Maladera constellata 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 : 277-278

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

Figures 65 A–D, 122

Type material examined. Holotype: ♂ “[ China] Mt. Dadongshan , Lianxian County, Guangdong, 25.V.1997, leg. Hong Chen, No. En-048200/ LW-558” ( LSSYU).

Description. Length: 7.6 mm, length of elytra: 5.8 mm, width: 4.2 mm. Body oval, reddish brown, head darker, antenna yellowish, dorsal surface dull, labroclypeus, tarsomeres, and tibiae shiny, glabrous.

Labroclypeus moderately wide, lateral margins weakly convex and moderately convergent, anterior angles convex, anterior margin shallowly emarginate medially, lateral margins produce with ocular canthus an indistinct angle, margins weakly reflexed; surface shiny, weakly convex, finely and densely punctate, with a few long, erect setae anteriorly; smooth area in front of eyes 1.5 times as wide as long; frontoclypeal suture finely incised, bluntly angled medially; ocular canthus wide and short (1/3 of ocular diameter), finely and densely punctate, without terminal seta. Frons with fine and dense punctures, with a few single setae beside eyes. Eyes small, ratio diameter/ interocular width: 0.48. Antenna with ten antennomeres, club with three antennomeres and straight, as long as remaining antennomeres combined. Mentum convexly elevated and flattened anteriorly.

Pronotum widest at base, lateral margins weakly evenly convex and convergent anteriorly, anterior angles sharp and moderately produced; anterior margin convex, with complete but fine marginal line; basal margin without marginal line; surface finely and densely punctate, punctures with microscopic setae only, setae of lateral and anterior margin sparse; hypomeron carinate. Scutellum wide, triangular, punctation as in pronotum.

Elytra oval, widest at posterior third, striae finely impressed, finely punctate, intervals weakly convex, finely and densely punctate, with minute setae in punctures, odd intervals with a few erect short setae; epipleura ending at strongly rounded external apical angle of elytra, sparsely setose; apex of elytra with a fine membraneous rim of short microtrichomes.

Ventral face coarsely and densely punctate, mesosternum densely shortly setose, only metasternal plate with numerous robust setae; metacoxa glabrous, with a few long setae laterally. Distance between mesocoxae as wide as mesofemur. Ratio of length of metepisternum/metacoxa: 1/1.5. Abdominal sternites finely and moderately densely punctate, each with a row of coarse punctures bearing each a robust seta. Pygidium dull, moderately convex, coarsely and densely punctate, on apex with a few long setae.

Legs moderately long and wide; femora superficially and sparsely punctate, with two longitudinal rows of setae. Metafemur dull, anterior margin acute, without adjacent serrated line, anterior longitudinal row of setae absent; posterior ventral margin almost straight, only little widened in apical half and serrated, dorsal posterior margin completely serrated, glabrous. Metatibia moderately long and wide, widest shortly before apex, dorsal and ventral margin subparallel, ratio width/length: 1/3.3, weakly carinate dorsally, with two groups of spines, basal one shortly before middle, apical one at three quarters of metatibial length, basally with a few robust and short setae; lateral face weakly longitudinally convex, with dense fine punctures; medial face with dense coarse punctures, apex shallowly and concavely emarginate interiorly near tarsal articulation. Tarsomeres impunctate dorsally, with dense, fine setae ventrally; metatarsomeres ventrally glabrous, with a strongly serrated carina, subventrally with a second, smooth longitudinal carina; first metatarsomere little shorter than following two tarsomeres combined, little longer than dorsal tibial spur. Protibia short, bidentate. Anterior claws symmetrical.

Aedeagus: Fig. 65 A–C. Habitus: Fig. 65D . Female unknown.

Diagnosis. Maladera constellata Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu , sp. n. differs from Maladera xinqiaoensis Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu , sp. n. in having the ventral proccesses of the phallobase exceeding the parameres and the left paramere being bifid and strongly bent at middle.

Etymology. The name of the new species (adjective in the nominative singular case) is derived from the Latin adjective constellatus (equated).

Distribution. See map ( Fig. 122 ) and Table 1.

Figures

FIGURE 65. A–D: Maladera constellata Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, sp. n. (holotype); E–H: M. bawanglingana Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, sp. n. (holotype); I–L: M. beidouensis 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 122. Distribution of the Maladera uncipenis group: Maladera constellata sp. n., M. fengyangshanica sp. n., M. guanxiensis sp. n., M. hunanensis sp. n., M. jaroslavi sp. n., M. nanpingensis sp. n., M. paraserripes sp. n..