Cephennodes (Cephennodes) inflaticornis, 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 : 35-38

Cephennodes (Cephennodes) inflaticornis sp. n.

( Figs 44 , 63, 86–87, 93)

Type material. Holotype: NEPAL ( Parbat District ): ♂, one label: one label: " NEPAL Parbat Distr. / Ghoropani Pass N slope / 2800m 5.X.1983 / Smetana & Löbl" [white, printed] ( MHNG) . Paratypes (11 exx): 1 ♂, 3 ♀♀, same data as for holotype ; 2 ♂♂, 1 ♀, " NEPAL Parbat Distr. / Ghoropani Pass N slope / 2700m 6.X.1983 / Smetana & Löbl" [white, printed] ; 1 ♂, " NEPAL - Goropani For. / Goropani face nord / 2750m 5.X.83 / Löbl - Smetana " ; 3 ♀♀, " NEPAL Parbat / Distr.Ghoropani / vic. 2700–3100m / 5–9.X.1983 / Smetana & Löbl" [white, printed] (paratypes in MHNG and cPJ).

Diagnosis. BL 1.38–1.45 mm; body uniformly light brown; antennae modified, with strongly broadened and dorsally flattened pentamerous club; protibiae in male slightly thickened and slightly curved inwards, with subbasal mesal broadening and with long patch of dense spatulate setae; apical projection of median lobe in ventral view slender and narrowing to pointed apex, in lateral view bent dorsally at an obtuse angle; each paramere with one long apical and one short subapical seta, setae only slightly broadened.

Description. Body of male ( Fig. 44 ) uniformly light brown; relatively slender, with very shallow constriction between pronotum and elytra, moderately convex, covered with light brown setae; BL 1.39–1.45 mm (mean 1.42 mm).

Head subtrapezoidal, HL 0.19–0.23 mm (mean 0.20 mm), HW 0.33–0.34 mm (mean 0.33 mm); vertex and frons confluent and weakly convex; supraantennal tubercles distinct but weakly elevated; eyes moderately large, strongly convex, coarsely faceted. Punctures on frons and vertex small but sharply marked and distinct, densely and evenly distributed, separated by spaces subequal to diameters of punctures; setae very short, sparse, suberect. Antennae moderately long and very strongly thickened, AnL 0.68–0.73 mm (mean 0.70 mm); antennomeres compactly assembled, pentamerous club sharply delimited and distinctly longer than half AnL, surface of five terminal antennomeres coarse, contrasting with glossy proximal antennomeres; antennomere I about 1.7 × as long as broad; II distinctly narrower and slightly shorter than I, 1.5 × as long as broad; III–V similar in shape, each slightly narrower than II and much shorter, about as long as broad, VI distinctly slightly longer and broader than V, distinctly transverse, VII distinctly longer and much broader than VI, strongly transverse, VIII–X each gradually slightly longer and distinctly broader than preceding one, each strongly transverse, XI indistinctly broader than X, slightly longer than IX–X together, about 1.8 × as long as broad.

Pronotum in dorsal view nearly semicircular, equally broad from base to slightly in front of middle, PL 0.40– 0.43 mm (mean 0.42 mm), PW 0.60–0.66 mm (mean 0.63 mm); pronotum strongly convex at middle and weakly flattened near each hind corner; anterior margin in strictly dorsal view slightly convex; lateral margins not microserrate, strongly rounded in anterior third and nearly straight in posterior half; posterior corners nearly rightangled; posterior margin shallowly bisinuate; lateral carinae very narrow, fused with lateral margins; antebasal pits small and shallow, diffuse, the deepest site of each pit located closer to posterior than to lateral pronotal margin. Punctures on disc fine, inconspicuous, surface glossy; setae short and moderately dense, suberect.

Elytra elongate, oval, broadest between middle and anterior third, EL 0.78–0.83 mm (mean 0.81 mm), EW 0.70–0.75 mm (mean 0.72 mm), EI 1.10–1.14. Humeral calli weakly elevated, elongate; subhumeral lines short, equal to about 0.25 EL, relatively distinct, developed as moderately sharp stepwise border between more convex humeral region and less convex adsutural area; basal pit on each elytron large and located in very short, deep, round basal impression; apices of elytra separately rounded. Punctures more distinct than those on pronotum and dense, but superficial, diffuse and inconspicuous; setae similar to those on pronotum.

Hind wings present, long.

Metaventrite with indistinct postmesocoxal impressions, median area covered with fine punctures.

Protibiae (Fig. 63) only slightly thickened dorso-ventrally and slightly curved, distinctly broadened mesally in sub-basal region, with large mesal patch of dense spatulate setae.

Abdomen and hind legs unmodified.

Aedeagus ( Figs 86–87 ) in ventral view with nearly symmetrical, slender median lobe broadest near base, AeL 0.38 mm, median lobe in ventral view with deeply emarginate and asymmetrical distal margin, apical projection in ventral view long and slender, narrowing to pointed apex, in lateral view apical projection bent dorsally at an obtuse angle; each paramere with one long apical seta and one short subapical seta, setae only slightly thickened.

Female. Very similar to male, differs in slender antennal club with antennomere VII about as long as broad, and protibiae nearly straight, lacking mesal sub-basal broadening, and with setal patch composed of shorter setae; BL 1.38–1.45 mm (mean 1.43 mm); HL 0.19–0.20 mm (mean 0.20 mm), HW 0.33–0.34 mm (mean 0.33 mm), AnL 0.65–0.70 mm (mean 0.68 mm); PL 0.43–0.45 mm (mean 0.44 mm), PW 0.63–0.70 mm (mean 0.66 mm); EL 0.75–0.80 mm (mean 0.79 mm), EW 0.70–0.73 mm (mean 0.72 mm), EI 1.07–1.14.

Distribution ( Fig. 93 ). Central Nepal.

Etymology. The name inflaticornis refers to the unusually broadened antennal club.

Remarks. Males of this species can easily be assigned to the Himalayan subgroup of the C. excavatus species group on the basis of their modified protibiae bearing a long patch of spatulate setae; within this group, C. inflaticornis differs from all similar congeners in a uniformly brown body and conspicuously thickened antennal club.

Figures

FIGURES 40 – 44. Dorsal habitus of Cephennodes (s. str.) sermathangensis sp. n. (40), C. (s. str.) tipulipes sp. n. (41), C. (s. str.) yeti sp. n. (42), and C. (s. str.) inflaticornis sp. n. (44), and elytral apex in dorsolateral view (43) of C. (s. str.) yeti sp. n.

FIGURES 80 – 87. Aedeagus in ventral (80, 82, 84, 86) and lateral (81, 83, 85, 87) views. Cephennodes (s. str.) sermathangensis sp. n. (80 – 81), C. (s. str.) tipulipes sp. n. (82 – 83), C. (s. str.) yeti sp. n. (84 – 85), and C. (s. str.) inflaticornis sp. n. (86 – 87). Abbreviations: ap, apical projection.

FIGURES 92 – 93. Distribution of Cephennodes (s. str.) tipulipes sp. n. (92, circle), C. (s. str.) yeti sp. n. (92, triangle), C. (s. str.) inflaticornis sp. n. (93, circle).