Maladera bawanglingana Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, 2021

Fabrizi, Silvia, Liu, Wan-Gang, Bai, Ming, Yang, Xing-Ke & Ahrens, Dirk, 2021, A monograph of the genus Maladera Mulsant & Rey, 1871 of China (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Melolonthinae: Sericini), Zootaxa 4922 (1), pp. 1-400 : 278-279

Maladera bawanglingana Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu , sp. n.

Figures 65 E–H, 121

Type material examined. Holotype: ♂ “[ China] Hainan, Bawangling, East 2 Forestry Farm / LW-1263” ( ISAZ).

Description. Length: 10.6 mm, length of elytra: 7.6 mm, width: 6.0 mm. Body oval, dark brown, antenna brown, labroclypeus shiny, remainder of dorsal surface dull, glabrous.

Labroclypeus subtrapezoidal, widest at base, lateral margins convex and convergent to strongly rounded anterior angles, lateral margin and ocular canthus producing a blunt angle, margins moderately reflexed, anterior margin weakly emarginate medially; surface flat, base dull, finely and densely punctate, with few long, erect setae; frontoclypeal suture weakly impressed and angled medially; smooth area in front of eye approximately three times as wide as long; ocular canthus long and narrow, finely punctate, with 1-2 short terminal setae. Frons with fine, dense punctures, glabrous except for a few long setae beside eyes. Eyes moderately large, ratio of diameter/interocular width: 0.7. Antenna with 10 antennomeres; club with three antennomeres, 1.5 times as long as remaining antennomeres combined. Mentum anteriorly elevated and flattened.

Pronotum subtrapezoidal, widest shortly before base, lateral margins convex and convergent anteriorly and posteriorly, anterior angles produced and sharp, anterior margin weakly convex, marginal line widely interrupted medially; surface finely and densely punctate, glabrous; anterior and lateral margins sparsely setose; hypomeron carinate, not produced ventrally. Scutellum wide, triangular, with fine and dense punctures, each bearing a single minute seta.

Elytra oblong, widest shortly behind middle, striae distinctly impressed, finely and densely punctate, intervals weakly convex, with fine, moderately dense punctures concentrated along striae, odd intervals with a few fine, erect, short setae, otherwise punctures with a very minute seta; epipleural margin robust, ending at strongly rounded external apical angle of elytra, epipleura sparsely setose, apical border membraneous, with a narrow rim of short microtrichomes.

Ventral surface dull, metasternum and metacoxa with large and dense punctures, sparsely setose; metacoxa glabrous except for a several long setae laterally. Abdominal sternites, in addition to generally distributed fine and moderately dense punctures, each with a distinct transverse row of coarse punctures each bearing a short and robust seta, punctures with microscopic setae, penultimate sternite apically with a shiny smooth short chitinous border. Mesosternum between mesocoxae narrower than mesofemur. Ratio of length of metepisternum/metacoxa: 1/1.58. Pygidium small, weakly convex, finely densely punctate, with a few longer setae beside apical margin.

Legs moderately long and wide; femora with two longitudinal rows of setae, finely and moderately densely punctate; metafemur dull, anterior margin acute, lacking an adjacent serrated line, anterior longitudinal row of setae reduced; posterior ventral margin medially straight, weakly widened in apical half and serrate, dorsal posterior margin completely serrate, finely setose. Metatibia moderately wide and long, widest at apex, ratio width/length: 1/3.19, dorsally sharply carinate, with two groups of spines, basal one at one third, apical one at three quarters of metatibial length; lateral face longitudinally convex, with dense and fine, longitudinally impressed punctures, punctures with minute setae; ventral margin serrate, with two widely distant spines; medial face finely sparsely punctate, apex interiorly near tarsal articulation shallowly concave. Tarsomeres finely densely punctate dorsally, ventrally with sparse, short setae; metatarsomeres ventrally glabrous, with a strongly serrated ridge, and a subventral longitudinal carina beside it; first metatarsomere as long as following two tarsomeres combined and one quarter of its length longer than dorsal tibial spur. Protibia short, bidentate. All claws symmetrical, feebly curved and long, with normally developed basal tooth.

Aedeagus: Fig. 65 E–G. Habitus: Fig. 65H . Female unknown.

Diagnosis. Maladera bawanglingana Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu , sp. n. differs from other members of this species group that possess a ventromedian phallobasal process, by having the surface of the process microreticulate (rather than smooth) and not exceeding the apex of phallobase.

Etymology. The name (adjective in the nominative singular case) of the new species is derived from the name of its type locality, Bawangling.

Distribution. See map ( Fig. 121 ) and Table 1.

Figures

FIGURE 65. A–D: Maladera constellata Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, sp. n. (holotype); E–H: M. bawanglingana Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, sp. n. (holotype); I–L: M. beidouensis Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, sp. n. (holotype). A, E, I: aedeagus, left side lateral view; C, G, K: aedeagus, right side lateral view; B, F, J: parameres, dorsal view; D, H, L: habitus. Scale: 0.5 mm. Habitus not to scale.

FIGURE 121. Distribution of the Maladera uncipenis group: Maladera baii sp. n., M. bawanglingana sp. n., M. beidouensis sp. n., M. chinensis (Moser, 1915), M. dadongshanica sp. n., M. dayaoshanica sp. n., M. emeifengensis sp. n., M. excisilabrata sp. n..