Cephennodes (Cephennodes) mahisapala, 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 : 83-84

Cephennodes (Cephennodes) mahisapala sp. n.

( Figs 237–239, 241–242 , 246 )

Type material. Holotype: NEPAL (Taplejung District): ♂, one label: " NEPAL, Taplejung Distr., / pasture Lassetham / NW Yamputhin, 3300–3500 m, / mature Abies-Rhododendron / forest, 6.–9.V.1988, / leg. J. Martens & W. Schawaller" [white, printed] ( SMNS).

Diagnosis. Body elongate, BL ~ 1.3 mm; elytra with round subapical impression; aedeagus with long, narrow and strongly curved apical projection directed toward apex of median lobe; apex of median lobe rounded.

Description. Body of male ( Fig. 237 ) moderately dark brown, elongate, with shallow constriction between pronotum and elytra, strongly convex, covered with light brown vestiture composed of very thin, delicate setae; BL 1.33 mm.

Head subtrapezoidal, HL 0.18 mm, HW 0.33 mm; vertex strongly convex, with a pair of tiny tubercles; frons slightly flattened, rapidly declines anteriorly; supraantennal tubercles small and weakly elevated; eyes small and weakly convex, coarsely faceted. Punctures on vertex and frons very fine and shallow, indistinct, densely and slightly unevenly distributed, those on median portion of frons separated by spaces 1–2 × as wide as diameters of punctures; setae on vertex and posterior portion of frontoclypeal region sparse, short, suberect, those on anterior portion of frontoclypeal area distinctly longer and erect. Antennae moderately long, AnL 0.68 mm, strongly thickened, pentamerous club indistinctly delimited; antennomere I 1.7 × 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 slightly broader than long; V and VI each as broad as IV but slightly longer, about as long as broad; VII slightly broader but distinctly longer than VI, 1.2 × as long as broad; VIII distinctly broader but slightly shorter than VII, about as long as broad; IX slightly longer and much broader than VIII, slightly broader than long; X distinctly larger than IX, slightly broader than long; XI much broader than X, slightly longer than IX–X together, about 1.5 × as long as broad.

Pronotum in dorsal view nearly semicircular, broadest between middle and anterior third, PL 0.43 mm, PW 0.63 mm; anterior margin in strictly dorsal view nearly straight; lateral margins not serrate, strongly rounded in anterior third, very weakly rounded in posterior half and distinctly convergent toward blunt and nearly right-angled hind corners; posterior margin shallowly bisinuate; lateral carinae narrow, fused with pronotal margins; antebasal pits very shallow and diffuse, deepest site of each pit located closer to posterior than to lateral pronotal margin. Punctures on pronotal disc inconspicuous, very small and shallow, densely distributed; setae moderately dense, short, suberect.

Elytra elongate, oval, broadest in anterior third, EL 0.73 mm, EW 0.65 mm, EI 1.12. Humeral calli weakly elevated; subhumeral lines equal to 0.3 EL, each developed as a moderately sharp 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 on each elytron ( Figs 238–239 ) with shallow, nearly circular circumsutural impression; apices of elytra separately rounded. Punctures slightly more distinct than those on pronotum but still very fine, shallow but with sharply marked margins, dense; setae short, moderately dense, suberect; setae behind subapical impression slightly longer and more erect, forming diffuse subapical patch.

Hind wings not studied.

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

Abdomen and hind legs unmodified.

Aedeagus ( Figs 241–242 ) relatively stout, AeL 0.23 mm, apical part of median lobe elongate, forming nearly rod-like projection with blunt apex; apical projection large, long but relatively narrow, 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 unequal in length and width, in ventral view left paramere strongly broadened, each with three setae.

Female. Unknown.

Distribution ( Fig. 246 ). Eastern Nepal.

Etymology. The name (noun in apposition) refers to the mythical Mahisapala (= Pala or Nepala) Dynasty ruling in Nepal in prehistoric times.

Remarks. Although the aedeagus of C. mahisapala is very similar to that of C. licchavi , external characters of these two species are clearly different. Cephennodes mahisapala is distinctly more elongate, with less transverse pronotum and the elytral index>1.1; whereas C. licchavi is extremely stout, with the elytra nearly as long as broad, which results in the elytral index below 1.1. Moreover, the latter species has the pronotum distinctly broader than the elytra, whereas C. mahisapala has the pronotum and elytra of comparable width.

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).