Maladera hutiaoensis 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 : 322-323

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

Figures 76 E–H, 129

Type material examined. Holotype. ♂ “[ China] Yunnan ca. 2000m 27.15N 100.09E Hutiao gorge Jinsha r. 18.- 22.7.92 leg. David Kral / 561 Sericini Asia spec.” ( ZFMK) . Paratypes: 3 ♂♂, 3 ♀♀ “[ China] Yunnan cca 2000m 27.15N 100.09E Hutiao gorge Jinsha r. 18-22/7. Vit Kuban leg. 92” ( ZFMK) , 1 ♀ “[ China] Yunnan 3000m 27.05N 100.1E Yulongshan mts. Ganhaizi pass 4/7. Vit Kuban leg. 92” ( ZFMK) , 1 ♂ “ China Yunnan, 24.-28.VI. Daju-Tiger Gorge 27.21N 100.19E lgt. S. Becvar 1992” ( ZFMK), 1 ♂ “ China Yunnan, 27-28.6. Daju, 27°21”N, 100°19’E E. Jendek leg. 1992/ Coll. P. Pacholatko / CS 68” ( CP) .

Description. Length: 11.5 mm, length of elytra: 7.7 mm, width: 6.4 mm. Body oval, dark reddish brown, antenna yellowish, dorsal surface slightly iridescent shiny, head shiny, dorsal surface almost glabrous.

Labroclypeus wide and trapezoidal, much wider than long, widest at base, lateral margins straight and strongly convergent anteriorly, anterior angles strongly rounded, anterior margin weakly emarginate medially, margins moderately reflexed, lateral margins produce an indistinct angle with the ocular canthus; surface weakly convex, finely and densely punctate, glabrous, with a row of fine erect seta behind the anterior margin; frontoclypeal suture finely incised, not elevated and weakly angled medially; smooth area anterior to eye wide, almost flat, three times as wide as long; ocular canthus moderately long and wide (1/2.5 of ocular diameter), finely densely punctate, with a single terminal seta. Frons with dense, fine punctures, with two distant erect setae beside each eye. Eyes small, ratio diameter/ interocular width: 0.6. Antenna with ten antennomeres, club with three antennomeres and straight, slightly longer than the remaining antennomeres combined. Mentum elevated and slightly flattened anteriorly. Labrum slightly produced medially, transverse, with deep median emargination.

Pronotum moderately transverse, widest shortly before base, lateral margins weakly convex, in basal half nearly subparallel, in anterior half evenly convergent anteriorly, anterior angles distinctly produced and moderately acute, posterior angles strongly rounded; anterior margin convexly produced medially, with a fine and complete marginal line, base of pronotum without marginal line; surface finely and densely punctate, punctures with very minute setae only, otherwise glabrous; lateral anterior and lateral margins setose; hypomeron carinate. Scutellum wide triangular, at apex sharp, with fine, evenly dense punctures, with only very minute setae.

Elytra widest in posterior third, striae distinctly impressed, finely and moderately densely punctate, intervals flat, with fine and evenly dense punctures, except the very minute setae in the punctures glabrous; epipleural margin robust, ending at strongly curved external apical angle of elytra, elytra along the apical margin convexly elevated; epipleura densely setose, apical border membraneous and with a fine fringe of microtrichomes (100x).

Ventral surface dull, coarsely and densely punctate, metepisternum distally impunctate, metasternum sparsely covered with fine, short or very minute setae, metacoxa glabrous, with a few single setae laterally; abdominal sternites finely and densely punctuate, with a transverse row of coarse punctures, each bearing a robust seta. Mesosternum between mesocoxae half as wide as the slender mesofemur. Ratio of length of metepisternum/ metacoxa: 1/ 1.4. Pygidium weakly convex and dull, coarsely and densely punctate, without smooth midline, with a few fine white adjacent setae and a few longer setae along the apical margin.

Legs wide and moderately long; femur with two longitudinal row of setae, finely and sparsely punctate; metafemur dull, behind the posterior longitudinal row of setae punctures finer and more dense, anterior margin acute, without serrated line behind anterior margin, posterior margin smooth ventrally in apical half, moderately widened, posterior margin smooth dorsally, with just a few short setae basally. Metatibia wide and flattened, moderately long, widest at three quarters of metatibial length, ratio of width/ length: 1/ 2.89, sharply carinate dorsally, with two groups of spines, basal group just before the middle, apical group at three quarters of metatibial length, basally with a few short robust single spines; lateral face longitudinally convex, finely and sparsely punctate, glabrous; ventral margin finely serrated, with four robust equidistant setae; medial face smooth, apex finely serrated, interiorly near tarsal articulation weakly concavely emarginate. Tarsomeres dorsally smooth and glabrous, neither laterally nor dorsally carinate, ventrally robustly densely setose; metatarsomeres ventrally with a strongly serrated ridge, first metatarsomere slightly shorter than the two following 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. 76 E–G. Habitus: Fig. 76H .

Diagnosis. The species differs from all other Chinese Maladera in having a smooth elytra surface with very indistinct striae and completely flat intervals.

Etymology. The species name (adjective in the nominative singular case) is derived from the name of its type locality placed in the Hutiao gorge (Yunnan).

Variation. Length: 10.4–12.4 mm, length of elytra: 6.9–8.4 mm, width: 5.6–6.6 mm. Female: eyes smaller than in male, ratio of diameter/interocular width: 0.45; antennal club with three antennomeres, slightly shorter than remaining antennomeres combined; pygidium weakly convex.

Distribution. See map ( Fig. 129 ) and Table 1.

Figures

FIGURE 76. A–D: Maladera baishaoensis Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, sp. n. (holotype); E–H: M. hutiaoensis Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, sp. n. (holotype); I–L: M. jinggangshanica 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 129. Distribution of Maladera species with uncertain systematic status: Maladera baishaoensis sp. n., M. hutiaoensis sp. n., M. jinggangshanica sp. n., M. lukjanovitschi (Medvedev, 1966), M. luoxiangensis sp. n., M. nabanensis sp. n., M. nanlingensis sp. n..