Cephennium (Macroderus) alacantae Assing 2021, nov.sp.
Creators: name: Assing, Volker
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2021
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Staphylinidae
Cephennium
Cephennium alacantae

description: Cephennium (Macroderus) alacantae nov.sp. (Figs 12-14, 59-64, Map 3)
Type material: Holotype ♂: "15.3.95 Spanien, Prov. Alicante, Sierra Bernia 800 m, leg. Meybohm / Holotypus ♂ Cephennium alacantae sp. n. det. V. Assing 2020" (cAss). Paratypes: 9♂♂, 3♀♀: same data as holotype (cAss); 8♂♂, 3♀♀: "14.3.78 Spanien, Prov. Alicante, Sierra de Bernia " (cAss); 1♂: same data, but 26.3.78 (cAss); 3♂♂, 2♀♀: same data, but 19.3.78 (cAss); 7♂♂, 1♀: "17.3.94 Spanien, Prov. Alicante, Sierra Aitana, 1300 m, leg. Meybohm " (cAss); 1♂, 1♀ [teneral]: "E Alicante (51) Sierra de Aitana, 1350 m, N38°39'15 W0°15'35, 7.10.2008 leg. Meybohm " (cAss); 2♀♀ [teneral]: "E Alicante (47) Sierra de Aitana, 950 m, N38°38'28 W0°11'04, 7.10.2008 leg. Meybohm " (cAss).
Etymology: The specific epithet is the genitive of Alacant, the Valencian name for Alicante, where the species was found and where it is probably endemic.
Description: Body length 1.35-1.55 mm. Body (Fig. 12) robust and strongly convex in cross-section; colouration reddish to brown.
Antennae slender, 0.7-0.8 mm long; antennomeres VI and VIII not transverse, VII only indistinctly longer and larger than VI and VIII at most, and IX and X weakly transverse, less than 1.5 times as broad as long. Eyes composed of approximately five large ommatidia without, or with weak, pigmentation.
Pronotum large, strongly convex in cross-section, 1.3-1.4 times as broad as long, and very glossy; punctation sparse and extremely fine, barely noticeable even at high magnification (100 x); pubescence long and suberect to depressed; interstices without trace of microsculpture.
Elytra slightly broader than pronotum, strongly convex in cross-section; anteriorly with pronounced lateral humeral carina, without supra-humeral carina; anterior impressions tomentose and of subcircular shape, posteriorly extending into a conspicuous sulcus of approximately the combined length of the basal 4-5 antennomeres (Fig. 14); pubescence similar to that of pronotum. Metaventrite (Fig. 13) practically impunctate and very glossy. Legs without appreciable sexual dimorphism; all tibiae more or less distinctly clavate, i.e., narrow in basal half and distinctly dilated in apical half.
♂: metaventrite distinctly impressed (Fig. 13); aedeagus (Figs 59-64) of robust shape, 0.38-0.44 mm long; median lobe apically convex in ventral view; internal structures distinctive; parameres slender, apically not extending to apex of median lobe, and with moderately long apical seta.
Intraspecific variation: The aedeagus of the males from Sierra de Bernia is constantly larger (0.42-0.44 mm) than that of males from Sierra de Aitana (0.38-0.39 mm). However, in other respects (shape of ventral process, internal structures), the aedeagi are identical (Figs 59-64). Therefore, the size difference is attributed to intra- rather than interspecific variation.
Comparative notes: This species is distinguished from C. divergens, the only previously described Macroderus species, by significantly larger size alone.
Distribution and natural history: The species was found in two mountains (Sierra de Bernia, Sierra de Aitana) in Alicante, Southeast Spain (Map 3). The altitudes range from 800 to 1350 m. Three females collected in October are teneral.
description: Published as part of Assing, Volker, 2021, On the Cephennium fauna of the Iberian Peninsula and the Atlantic Islands (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Scydmaeninae), pp. 891-931 in Linzer biologische Beiträge 52 (2) on pages 925-926, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.5039032