Maladera piceola (Moser, 1915)

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 : 93-95

Maladera piceola (Moser, 1915)

Figures 19 I–L, 95

Autoserica piceola Moser, 1915b: 352 .

Maladera piceola: Ahrens 2006b: 237, 2007b: 24 .

Type material examined. Lectotype (here designated): ♂ “ China Yunnan / Autoserica piceola Type ♂ Mos.” ( ZMHB) . Paralectotypes (here designated): 1 ♂ “ China Yunnan / Autoserica piceola Type ♀ Mos.” ( ZMHB) .

Additional material examined. 2 ♂♂, 3 ♀♀ “ China Yunnan ” [specimens were among the indetermined material in the collection of the ZMHB] ( ZMHB) , 1 ♂, 1 ♀ “ China Yunnan ” ( CF) .

Redescription. Length: 5.4 mm, length of elytra: 4.1 mm, width: 3.4 mm. Body oval, dark brown to dark reddish brown, antenna yellow, dorsal surface dull, except some single setae on head dorsal surface nearly glabrous.

Labroclypeus moderately wide and trapezoidal, shiny, widest at base, lateral margins weakly convex and strongly convergent anteriorly, anterior angles blunt and slightly reflexed, anterior margin moderately emarginate, margins moderately reflexed; lateral margin and ocular canthus produce a blunt angle; surface flat, finely and densely punctate, with numerous erect setae anteriorly; frontoclypeal suture indistinctly incised, curved; smooth area anterior to eye flat, 2.5 times as wide as long; ocular canthus long and moderately wide (nearly 1/3 of ocular diameter), finely and sparsely punctate, with a terminal seta. Frons dull, with fine, dense punctures and a few single erect setae beside eyes. Eyes large, ratio diameter/ interocular width: 0.74. Antenna with ten antennomeres; club with three antennomeres and straight, as long as remaining antennomeres combined. Mentum elevated and slightly flattened anteriorly.

Pronotum moderately transverse, widest at base, lateral margins evenly convex and moderately convergent anteriorly, anterior angles moderately produced and right-angled, posterior angles blunt, weakly rounded at tip; anterior margin weakly convex, with very fine and complete marginal line, base without marginal line; surface finely and densely punctate, with minute setae in punctures, otherwise glabrous; lateral margin finely sparsely setose; hypomeron carinate, not produced ventrally. Scutellum wide, triangular, dull, with fine, sparse punctures.

Elytra widest shortly behind middle, striae distinctly impressed, finely and sparsely punctate, intervals weakly convex, with fine and sparse punctures concentrated along striae, with minute setae in punctures, odd intervals with a few single short setae; epipleural margin robust, ending at strongly curved external apical angle of elytra, epipleura densely setose; apical border of elytra membraneous, with a robust rim of microtrichomes (at ca 100x magnification).

Ventral surface dull, coarsely and moderately densely punctate, metasternum sparsely covered with sparse fine setae; metacoxa with a few longer setae laterally, otherwise glabrous. Abdominal sternites finely and irregularly densely punctate, glabrous, each sternite with a transverse row of coarse punctures each bearing a robust long seta. Mesosternum between mesocoxae as wide as mesofemur. Ratio of length of metepisternum/metacoxa: 1/1.5. Pygidium strongly convex and dull, coarsely and densely punctate, without smooth midline, with a few longer setae along apical margin.

Legs moderately wide and short, weakly shiny; femora with two longitudinal rows of setae, finely and sparsely punctate. Metafemur dull, with anterior margin acute, with continuous serrated line behind anterior margin, setae of anterior row very short; posterior margin smooth and moderately widened at apex ventrally, not serrate dorsally, with just a few short setae basally. Metatibia short, widest at apex, ratio of width/length: 1/2.5, sharply carinate dorsally, with two groups of spines, basal group at three fifths, apical group at four fifths of metatibial length, with a few short robust setae basally and a continuously serrated line beside dorsal margin in basal half; lateral face weakly longitudinally convex, sparsely punctate on basal half, with minute setae in punctures; ventral margin finely serrate, with five robust setae of which the apical one is more distant; medial face smooth and glabrous; apex finely serrate, moderately truncate interiorly near tarsal articulation. Tarsomeres dorsally smooth and glabrous, neither laterally nor dorsally carinate, sparsely setose ventrally; metatarsomeres with a strongly serrated ridge ventrally and a smooth subventral longitudinal carina; first metatarsomere distinctly shorter than following two tarsomeres combined and slightly longer than dorsal tibial spur. Protibia short, bidentate; anterior claws symmetrical, basal tooth of both claws bluntly truncate at apex.

Aedeagus: Fig. 19 I–K. Habitus: Fig. 19L .

Variation. The female is very similar to the male, having the eyes of same size, but the antennal club is shorter, about as long as the remaining antennomeres combined.

Distribution. See map ( Fig. 95 ) and Table 1.

Figures

FIGURE 19. A–D: Maladera obscurata (Moser, 1915) (China: Yunnan: Haba Xueshan Mts.); E–H: M. paraobscurata Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, sp. n. (holotype); I–L: M. piceola (Moser, 1915) (China: Yunnan). 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 95. Distribution of the Maladera teizoana group: Maladera fereobscurata sp. n., M. futschauana (Brenske, 1897), M. invenusta (Moser, 1918), Maladera piceola (Moser, 1915) (not precisely localized collection site indicated by a “?”).