Maladera xingkei 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 : 59-61

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

Figures 11 E–H, 94

Type material examined. Holotype ♂ “ Longmenhe, Xingshan , Hubei, 6.V.1994, 1300m, leg. Yang Xingke / LW- 932” ( IZAS) . Paratypes: 6 ♂♂, 6 ♀♀ “ China: Hubei; Dahongshan 1700m, Shuizhou VI-2003 leg. Ying et al. ” ( ZFMK) , 2 ♂♂ “ China: Fujian Province; Mt. Liangshan-ding, Wuping county , July 2-13, 2009 local collectors Ankauf via Li Jingke 2010” ( ZFMK) .

Description. Length: 9.9 mm, length of elytra: 5.9 mm, width: 4.4 mm. Body oval, dark reddish brown, antenna yellow, labroclypeus shiny, remainder of dorsal surface dull, glabrous, except for a few small setae on the head and elytra.

Labroclypeus subtrapezoidal, distinctly wider than long, widest at base, lateral margins weakly convex and convergent to strongly rounded anterior angles, lateral margin and ocular canthus producing a distinct blunt angle, margins moderately reflexed; anterior margin very shallowly emarginate medially; surface convex medially, weakly shiny, coarsely punctate, with a few short, erect setae; frontoclypeal suture feebly impressed and weakly curved medially; smooth area in front of eye approximately twice as wide as long; ocular canthus short and moderately wide, finely punctate, short terminal seta lacking. Frons with fine, moderately dense punctures, glabrous except for a few setae beside eyes and frontoclypeal suture. Eyes small, ratio diameter/ interocular width: 0.52. Antenna yellow, with 10 antennomeres; club with three antennomeres, as long as remaining antennomeres combined. Mentum anteriorly elevated and flattened.

Pronotum widest at base, lateral margins weakly and evenly convex and convergent anteriorly, anterior angles distinctly produced and sharp, anterior margin weakly convex, marginal line widely interrupted medially; surface moderately finely and densely punctate, with minute setae in punctures; anterior and lateral margins sparsely setose. Scutellum wide, triangular, with fine and moderately dense punctures, each bearing a single very minute seta.

Elytra oblong, widest at middle, striae distinctly impressed, finely and densely punctate, odd intervals moderately convex, even intervals nearly flat, with fine, moderately dense punctures concentrated along striae; epipleural margin robust, ending at the weakly convex external apical angle of elytra, epipleura densely setose, apical border chitinous, without visible short microtrichomes.

Ventral surface dull, thorax and metacoxa with large dense punctures, sparsely setose, metacoxa glabrous except for a few long setae laterally. Abdominal sternites, in addition to generally distributed fine and moderately dense punctures, with a distinct transverse row of coarse punctures each bearing a short and robust seta, some punctures with microscopic setae, penultimate sternite apically with a shiny smooth chitinous border, which is a quarter as long as sternite. Mesosternum between mesocoxae as wide as mesofemur. Ratio of length of metepisternum/ metacoxa: 1/ 1.61. Pygidium strongly convex, finely and densely punctate, without smooth midline, punctures with minute setae and with a few long setae along apical margin.

Legs moderately narrow 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 medially straight, weakly widened in apical half and not serrate, posterior dorsal margin not serrated, finely setose. Metatibia moderately wide and long, widest at apex, ratio width/ length: 1/ 3.5, dorsally sharply carinate, with two groups of spines, basal one at middle, apical one at four fifths of metatibial length, basally with a few punctures, each bearing short single spines; lateral face shiny and longitudinally convex, with sparse and fine punctures, with minute setae in punctures; ventral margin serrate, with four strong 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 it with smooth subventral longitudinal carina; first metatarsomere as long as following two tarsomeres combined and one third 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. 11 E–G. Habitus: Fig. 11H .

Diagnosis. Maladera xingkei Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu , sp. n. is very similar to M. dahingshanica Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu , sp. n. in shape of the aedeagus, but differs in having the left paramere shorter and more compact and the right paramere narrower basally.

Etymology. The new species is dedicated to Prof. Xingke Yang (Beijing) (noun in the genitive singular case).

Variation. Length: 9.5–9.9 mm, length of elytra: 5.9–7.0 mm, width: 4.4–6.2 mm. The colour may vary to lighter reddish brown. In paratypes basal widening of the left paramere little shorter than in holotype. Female: eyes as large as in male; antennal club with three antennomeres, little shorter than remaining antennomeres combined; pygidium weakly convex.

Distribution. See map ( Fig. 94 ) and Table 1.

Figures

FIGURE 11. A–D: Maladera dahongshanica Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, sp. n. (holotype); E–H: M. xingkei Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, sp. n. (holotype); I–L: M. shiniushanensis 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 94. Distribution of the subgenus Omaladera: Maladera sontica (Brenske, 1898), M. verticalis (Fairmaire, 1888), M. weni sp. n., M. wuliangshanensis sp. n., M. xingkei sp. n., M. yibini sp. n..