Cephennodes (s. str.) gracilis, Jałoszyński, 2025

Jałoszyński, Paweł, 2025, The Cephenniini of China. X. New species and new records of Cephennodes Reitter of Yunnan (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Scydmaeninae), Zootaxa 5664 (1), pp. 1-101 : 53-54

Cephennodes (s. str.) gracilis sp. nov.

( Figs 139–141 )

Type material. Holotype: CHINA (YUNNAN Prov.): ♂, two labels: “CHINA [20] - Yunnan, / mt. W Gejiu, mixed / forest, 23º24’13’’N, / 103º07’28’’E, 1990 m, / 23.VIII.2014, V. Assing” [white, printed]; “ CEPHENNODES (s. str.) / gracilis m. / P. Jałoszyński, 2025 / HOLOTYPUS ” [red, printed] ( MNHW).

Diagnosis. Body extremely small, BL around 1 mm; antennae gradually thickened; punctures on head, pronotum and elytra fine and inconspicuous; subhumeral lines as long as 0.35 × EL. Male: lacking secondary sexual characters; aedeagus ( Figs 140–141 ) in ventral view with oval capsular region of median lobe, lacking defined apex, apical projections elongate; each paramere with 4 setae.

Description. Body of male ( Fig. 139 ) moderately strongly convex, oval, with barely marked constriction between pronotum and elytra, dark brown, covered with light brown setae. BL 1.03 mm.

Head broadest across moderately large and moderately strongly convex, coarsely faceted eyes, HL 0.13 mm, HW 0.26 mm; frontovertexal region weakly convex at middle; supraantennal tubercles weakly elevated. Punctures on clypeus and frontovertexal region fine and inconspicuous; setae short, sparse, suberect. Antennae moderately long and slender, gradually and strongly thickened, AnL 0.43 mm, antennomere 1 about as long as broad, 2 weakly elongate, 3–6 each about as long as broad, 7 slightly elongate, 8–10 each weakly transverse, 11 almost as long as 9 and 10 combined, about 1.7 × as long as broad.

Pronotum semi-oval, moderately strongly convex at middle and flattened near hind corners, equally broad between base and middle; PL 0.33 mm, PW 0.45 mm. Anterior margin in strictly dorsal view nearly straight; lateral margins strongly rounded in anterior half and straight posteriorly, finely microserrate, posterior corners nearly right-angled; posterior margin shallowly bisinuate; lateral marginal carinae simple (i.e., not doubled); lateral antebasal pits shallow but distinct, each distinctly closer to posterior than lateral pronotal margin. Punctures on pronotal disc fine and inconspicuous; setae short and moderately dense, suberect.

Elytra as wide as pronotum, together oval, broadest near anterior third; EL 0.58 mm, EW 0.45 mm, EI 1.28; subhumeral lines as long as 0.35 × EL, developed as sharp borders between elevated humerus and lower mesal region, weakly divergent posterad; basal elytral fovea on each elytron situated in middle between lateral margin of mesoscutellum and subhumeral line; elytral apices separately rounded. Punctures on elytra fine and inconspicuous; setae similar to those on pronotum.

Hind wings functional.

Metaventrite lacking lateral impressions.

Legs long and slender, unmodified.

Aedeagus ( Figs 140–141 ) of simonis form, AeL 0.15 mm; capsular region of median lobe in ventral view oval without defined apex; dorsal apical projection (= distal plate) in ventral view elongate and tapering distad, curved to the left, in lateral view curved dorsad at right angle; parameres long and relatively thick, not reaching apex of aedeagus, each with four moderately long setae in apical region.

Female. Unknown.

Distribution. S China: Yunnan.

Etymology. The Latin adjective gracilis means slender, slim; C. gracilis has an elongate body.

Remarks. Among Chinese species, C. gracilis has the aedeagus most similar to that of the previously known C. gaozhaianus and the newly described C. planus . Cephennodes gaozhaianus has a distinctly and densely punctate pronotum (in C. gracilis and C. planus punctures are inconspicuous). Cephennodes gracilis differs from C. planus in a more convex body, elytra broadest more posteriorly and with longer subhumeral lines, and also in a different shape of apical projections of the aedeagus. Moreover, C. gracilis has four parameral setae, whereas C. planus and C. gaozhaianus have three setae.

Figures

FIGURES 134–141. Cephennodes (s. str.) planus sp. nov. (134–138), and C. (s. str.) gracilis sp. nov. (139–141), males. Dorsal habitus (134, 139); and aedeagus in ventral (135, 137, 140) and lateral (136, 138, 141) views.