Maladera jiangi 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 : 236-237

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

Figures 54 E–H, 118

Type material examined. Holotype: ♂ “[ China] Tianchi, Mt. Jianfengling , Hainan, 26.VII.1983, leg. Jiang Shigui / LW-780” ( LSSYU) . Paratypes: 1 ♂ “[ China] Top of Mt. Jianfengling , Hainan, 2.VI.1983, light trap, leg. Gu Maobin” ( ZFMK) , 1 ♂ “[ China] Tianchi, Mt. Jianfengling , Hainan, 2.V.1973, leg. Chen Xin ” ( IZAS) .

Description. Length: 11.9 mm, length of elytra: 8.8 mm, width: 7.6 mm. Body oval, reddish brown, antenna brown, dorsal surface dull, except a few small setae on head and elytra glabrous.

Labroclypeus subtrapezoidal, little wider than long, widest at base, lateral margins weakly convex and convergent to strongly rounded anterior angles, lateral margin and ocular canthus producing a blunt angle, margins moderately reflexed, anteriorly shallowly emarginate medially; surface moderately convex medially, dull, coarsely and densely punctate, with a transverse row of long, erect setae anteriorly; frontoclypeal suture feebly impressed and moderately angled medially; smooth area in front of eye approximately three times as wide as long; ocular canthus short and wide, finely punctate, with one terminal seta. Frons dull, with fine, moderately dense punctures, with long setae beside eyes and at center. Eyes small, ratio of diameter/interocular width: 0.48. Antenna with 10 antennomeres; club with three antennomeres, 1.3 times as long as remaining antennomeres combined. Mentum anteriorly elevated and flattened.

Pronotum subtrapezoidal, widest at base, lateral margins convex and evenly convergent anteriorly, anterior angles moderately produced and sharp, anterior margin weakly convex, marginal line complete; surface moderately finely and densely punctate, with minute setae in punctures; anterior and lateral margins sparsely setose; hypomeron carinate. Scutellum wide, triangular, with fine and moderately dense punctures each bearing a single minute seta, punctures along middle less dense.

Elytra oval, widest at middle, striae distinctly impressed, finely and densely punctate, intervals almost flat, with fine, dense punctures being on third and fifth intervals concentrated along striae, odd intervals with a few fine, erect, short setae, otherwise punctures with minute setae; epipleural margin robust, ending at the strongly rounded external apical angle of elytra, epipleura sparsely setose, apical border membraneous, with a fine rim of very short microtrichomes.

Ventral surface dull, metasternum with large and dense punctures, densely setose, metacoxa with minute setae in large punctures, with 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, otherwise punctures each with a microscopic seta. Mesosternum between mesocoxae as wide as mesofemur. Ratio of length of metepisternum/metacoxa: 1/1.66. Pygidium weakly convex, finely and moderately densely punctate, without smooth midline, punctures with microscopic setae, with a few short and long setae along apical margin.

Legs short and moderately wide; femora with two longitudinal rows of setae, finely and sparsely punctate. Metafemur dull, anterior margin acute, lacking an adjacent serrated line, posterior ventral margin medially straight, weakly widened in apical half and not serrate, dorsally not serrated, finely setose. Metatibia moderately wide and long, widest at apex, ratio width/length: 1/2.9, dorsally sharply carinate, with two groups of spines, basal one at middle, apical one at three quarters of metatibial length, without contiguous serrated line basally; lateral face longitudinally convex, nearly impunctate; ventral margin finely serrate, with four equidistant spines; medial face impunctate; apex interiorly near tarsal articulation shallowly concave. Tarsomeres impunctate dorsally, ventrally with sparse, short setae; metatarsomeres ventrally with a strongly serrated ridge, beside with subventral longitudinal carina; first metatarsomere shorter than following two tarsomeres combined and slightly longer than dorsal tibial spur. Protibia short, bidentate. All claws symmetrical, feebly curved and long, with normally developed basal tooth.

Aedeagus: Fig. 54 E–G. Habitus: Fig. 54H . Female unknown.

Diagnosis. Maladera jiangi Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu , sp. n. differs from M. bawanglingensis Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu , sp. n. in having a narrower (lateral view) left paramere, and a lateral subapical tooth on right paramere.

Etymology. The new species is named after the collector of the holotype, Jiang Shigui (noun in genitive singular case).

Variation. Length: 11.0– 12.5 mm, length of elytra: 7.9–9.0 mm, width: 7.5–8.1 mm.

Distribution. See map ( Fig. 118 ) and Table 1.

Figures

FIGURE 54. A–D: Maladera bawanglingensis Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, sp. n. (holotype); E–H: M. jiangi Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, sp. n. (holotype); I–L: M. beibengensis 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 118. Distribution of the Maladera ferruginea group: Maladera bawanglingensis sp. n., M. beibengensis sp. n., M. bubengensis sp. n., M. jiangi sp. n., M. pui sp. n..