Pseudocephennium integricolle Reitter

Jałoszyński, Paweł, 2021, New taxonomic and nomenclatural acts in Cephenniini (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae Scydmaeninae), Zootaxa 4996 (1), pp. 171-176 : 174-175

Pseudocephennium integricolle Reitter

( Figs 5–11 )

Pseudocephennium integricolle Reitter, 1883: 385 .

Pseudocephennium maximum Jałoszyński, 2012: 467 . Syn. n.

Type material. Syntype: Venezuela: ♂,three labels:“ Dr.Moritz /1858/Venezuela”[white,printed];“ Pseudocephen- / nium / integricolle / m. ” [light brownish, handwritten], “Typus” [red, printed] ( NHMW) .

Remarks. The genus Pseudocephennium was described by Reitter (1883) without including important ventral structures, which in recent years have been recognized as primary diagnostic features among genera of Cephenniini . The depository of the type material of P. integricolle Reitter, 1883 , the sole species included in the genus, was unknown to me. Consequently, in my revision of Neotropical genera, I assigned to this genus a group of newly described species that agree with the Reitter’s description in major structures, and lack the prosternal process ( Jałoszyński 2012). This strategy was adopted to include a distinct group of northern S American species into a comparative and phylogenetic analyses without creating a new genus name that could in future turn out to be a junior synonym of Pseudocephennium . This action presented a risk that Pseudocephennium was in fact incorrectly recognized, or that one of the newly described species would turn out to be the same as P. integricolle .

A syntype of P.integricolle was re-discovered in NHMW during my visit in 2020, where this interesting specimen was found among various Scydmaeninae and Pselaphinae in Eppelsheim’s collection.As it turned out, it was studied by Claude Besuchet in 1956, but his results have never been published. The syntype is a not fully pigmented male ( Fig. 5 ), whose external structures, measurements and the aedeagus agree with those of Pseudocephennium maximum Jałoszyński, 2012 . Although this discovery means that P. maximum becomes the junior synonym, it also confirms that the genus identified as Pseudocephennium nearly ten years ago for the purpose of characterizing then extremely poorly known Neotropical Cephenniini was indeed Reitter’s taxon. Pseudocephennium is here confirmed to include species that (1) have the ‘trochantelli’ ( Figs 7–8 ); (2) lack pronotal pits ( Fig. 6 ); (3) lack any trace of the prosternal process ( Fig. 7 ); (4) have a subtriangular metaventral intercoxal process narrowly separating metacoxae ( Fig. 8 ); and (5) have the aedeagus with elaborate, movable distal projections and free parameres ( Figs 9–11 ).

Figures

FIGURES 5–11. Syntype of Pseudocephennium integricolle Reitter. Dorsal habitus (5); head, pronotum and elytral base in dorsal view (6); head, prothorax and anterior portion of mesothorax in ventral view (7); pterothorax in ventral view (8); aedeagus in ventral (9), dorsal (10) and lateral (11) views.