Maladera shaowuensis 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 : 24-26

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

Figures 3 F–I, 84

Type material examined. Holotype: ♂ “ China prov. Fujian bor. occ. Shaowu env. 25km road Shaowu -Taining 5.- 10.7. M. Nikodym lgt. 1991/ [ex] Coll. Milan Nikodym, Praha/ 546 Sericini Asia spec.” ( ZFMK).

Description. Length: 10.1 mm, length of elytra: 6.9 mm, width: 6.2 mm. Body oblong, reddish brown, antenna yellowish, surface dull, anterior labroclypeus shiny, except a few short setae on head and sides of elytra, glabrous.

Labroclypeus wide and subtrapezoidal, widest at base, lateral margins moderately convex and convergent anteriorly, anterior angles moderately rounded; anterior margin weakly emarginate medially; margins moderately reflexed; lateral margin and ocular canthus produce an indistinct angle; surface basally dull, weakly convex medially, finely, densely punctate, with a few single erect setae on anterior third; frontoclypeal suture finely incised, angled medially; smooth area anterior to eye convex, twice as wide as long; ocular canthus short and narrow (1/3 of ocular diameter), finely sparsely punctate, terminal seta present. Frons with moderately dense, irregular, fine punctures, with a few single setae beside eyes and behind frontoclypeal suture. Eyes small, ratio diameter/ interocular width: 0.52. Antenna with ten antennomeres; club with three antennomeres and straight, little longer than remaining antennomeres combined. Mentum elevated and slightly flattened anteriorly.

Pronotum narrow, widest at base, lateral margins weakly convex and moderately convergent anteriorly, anterior angles distinctly produced and sharp, posterior angles blunt; anterior margin weakly convex, with fine marginal line being medially widely interrupted, base without marginal line; surface finely and densely punctate, with minute setae in punctures; anterior and lateral margin sparsely finely setose; hypomeron carinate, not produced ventrally. Scutellum wide, triangular, with fine and dense punctures.

Elytra widest at middle, striae finely impressed, finely and densely punctate, intervals weakly convex, with fine, moderately dense punctures, penultimate interval with a few single short, erect setae, otherwise with minute setae in punctures; epipleural margin robust, ending at convex external apical angle of elytra, epipleura sparsely setose; apical border of elytra broadly membraneous, with a robust rim of microtrichomes (visible at ca 100x magnification). Ventral surface dull, finely and densely punctate, nearly glabrous, metasternal disc sparsely covered with longer erect setae; metacoxa with minute setae in punctures and with a few longer setae laterally. Abdominal sternites finely and densely punctate, glabrous, each sternite with a transverse row of punctures each bearing a fine seta. Mesosternum between mesocoxae as wide as mesofemur. Ratio of length of metepisternum/metacoxa: 1/1.86. Pygidium strongly convex, dull, finely and densely punctate, without smooth midline, with a few long setae along apical margin.

Legs moderately long and wide; femora shiny, with two longitudinal rows of setae, finely and sparsely punctate. Anterior margin of metafemur acute, serrated; posterior ventral margin smooth and in apical half concave, distinctly widened at apex, apex with a blunt angle, dorsal posterior margin smooth, neither serrate, glabrous. Metatibia long and moderately wide, widest at middle, ratio of width/length: 1/2.3, sharply carinate dorsally, with two groups of spines, basal group at middle, apical group at three quarters of metatibial length, in basal half with a serrated line beside dorsal margin and few short single spines close to dorsal margin; lateral face longitudinally convex, finely densely punctate, with minute setae in punctures; ventral margin finely serrate, with five robust equidistant setae; medial face smooth and glabrous; apex finely serrate, very shallowly emarginate interiorly near tarsal articulation. Tarsomeres dorsally impunctate, glabrous, neither laterally nor dorsally carinate, moderately setose ventrally; metatarsomeres glabrous and with a strongly serrated ridge ventrally and a smooth subventral longitudinal carina; first metatarsomere slightly shorter than following two tarsomeres combined and as long as dorsal tibial spur. Protibia moderately long, bidentate; anterior claws symmetrical, basal tooth of both claws bluntly truncate at apex.

Aedeagus: Fig. 3 F–H. Habitus: Fig. 3I . Female unknown.

Diagnosis. Maladera shaowuensis Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu , sp. n. differs from the syntopically occurring Maladera secreta (Brenske) in the shape of the aedeagus: the parameres do not possess a basal lobe, and the median apical phallobasal process is nearly completely reduced in length; the parameres are slightly shorter and more compact in the new species.

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

Distribution. See map ( Fig. 84 ) and Table 1.

Figures

FIGURE 3. A–E: Maladera secreta (Brenske, 1897) (holotype: Autoserica cruralis Frey, 1972); F–I: M. shaowuensis Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, sp. n. (holotype); J–M: M. euphorbiae (Burmeister, 1855) (China: Xinjiang: Ining). A, F, J: aedeagus, left side lateral view; D, H, L: aedeagus, right side lateral view; B, C, G, K: parameres, dorsal view; E, I, M: habitus. Scale: 0.5 mm. Habitus not to scale.

FIGURE 84. Distribution of the subgenus Aserica: Maladera secreta (Brenske, 1897), M. shaowuensis sp. n..