Maladera pseudosenta 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 : 153-154

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

Figures 33 I–L, 103

Type material examined. Holotype: ♂ “[ China] Yunnan, Xishuangbanna, Mengla , Shengwuduoyangxinglangdao/ LW-1290” ( ISAZ) . Paratypes: 1 ♂ “ Laos, 21°09’N 101°19’E, Louangnamtha pr., Namtha + Muang Sing 5-31.v.1997, 900- 1200m Vit Kuban leg./ LS26/ 264 Sericini Asia spec.” ( CP) .

Description. Length: 9.4 mm, length of elytra: 7.1 mm, width: 5.4 mm. Body oblong-oval, dark brown, dull, labroclypeus shiny, dorsal face nearly glabrous.

Labroclypeus moderately wide and subtrapezoidal, widest at base, lateral margins weakly convex and convergent anteriorly, anterior angles strongly convex, anterior margin straight (not tridentate seen from behind), margins strongly reflexed; lateral margin and ocular canthus produce an indistinct angle; surface weakly carinate medially, coarsely, densely punctate, with erect, long and robust setae; frontoclypeal suture finely incised, medially angled; smooth area anterior to eye small and flat, twice as wide as long; ocular canthus short and wide (1/3 of ocular diameter), finely densely punctate, with a terminal seta. Frons dull, with dense and fine punctures, with a few single setae beside eyes and behind frontoclypeal suture. Eyes moderately large, ratio diameter/ interocular width: 0.58.Antenna with ten antennomeres; club with three antennomeres and straight, 1.2 times as long as remaining antennomeres combined. Mentum elevated and slightly flattened anteriorly.

Pronotum moderately transverse, widest shortly before base, lateral margins evenly convex and convergent in anterior half and towards base, anterior angles distinctly produced and sharp, posterior angles blunt, rounded at tip; anterior margin straight, with fine marginal line, base without marginal line; surface moderately finely and densely punctate, with minute setae in punctures and a numerous long setae on disc; anterior and lateral margin robustly setose; hypomeron carinate, not produced ventrally. Scutellum wide, triangular, with fine, sparse punctures.

Elytra widest at middle, striae finely impressed, finely and densely punctate, intervals weakly convex, with fine, sparse punctures concentrated along striae and with minute setae in punctures, odd intervals with a few long single setae in coarse punctures; epipleural margin fine, ending at external apical angle of elytra, epipleura densely setose; apical border of elytra membraneous, with a very fine rim of microtrichomes (visible at ca 100x magnification).

Ventral surface moderately shiny, coarsely and densely punctate, nearly glabrous, metasternal disc sparsely covered with fine, short setae; metacoxa with a few longer setae laterally. Abdominal sternites finely and densely punctate, punctures with minute setae, each sternite with a transverse row of punctures each bearing a fine seta; penultimate sternite with a wide chitinous and shiny rim being as wide as median sternite. Mesosternum between mesocoxae as wide as mesofemur. Ratio of length of metepisternum/metacoxa: 1/2.1. Pygidium strongly convex, shiny, finely and densely punctate, without smooth midline, with minute setae in punctures and a few long robust setae on disc.

Legs short and wide, dull; femora with two longitudinal rows of setae, finely and sparsely punctate. Anterior margin of metafemur acute, without adjacent serrated line, anterior row of setae nearly completely reduced; posterior ventral margin smooth, strongly widened at ventral apex, dorsal posterior margin smooth, neither serrate, glabrous. Metatibia short and wide, widest at middle, ratio of width/length: 1/2.4, sharply carinate dorsally, with two groups of spines, basal group shortly behind middle, apical group at three quarters of metatibial length, in basal half with a few short and robust single setae; lateral face longitudinally convex, on base and sides sparsely punctate, otherwise smooth and glabrous; ventral margin finely serrate, with five equidistant robust setae; medial face smooth and glabrous; apex finely serrate, shallowly emarginate interiorly near tarsal articulation. Tarsomeres dorsally impunctate, glabrous, neither laterally nor dorsally carinate, moderately setose ventrally; metatarsomeres with a strongly serrated ridge ventrally and a smooth subventral longitudinal carina, glabrous; first metatarsomere as long as following two tarsomeres combined and slightly longer than dorsal tibial spur. Protibia short, bidentate; anterior claws symmetrical, basal tooth of both claws bluntly truncate at apex.

Aedeagus: Fig. 33 I–K. Habitus: Fig. 33L . Female unknown.

Diagnosis. Maladera pseudosenta Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu , sp. n. differs from the similar M. senta in that the morphology of the parameres is mirrored compared to those of M. senta . Furthermore, the distal lobes of parameres of the new species are narrow and straight. Compared to those of M. antispinosa Ahrens & Fabrizi, 2016 , the filiform parameres are distinctly longer and reflexed.

Etymology. The name of the new species (noun in apposition) is derived from the combined Gree prefix pseudo - (false) and the species name ‘ senta ’, with reference to the similarity of the species to M. senta .

Variation. Length: 9.4–10.5 mm, length of elytra: 7.1-7.4 mm, width: 5.4–6.1 mm.

Distribution. See map ( Fig. 103 ) and Table 1.

Figures

FIGURE 33. A–D: Maladera apicalis Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, sp. n. (holotype); E–H: M. senta (Brenske, 1897) (China: Fujian: Tianbao); I–L: M. pseudosenta 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 103. Distribution of the Maladera thomsoni group: Maladera jaintiaensis Ahrens & Fabrizi 2016, M. juxianensis sp. n., M. kubeceki sp. n., M. pseudosenta sp. n., M. senta (Brenske, 1897), M. straminea (Moser, 1915), M. subtruncata (Fairmaire, 1887).