Cephennodes (Cephennodes) brachyspinosus, Jałoszyński, 2016

Jałoszyński, Paweł, 2016, The Cephenniini of China. VIII. New species and new records of Cephennodes Reitter of Hunan, Jiangxi, Zhejian and Fujian (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Scydmaeninae), Zootaxa 4079 (4), pp. 415-428 : 416-418

Cephennodes (Cephennodes) brachyspinosus sp. n.

( Figs 1–2 , 12–13 )

Type material. Holotype: CHINA (HUNAN Prov.): ♂, two labels: "China: Hunan, Sangzhi County / Badagong Shan N.R., / 29º39'N, 109º49'E, 1200 m / mixed leaf litter, sifted, / 11.viii.2004, J.-H. Huang leg." [white, printed]; " CEPHENNODES (s. str.) / brachyspinosus m. / det. P. Jałoszyński, 2015 / HOLOTYPUS" [red, printed] (SNUC).

Diagnosis. Frons with very narrow median longitudinal line composed of densely distributed, partly fused together punctures and with distinct median tubercle slightly in front of antennal insertions; clypeus distinctly thickened; projection of antennomere III short and stout, slightly shorter than long; median lobe of aedeagus in ventral view drop-shaped, stout and with subtriangular apex, apical hook-like projection in ventral view with broad and subrectangular apical portion, in lateral view hook curved at right angle.

Description. Body of male ( Fig. 1 ) strongly convex, oval, with shallow constriction between pronotum and elytra, dark reddish-brown with slightly lighter legs and distinctly lighter palps, covered with light brown vestiture. BL 1.95 mm.

Head ( Fig. 2 ) broadest at moderately large but strongly convex and coarsely faceted eyes, HL 0.28 mm, HW 0.53 mm; vertex weakly and evenly convex and anteriorly confluent with frons; frons weakly convex, with distinct median tubercle located slightly in front of antennal insertions and surrounded by weakly impressed area; supraantennal tubercles distinct; clypeus thickened, slightly elevated. Punctures on vertex and frons ( Fig. 2 ) distinct and sharply marked, unevenly distributed and of various diameters, frons medially largely impunctate and bearing narrow median longitudinal line, which is slightly broadened posteriorly and composed of very fine and partly fused punctures; setae on frons and vertex sparse, long and suberect. Antennae moderately long, AnL 1.00 mm, antennomeres I and II only slightly longer than broad, III distinctly elongate, with stout and short subtriangular mesodorsal projection about as long as length of antennomere, its apex slightly curved and pointed, antennomeres IV–VI each distinctly elongate, VII slightly elongate, VIII about as long as broad, IX and X each slightly transverse, XI about 2.2× as long as broad, distinctly broader than X, slightly longer than antennomeres IX–X together, with pointed apex.

Pronotum semi-oval, strongly convex at middle and strongly flattened near hind corners, broadest near posterior third; PL 0.63 mm, PW 0.98 mm. Anterior margin in strictly dorsal view slightly arcuate; lateral margins strongly rounded and finely microserrate, sides posteriorly slightly convergent toward slightly obtuse-angled posterior pronotal corners; posterior margin deeply bisinuate; lateral marginal carinae narrow and only in posterior half demarcated (rather indistinctly) from disc; lateral antebasal pits shallow but distinct, each located much closer to posterior than to lateral pronotal margin. Punctures on median part of pronotal disc small but distinct, deep and with sharp margins, separated by spaces as wide as 0.5–1 diameters of punctures; punctures toward anterior and posterior pronotal margins reducing in size and depth, those near posterior margin also sparser, narrow area along posterior margin and subtriangular area extending anterolaterally from each antebasal pit impunctate, punctures on sides of pronotum, especially anteriorly, becoming gradually larger, denser and deeper, so that a large area adjacent to each anterior corner is covered with coarse punctures separated by narrow wrinkles, some punctures fused. Setae on pronotal disc long and moderately dense, erect.

Elytra slightly more convex and distinctly narrower than pronotum, oval, broadest near anterior third; EL 1.05 mm, EW 0.95 mm, EI 1.11; subhumeral lines carinate, sharply marked, as long as 0.43× EL and distinctly divergent caudad; basal elytral fovea on each elytron located at middle between lateral margin of mesoscutellum and subhumeral line; elytral apices unmodified, separately rounded. Punctures on elytra superficial but dense; setae distinctly longer than those on pronotum, dense and erect. Hind wings well-developed.

Metaventrite lacking lateral impressions, convex.

Legs moderately long and slender; all tibiae nearly straight.

Aedeagus ( Figs 12–13 ) simonis form, AeL 0.33 mm; median lobe in ventral view drop-shaped, stout, with subtriangular apex; dorsal apical projection in ventral view with broad, subrectangular apical portion, in lateral view hook-shaped, curved dorsally at nearly right angle; parameres long and slender, each with one apical and two subapical setae.

Female. Unknown.

Distribution. SE China: Hunan Province.

Etymology. The specific epithet brachyspinosus refers to the short and broad projection of antennomere III.

Remarks. The aedeagus of the holotype is erected (i.e., the copulatory piece and associated anchoring structures are fully extruded), but the shape of median lobe and apical projections in ventral view and the apical hook in lateral view are clearly different than in all remaining species of this group. Shapes of these structures change very little in an erected state ( Jałoszyński & Nomura 2009). The subrectangular apical hook-like projection in ventral view in C. brachyspinosus is clearly different from subtriangular projections found in all remaining members of the Cephennodes bos species group. Moreover, the projection of the antennomere III in all other species is longer than broad (usually much longer), and this character alone is sufficient to distinguish males of C. brachyspinosus from all other congeners.

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 4. Dorsal habitus of males (1, 3) and head of male in dorsal view (2, 4). Cephennodes (s. str.) brachyspinosus sp. n. (1 – 2); Cephennodes (s. str.) impressibos sp. n. (3 – 4).

FIGURES 12 – 15. Aedeagus in ventral (12, 14) and lateral (13, 15) views. Cephennodes (s. str.) brachyspinosus sp. n. (12 – 13); Cephennodes (s. str.) impressibos sp. n. (14 – 15).