae, and maxillary palpi yellow. Eye rudiments present, with or without indistinct ommatidium. Head, pronotum, and elytra without microsculpture. Pubescence sparse, long, suberect, yellowish, and directed predominantly posteriad on head, elytra, and most of pronotum, denser and directed transversely mediad at posterior margin of pronotum. Punctation of head and elytra extremely fine, barely noticeable at a magnification of 150 x, that of pronotum distinct and moderately dense. Tibiae moderately club-shaped, dilated in distal two-thirds. Antenna 0.45 mm long, with distinct club formed by the large antennomeres IX–XI; antennomere VIII much smaller than the neighbouring antennomeres VII and IX; antennomere XI approximately 1.5 times as long as broad. Pronotum distinctly transverse, approximately 1.2 times as broad as long. Elytra with a pronounced antero-lateral process and with a distinct oblique humeral fold on either side.

♂: aedeagus 0.27 mm long, larger than in other species of the C. arcuatum group; ventral process apically convex in ventral view, basally convex and apically acute in lateral view; internal sac with conspicuous cluster of numerous strongly sclerotized spines (Figs 111–113).

Comparative notes: Like other species of the C. arcuatum group, C. idanum is reliably distinguished from other representatives of this group only by the shape and internal structures of the aedeagus.

Distribution and natural history: The type locality is situated in the north slopes of the Psiloritis range, Central Crete, where C. idanum is currently the sole representative of the C. arcuatum group. The specimens were collected by soil washing in a stream valley with large rocks and with Platanus orientalis, Quercus sp., and undergrowth at an altitude of 440 m (Fig. 175).