Cephennomicrus taplejungensis, 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 : 9-11

Cephennomicrus taplejungensis sp. n.

( Figs 4 , 7, 12–13 , 17 )

Type material. Holotype: NEPAL (Taplejung District): ♂, " NEPAL, Taplejung Distr. / confluence of Kabeli Khola and / Tada Khola, 1000–1050 m / 23.–25.IV.1988 / leg. J. Martens & W. Schawaller" [white, printed] ( SMNS).

Diagnosis. BL ~ 0.8 mm; head and elytra covered with very fine punctures; pronotum with sparse, moderately large and distinct punctures; aedeagus with broad and recurved flagellum connected to lightly sclerotized, bellshaped structure.

Description. Body of male ( Figs 4 , 7 ) elongate, with distinct constriction between pronotum and elytra, strongly convex, reddish-brown, covered with vestiture slightly lighter than cuticle; BL 0.85 mm.

Head subtrapezoidal, HL 0.10 mm, HW 0.24 mm; vertex and frons confluent, evenly convex, supraantennal tubercles barely marked; eyes large, strongly convex and coarsely faceted. Punctures on vertex and frons fine, indistinct; setae very short, sparse, recumbent. Antennae short, AnL 0.38 mm, slender and moderately compact, club trimerous, strongly thickened; antennomere I 1.7 × as long as broad; II distinctly shorter and narrower than I, 1.7 × as long as broad; III much narrower then II and very short, slightly broader than long; IV–VII subequal in length and width, each as broad as III but slightly longer, 1.1–1.2 × as long as broad; VIII slightly broader than VII but comparable in length, 1.1 × as long as broad; IX much longer and broader than VIII, slightly transverse; XI slightly broader and much longer than X, with distinct subapical constriction.

Pronotum in dorsal view nearly quadrate, with parallel sides, PL 0.28 mm, PW 0.33 mm; anterior margin weakly arcuate; lateral margins distinctly microserrate, nearly straight; hind corners right-angled; posterior margin with three shallow emarginations; base of pronotum with two pairs of small but distinct lateral antebasal pits. Punctures on median part of pronotal disc moderately large, distinctly marked, unevenly distributed and separated by spaces approximately twice as wide as diameters of punctures, punctures become gradually smaller and shallower toward anterior and lateral margins of pronotum; setae short and dense, only slightly suberect, additionally each lateral pronotal margin bears one long, erect seta near anterior third and another one at hind corner.

Elytra oval, broadest slightly anterior to middle, EL 0.48 mm, EW 0.41 mm, EI 1.15. Humeral calli small but well marked, mesally delimited by oblique, shallow, moderately narrow and long basal impression; apices of elytra separately rounded. Punctures on elytra very dense but very small and extremely shallow, barely discernible; setae very short, but well visible under magnification 40 ×, dense and nearly recumbent, additionally each elytron bears three long setae located in subhumeral area, at the broadest site and slightly behind middle of lateral margin.

Hind wings not studied.

Aedeagus ( Figs 12–13 ) thin-walled, AeL 0.18 mm, apex subtrapezoidal; internal armature lightly sclerotized, composed of broad and recurved flagellum connected to large, bell-shaped median structure; parameres moderately slender, each with single apical seta.

Female. Unknown.

Distribution ( Fig. 17 ). Eastern Nepal.

Etymology. Locotypical, after Taplejung District.

Remarks. Weak pronotal punctures differentiate this species from the two remaining Cephennomicrus of Nepal. However, females representing at least two additional, undescribed species were present among the studied material, all with weak pronotal punctures, and examination of the aedeagus is crucial for species identification.

Figures

FIGURES 2 – 4. Dorsal habitus of Cephennomicrus arunensis sp. n. (2), Cm. acupunctatus sp. n. (3), and Cm. taplejungensis sp. n. (4).

FIGURES 5 – 13. Body outline (5 – 7) and aedeagus in ventral (8, 10, 12) and lateral (9, 11, 13) views. Cephennomicrus arunensis sp. n. (5, 8 – 9), Cm. acupunctatus sp. n. (6, 10 – 11), and Cm. taplejungensis sp. n. (7, 12 – 13).

FIGURES 17 – 18. Distribution of Cephennomicrus arunensis sp. n. (17, circle), Cm. acupunctatus sp. n. (17, circle), Cm. taplejungensis sp. n. (17, triangle) and Hlavaciellus primitivus sp. n. (18, circle).