Maladera juntongi 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 : 79-81

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

Figures 16 F–J, 92

Type material examined. Holotype ♂ “ East of Mts. Bawangling, Changjiang , Hainan, 5-7.VI. 2008, 750m, leg. Ba Yibin, Lang Juntong/ LW-861” ( HBUM) . Paratypes: 1 ♂ “ Mt. Limushan , Hainan, 15.IV.2008, light trap, leg. Zhu Gengping/ LW-760” ( NKU), 1 ♂ “ Tianchi, Mt. Jianfengling , Hainan, 6.VI.1981, leg. Zhang Junxiong / LW-739” ( LSSYU) .

Additional material examined. 3 ♂♂, 2 ♀♀ “ East of Mts. Bawangling, Changjiang , Hainan, 5-7.VI. 2008, 750m, leg. Ba Yibin, Lang Juntong/ LW-857” ( HBUM) , 1 ♂ “ Mt. Bawangling Nature Reserve , Hainan, 9.IV.2008, light trap, leg. Zhu Gengping / LW-757” ( HBUM) .

Description. Length: 10.2 mm, length of elytra: 7.8 mm, width: 6.8 mm. Body oblong-oval, dark brown, antenna yellowish, surface dull, labroclypeus shiny, glabrous.

Labroclypeus wide and subtrapezoidal, widest at base, lateral margins nearly straight and convergent anteriorly, anterior angles strongly rounded, anterior margin weakly emarginate medially; margins moderately reflexed; lateral margin and ocular canthus produce an indistinct angle; surface flat, with an indistinct longitudinal elevation behind anterior margin, coarsely, densely punctate, glabrous; frontoclypeal suture distinctly incised, angled medially; smooth area anterior to eye convex, 2.5 times as wide as long; ocular canthus short and narrow (1/3 of ocular diameter), finely densely punctate, terminal seta lacking. Frons dull, with moderately dense, fine punctures, glabrous. Eyes large, ratio diameter/ interocular width: 0.66. Antenna with ten antennomeres; club with three antennomeres and straight, 1.1 times as long as remaining antennomeres combined. Mentum elevated and slightly flattened anteriorly.

Pronotum transverse, widest at base, lateral margins moderately evenly convex and convergent anteriorly, anterior angles distinctly produced and sharp, posterior angles moderately rounded; anterior margin weakly convex, with fine complete marginal line, base without marginal line; surface moderately 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, moderately dense punctures.

Elytra widest at posterior third, striae finely impressed, finely and densely punctate, intervals flat, with fine, moderately dense punctures, with minute setae in punctures, otherwise glabrous; epipleural margin robust, ending at nearly blunt external apical angle of elytra, epipleura sparsely setose; apical border of elytra membraneous, with a fine rim of microtrichomes (visible at ca 100x magnification).

Ventral surface dull, finely and densely punctate, with dense and fine, adpressed setae, metasternal disc sparsely covered with longer setae; metacoxa 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: 1/1.96. Pygidium weakly convex, dull, finely and sparsely punctate, without smooth midline, with a few long setae along apical margin.

Legs short and wide; femora dull, with two longitudinal rows of setae, finely and sparsely punctate. Anterior margin of metafemur acute, without adjacent serrated line, anterior row of setae completely reduced; posterior ventral margin smooth, moderately widened at ventral apex, dorsal posterior margin smooth, neither serrate, glabrous. Metatibia short and wide, widest at middle, ratio of width/length: 1/2.5, 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 few short single spines close to dorsal margin; lateral face longitudinally convex, nearly entirely impunctate, only a few fine superficial punctures beside dorsal and ventral margin, glabrous; ventral margin finely serrate, with four equidistant robust setae; medial face smooth and glabrous; apex finely serrate, shallowly emarginate interiorly near tarsal articulation. Tarsomeres dorsally impunctate, glabrous, neither laterally nor dorsally carinate, moderately setose ventrally; metatarsomeres lacking in holotype. Protibia moderately long, bidentate; protarsi lacking in holotype.

Aedeagus: Fig. 16 F–I. Habitus: Fig. 16J .

Diagnosis. Maladera juntongi Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu , sp. n. is very similar to M. hongkongica (Brenske) shape of the aedeagus; but in the new species, the left paramere is much narrower and less reflexed.

Etymology. The species is named in honor of one of its collectors, Lang Juntong (noun in the genitive singular case).

Variation. Length: 10.2–11.9 mm, length of elytra: 7.8–8.9 mm, width: 6,6– 6.8 mm.

Distribution. See map ( Fig. 92 ) and Table 1.

Figures

FIGURE 16. A–E: Maladera pseudohongkongica Ahrens & Fabrizi, 2016 (holotype); F–J: M. juntongi Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, sp. n. (holotype); K–Q: M. johannesi Ahrens & Fabrizi, 2016 (holotype). A, F, K: aedeagus, left side lateral view; D, I, P: aedeagus, right side lateral view; B, G, L: parameres, dorsal view; C, H, N: left paramere, dorsal view; M: left paramere, medial view; O: left paramere, ventral view; E, J, Q: habitus. Scale: 0.5 mm. Habitus not to scale.

FIGURE 92. Distribution of the subgenus Omaladera: Maladera infuscata (Moser, 1915), M. johannesi Ahrens & Fabrizi, 2016, M. juntongi sp. n., M. masumotoi Nomura, 1974 (not precisely localized collection site indicated by a “?”), M. ovatula (Fairmaire, 1891).