Maladera wipfleri 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 : 33-34

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

Figures 5 J–N, 86

Type material examined. Holotype: ♂ “Szechuen China DC Graham/ bet Giu Keo Ho & Dawes/ 1300–5000ft Aug. 1–2’25/ 1087 Sericini Asia spec.” ( USNM)

Description. Length: 10.0 mm, length of elytra: 7.2 mm, width: 5.2 mm. Body oblong-oval, dark reddish brown, antenna yellow, dorsal face shiny, nearly glabrous, ventral face dull.

Labroclypeus wide and subtrapezoidal, widest at base, lateral margins straight and convergent anteriorly, anterior angles strongly rounded, anterior margin weakly emarginate, margins moderately reflexed; lateral margin and ocular canthus produce an indistinct angle; surface weakly convex, coarsely, very densely punctate, with numerous long erect setae; frontoclypeal suture distinctly incised, weakly curved; smooth area anterior to eye convex, twice as wide as long; ocular canthus moderately long and wide (1/3 of ocular diameter), finely densely punctate, with a terminal seta. Frons shiny, with very dense and coarse punctures, with a few long setae beside eyes and behind frontoclypeal suture. Eyes moderately large, ratio diameter/ interocular width: 0.6. 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 weakly convex and moderately convergent anteriorly, anterior angles distinctly produced and sharp, posterior angles blunt; anterior margin straight, with fine marginal line, base without marginal line; surface very finely and densely punctate, with minute setae in punctures being as long as puncture diameter, otherwise glabrous; anterior and lateral margin densely setose; hypomeron carinate, not produced ventrally. Scutellum wide, triangular, with fine, very dense punctures.

Elytra widest in posterior third, striae finely impressed, finely and densely punctate, odd intervals weakly convex, even ones flat, with fine, very dense punctures, with minute setae in punctures, penultimate lateral interval with a few fine setae; epipleural margin robust, ending at apical external angle of elytra, epipleura densely setose; apical border of elytra membraneous, with a very fine rim of microtrichomes (visible at ca 100x magnification).

Ventral surface dull, coarsely and densely punctate, metasternum including disc densely setose; metacoxa glabrous, with a few longer setae laterally. Abdominal sternites finely and densely punctate, punctures with minute setae, 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: 1/1.5. Pygidium dull, weakly convex, coarsely and densely punctate, without smooth midline, with dense short and numerous long and fine setae.

Legs moderately long and wide, shiny; femora with two longitudinal rows of setae, coarsely and moderately densely punctate. Anterior margin of metafemur acute, with adjacent continuous serrated line, anterior row of setae complete; posterior ventral margin smooth, moderately widened at ventral apex, dorsal posterior margin smooth, neither serrate, glabrous. Metatibia short and wide, widest at apex, ratio of width/length: 1/2.4, sharply carinate dorsally, with two groups of spines, basal group at three fifths, apical group at five sixths of metatibial length, in basal half with a few short and robust single setae, with a continuous serrated line beside entire dorsal margin; lateral face longitudinally convex, with dense coarse punctures, punctures setose; ventral margin finely serrate, with four equidistant robust setae; medial face smooth and glabrous; apex finely serrate, distinctly deeply emarginate interiorly near tarsal articulation. Tarsomeres dorsally impunctate and glabrous, neither laterally nor dorsally carinate, moderately setose ventrally; metatarsomeres with a strongly serrated ridge ventrally and a smooth subventral longitudinal carina; first metatarsomere little longer than following tarsomere 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. 5 J–M. Habitus: Fig. 5N . Female unknown.

Diagnosis. Maladera wipfleri Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu , sp. n. is similar to M. opaciventris (Moser) , differing in having the first metatarsomere longer and in the shape of the parameres: the left paramere is only half as wide and not sharply pointed at apex.

Etymology. The species is named after Benedict Wipfler, technical assistant at the section Coleoptera at the ZFMK, thanking him for his support in the last years (noun in the genitive singular case).

Distribution. See map ( Fig. 86 ) and Table 1.

Figures

FIGURE 5. A–D: Maladera opaciventris (Moser, 1915) (China: Zhejiang: Mt. Longwangshan); E–I: M. robustula Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, sp. n. (holotype); J–N: M. wipfleri Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, sp. n. (holotype). A, E, J: aedeagus, left side lateral view; C, H, M: aedeagus, right side lateral view; B, F, G, K, L: parameres, dorsal view; D, H, N: habitus. Scale: 0.5 mm. Habitus not to scale.

FIGURE 86. Distribution of the subgenus Eumaladera: Maladera fencli sp. n., M. opaciventris (Moser, 1915), M. robustula sp. n., M. subrugata (Moser, 1926), Maladera wipfleri sp. n. (not precisely localized collection site indicated by a “?”).