Cephennium deplectens, Assing & Meybohm, 2021

Assing, Volker & Meybohm, Heinrich, 2021, The Cephennium fauna of Turkey and the Middle East (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Scydmaeninae), Beiträge Zur Entomologie = Contributions to Entomology 71 (1), pp. 1-28 : 26

Cephennium deplectens spec. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:E16431E9-E6B9-411F-B164-3FA1B7A4D2E2

( Figs 23 , 60 , Map 3 )

Type material: Holotype : “ N38°24'19 E027°23'31 (17), Türkei Izmir Nif Dagi , 970 m 24.4.2006, l. Brachat & Meybohm / Holotypus  Cephennium deplectens sp. n., det. V. Assing 2020” (cAss) . Paratypes: 6 , 4 : same data as holotype (cAss); 1 : “ N38°24'13 E027°23'05 (18), Türkei Izmir Nif Dagi , 1080 m 24.4.2006, l. Brachat & Meybohm” (cAss); 1 : “ N38°32'51 E027°25'14 (20), Türkei Manisa Sipil Dagi Milli Parki, 1250 m 25.4.2006, l. Brachat & Meybohm” (cAss) .

Etymology: The specific epithet is the present participle of the Latin verb deplecti (to claw) and alludes to the conspicuous pair of claw-shaped structures in the internal sac of the aedeagus.

Description: Very small species; body length 0.9–1.0 mm. Habitus as in Fig. 23 . Punctation of pronotum more distinct than that of elytra. Eye rudiments minute, composed of three or four weakly defined ommatidia without pigmentation. Other external and male secondary sexual characters as in other species of the C. unguicum subgroup, except as follows:

: metaventrite not impressed, only indistinctly depressed in the middle at most; aedeagus ( Fig. 60 ) very small, broad, and apically truncate, 0.18 mm long; internal sac with a pair of large and strongly curved claw-shaped structures, with additional pair of straight stout spines, and with a strongly transverse apicomedian structure; paramere apically extending to apex of median lobe, with short apical seta.

Comparative notes: As can be inferred particularly from the similar morphology of the aedeagus (small size; internal sac with pair of claw-shaped structures) and the absence of a median impression on the male metaventrite, C. deplectens is evidently closely allied to C. unguicum , from which it is distinguished by smaller body size and particularly by a smaller aedeagus with internal structures of different shapes and arrangement, and to C. sicaferum , from which it differs only by the shapes of the internal structures of the aedeagus (see the comparative notes in the section on C. sicaferum above).

Distribution and natural history: The species was found in two geographically close mountains (Nif Dağı, Sipil Dağı) in Izmir and Manisa provinces, West Anatolia ( Map 3 ). The specimens were sifted from litter near rocks at altitudes of 970–1250 m.

Figures

Map 3: Distributions of the species of the Cephennium jonicum and C. corruptum groups in Turkey: C. unguicum (grey stars); C. deplectens (white stars); C. sicaferum (grey triangles); C. duplum (grey diamonds); C. geminum (grey circles); C. reductum (black triangles); C. corruptum (black circles); C. fimbriatum (white square); C. besucheti (black square); C. affimbriatum (white circles); C. marasicum (black diamonds); C. dolucanum (white triangle); C. kartalicum (black star); C. nemruticum (white diamond).

Figs 17–24: Male habitus in dorsal view of Cephennium fimbriatum (17), C. besucheti (18), C. affimbriatum (19), C. kartalicum (20), C. nemruticum (21), C. unguicum (22), C. deplectens (23), and C. jordanicum (24). Scale bar: 1.0 mm.

Figs 59–69: Aedeagus in ventral/dorsal view (59–68) and internal structures of aedeagus in ventral view (69) of Cephennium unguicum (59), C. deplectens (60), C. sicaferum (61), C. geminum (62–64; 62: Termessos; 63: Olimpos; 64: Kemer), C. duplum (65–66), C. jordanicum (67), and C. judaeum (68–69; drawings by C. Besuchet). Scale bar: 0.1 mm.