Cephaloconnus Franz

Jałoszyński, Paweł, 2017, Taxonomy of ' Euconnus complex'. Part XIII. Status of Afrotropical subgenera of Euconnus: Cephaloconnus, Cerviconnus, Ursoconnus and Nodoconnus (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Scydmaeninae), Zootaxa 4294 (5), pp. 531-544 : 533-534

publication ID	https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4294.5.3
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:62D89C4D-72CB-4CF5-91D7-A828D0BD8C69
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/3B39879C-FF86-FFE5-FF1E-FC8BE554FC22
treatment provided by	Plazi
scientific name	Cephaloconnus Franz
status

Treatment

1. Morphological structures and taxonomic status of Cephaloconnus Franz

The general body shape of Euconnus ( Cephaloconnus) hypertrophicus ( Fig. 1 View FIGURES 1 – 8 ) resembles that of many species of Euconnus ( Napochus) ; especially in the antennae with 4-segmented and sharply demarcated club and the pronotum broadest behind middle and strongly narrowing anteriorly, with obtuse-angled but well-marked posterior and anterior corners and the anterior margin much shorter than posterior margin. The pronotum, however, is not broadest at base, as in the type species of Napochus , but between middle and posterior third. However, the shape of pronotum is variable within Napochus ; species assigned to this subgenus and with the pronota broadest between base and middle are known (e.g., Jałoszyński 2015a, 2017c).

Other characters shared by Cephaloconnus and Napochus are: a short head with the vertex not bulging posterodorsally ( Figs 9 View FIGURES 9 – 12 ¯10); the frontoclypeal groove faint or absent ( Fig. 10 View FIGURES 9 – 12 ); the hypomeral ridges ( Fig. 11 View FIGURES 9 – 12 ; hr) nearly complete and typically strongly convergent posteriorly; the thick bristles on tempora and sides of prothorax (in some cases reduced in Napochus , but present in its type species and in E. hypertrophicus ); an even number of antebasal pronotal pits ( Fig. 9 View FIGURES 9 – 12 ; abp) (one or two pairs of small pits, variable within Napochus ), typically accompanied by short and indistinct sublateral carinae ( Fig. 9 View FIGURES 9 – 12 ; slc) (variable within Napochus , but present in its type species and in E. hypertrophicus ); the basisternal part of prosternum ( Fig. 11 View FIGURES 9 – 12 ; bst) strikingly short, much shorter than the coxal part; a relatively narrow metaventral intercoxal process ( Fig. 12 View FIGURES 9 – 12 ; mtvp) (its width and shape is variable within Napochus ); and the general shape of the aedeagus ( Figs 27 View FIGURES 27 – 34 ¯28), except for a distinctly emarginate apex of the median lobe in E. hypertrophicus , whereas the aedeagal apex in most species of Napochus is not emarginate (but the shape of the aedeagus, and especially its apical portion, shows a high degree of variability within Napochus , e.g., see figs 35̄ 54 in Jałoszyński (2015a)).

A striking character of Cephaloconnus , seen in E. hypertrophicus ( Figs 1 View FIGURES 1 – 8 , 9 View FIGURES 9 – 12 ̄10, 13̄14), is the modified head. The vertex is more convex than in most species of Napochus , the frons is bulging anterodorsally, and these regions are separated by a transverse groove and a rounded ridge ( Fig. 10 View FIGURES 9 – 12 ). This modification is restricted to males and small pits at each side of the transverse groove suggest a presence of large cephalic glands (the pits are here interpreted as glandular openings; Fig. 14 View FIGURES 13 – 14 ; gop).

Conclusions. The only major morphological difference between the type species of Cephaloconnus and Napochus is the presumably glandular modification of the head in males of the former; females of Cephaloconnus do not differ from those of Napochus , except for having slightly larger heads in relation to the pronotum. Neonapochus Machulka, 1929 , defined solely on the basis of one apomorphy, the modified antennal club in males, was previously placed as a junior synonym of Napochus ( Jałoszyński 2016b) ; the same solution seems reasonable in the case of Cephaloconnus , which also shows an apomorphy restricted to one sex, and additionally a variable one, as Franz (1962) placed in Cephaloconnus species with the head bearing an impression, tooth or a tubercle. Such characters can be used to define species groups within Napochus , but not subgenera. Consequently, Cephaloconnus is placed as a junior synonym of Napochus .