Ant-like stone beetles on the roof of the world. Cephenniini of Nepal and Bhutan (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Scydmaeninae)
Author
Jałoszyński, Paweł
text
Zootaxa
2017
2017-11-15
4349
1
1
120
journal article
31536
10.11646/zootaxa.4349.1.1
3e5cd781-3051-4527-bace-d222e83d8398
1175-5326
1049190
DDFDC23A-FB21-41E2-B38B-A0FD19F5BFAE
Cephennodes simplicipes
species group
The previously defined
Cephennodes inflatipes
species group included forms with modified, spatulate metatibiae in males, the aedeagus of
simonis
form and very small in relation to the abdomen. Some of species included in this group were unique in having also abdominal sternites in males modified. One species, not placed in any group,
C. simplicipes
Jałoszyński, 2007b
(
China
)
, is very similar to those placed in the
inflatipes
group, but its metatibiae are unmodified, whereas the abdomen is modified. Many similar species were found in
Nepal
, and three morphological variants of male secondary sexual modifications are very useful in identifying species that share a very similar aedeagal structures: i) the metatibiae spatulate and abdomen modified (
C. spatulipes
group); ii) the metatibiae spatulate and abdomen unmodified (
C. inflatipes
group); iii) metatibiae unmodified and abdomen modified (
C. simplicipes
group).
The latter variant is here described as the
Cephennodes simplicipes
species group, comprising species that share a small aedeagus of the
simonis
form, with a large apical projection, its apex directed toward the apex of the median lobe, the ventral wall of median lobe lacking setae; metatibiae in males unmodified; abdomen in males with carinae and/or projections on some sternites. This group includes
C. simplicipes
and 16 new species discovered in Nepal, described below.