Maladera xuezhongi 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 : 289-291

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

Figures 68 E–H, 125

Type material examined. Holotype: ♂ “[ China] Hongqi Forestry Farm, Shangsi , Guangxi, 28.V. 1999, 300m, leg. Zhang Xuezhong / LW-722” ( IZAS).

Description. Length: 9.1 mm, length of elytra: 6.8 mm, width: 5.1 mm. Body oval, dark brown, antenna yellow, labroclypeus shiny, remainder of dorsal surface dull, except a few small setae on head and elytra glabrous.

Labroclypeus subtrapezoidal, moderately wider than long, widest at base, lateral margins convex and moderately convergent to strongly rounded anterior angles, lateral margin and ocular canthus producing an indistinct blunt angle, margins moderately reflexed; anterior margin weakly emarginate medially; surface moderately weakly convex, shiny, finely and densely punctate, with few long, erect setae anteriorly; frontoclypeal suture indistinctly impressed and weakly angled medially; smooth area in front of eye approximately twice as wide as long; ocular canthus short and wide, finely superficially punctate, with one terminal seta. Frons dull, anteriorly shiny, with fine, moderately dense punctures, glabrous except for a few setae beside eyes. Eyes moderately large, ratio of diameter/ interocular width: 0.64. Antenna with 10 antennomeres; club with three antennomeres, as long as remaining antennomeres combined. Mentum anteriorly elevated and flattened.

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

Elytra oblong, widest at middle, striae distinctly impressed, finely and densely punctate, intervals weakly convex, with fine, dense punctures 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 densely setose, apical border membraneous, with a 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 chitinous border being a quarter as long as the sternite. Mesosternum between mesocoxae as wide as mesofemur. Ratio of length of metepisternum/metacoxa: 1/1.62. Pygidium moderately convex, coarsely and densely punctate, without smooth midline, punctures with microscopic setae and with a few long setae on apical half.

Legs moderately wide and long; femora with two longitudinal rows of setae, finely and moderately densely punctate; metafemur dull, anterior margin acute, lacking an adjacent serrated line, posterior ventral margin straight, weakly widened in apical half and completely serrate, dorsal margin finely serrate, finely setose. Metatibia moderately wide and long, widest at apex, ratio width/length: 1/2.8, dorsally sharply carinate, with two groups of spines, basal one shortly behind middle, apical one at four fifths of metatibial length, with a contiguous and straight serrated line from base to basal group of spines, beside it with a few punctures with fine spines; lateral face longitudinally convex, with moderately dense and fine punctures, with minute setae in punctures; ventral margin serrate, with four equidistant spines; medial face densely finely punctate, apex interiorly near tarsal articulation shallowly concave. Tarsomeres impunctate dorsally, ventrally with sparse, short setae; metatarsomeres ventrally glabrous, with a strongly serrated ridge, beside a fine subventral longitudinal carina; first metatarsomere as long as 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. 68 E–G. Habitus: Fig. 68H . Female unknown.

Diagnosis. The shape of the aedeagus in Maladera xuezhongi Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu , sp. n. is similar to that of M. crenolatipes Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu , sp. n. However, general proportions of the morphology of the aedeagus is nearly a mirror image compared to that of M. crenolatipes Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu , sp. n.: the basal lobe of left paramere is very large, and the right paramere (longer than the left) is dorsoventrally widened medially.

Etymology. The new species is named after its collector, Zhang Xuezhong (noun in the genitive singular case).

Distribution. See map ( Fig. 125 ) and Table 1.

Figures

FIGURE 68.A–D: Maladera lianxianensisAhrens, Fabrizi & Liu, sp. n. (holotype); E–H: M. xuezhongi Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, sp. n. (holotype); I–L: M. crenatotibialisAhrens, 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 125. Distribution of the Maladera crenolatipes group: Maladera crenolatipes sp. n., M. crenatotibialis sp. n., M. fuanensis sp. n., M. lianxianensis sp. n., M. sanqingshanica sp. n., M. xuezhongi sp. n..