Maladera weni 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 : 44-45

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

Figures 8 E–H, 94

Type material examined. Holotype: ♂ “Jiugongshan Tongshan S-Hubei 1.V.2004, leg. Wen ” ( ZFMK) . Paratypes: 5 ♂♂ “ Jiugongshan Tongshan S-Hubei 1.V.2004, leg. Wen ” ( ZFMK) , 1 ♂ “ Kuling , Jiangxi, 31.VII.1935, leg. O. Piel, Musee Heude” ( IZAS) , 1 ♂ “Wuhu, Anwei China VII-1-31/ Dr. H.S. Watters Collector ” ( USNM) .

Description. Length: 8.8 mm, length of elytra: 6.8 mm, width: 5.9 mm. Body oval, blackish brown, dull, antenna yellow, labroclypeus moderately shiny, glabrous except for a few short setae on head and lateral margins of pronotum and elytra.

Labroclypeus trapezoidal, distinctly wider than long, widest at base, lateral margins straight and convergent to moderately rounded anterior angles, lateral margin and ocular canthus producing an indistinct angle; margins weakly reflexed; anterior margin moderately emarginate medially; surface weakly convex medially, shiny, finely and densely punctate, glabrous; frontoclypeal suture feebly incised and weakly bent medially; smooth area anterior to eye twice as wide as long; ocular canthus short and wide (1/4 of ocular diameter), finely scarcely punctate, with a short terminal seta. Frons dull, with fine, dense punctures, with setae beside eyes and along a transversal line on the posterior part. Eyes small, ratio of diameter/ interocular width: 0.58. Antenna with ten antennomeres; club with three antennomeres, distinctly shorter than remaining antennomeres combined. Mentum elevated and flattened anteriorly.

Pronotum trapezoidal, widest at base, lateral margins weakly evenly convex and narrowed towards strongly produced and sharp anterior angles; posterior angles blunt; anterior margin nearly straight, with complete and fine marginal line; basal margin without marginal line; surface finely and densely punctate, punctures with microscopic setae only; anterior and lateral margins densely setose; hypomeron carinate but not produced ventrally. Scutellum wide, triangular, with fine and dense punctures.

Elytra oblong, widest in posterior third, striae weakly impressed, finely and sparsely punctate, intervals weakly convex, with fine, sparse and evenly distributed punctures; odd intervals with a few single erect setae, otherwise punctures with minute setae only; epipleural margin robust, ending at widely rounded external apical angle of elytra, epipleura sparsely setose; apical border membraneous, with a rim of short microtrichomes.

Ventral surface dull, metasternum and metacoxa with large and dense punctures, sparsely setose; metacoxa glabrous except for numerous long setae laterally; abdominal sternites finely and densely punctate, some punctures with very short or minute setae, each sternite with a distinct transverse row of coarse punctures each bearing a short seta, penultimate sternite apically with a wide shiny smooth chitinous border of half sternite length. Mesosternum between mesocoxae as wide as mesofemur. Ratio of length of metepisternum/metacoxa: 1/1.32. Pygidium moderately convex, dull, finely and moderately densely punctate, glabrous except a few longer and shorter setae apically.

Legs moderately wide; femora finely and moderately densely punctate, with two longitudinal rows of setae. Metafemur wide, moderately shiny, anterior margin acute, with a fine adjacent and continuously serrated line, surface very sparsely and superficially punctate, anterior row of setae complete; posterior ventral margin moderately widened in apical half and not serrate apically, posterior margin dorsally not serrated, glabrous. Metatibia moderately wide and short, widest at middle, ratio width/length: 1/3.0, dorsal margin sharply carinate, with two groups of spines, basal one at middle, apical one at three quarters of metatibial length, beside dorsal margin basally with a few single fine setae; lateral face weakly longitudinally convex, finely sparsely punctate, along middle impunctate; ventral margin finely serrate, with three strong spines of which the distal one is more distant; medial face impunctate, apex shallowly concave interiorly near tarsal articulation. Tarsomeres impunctate dorsally, with sparse, short setae ventrally; metatarsomeres glabrous ventrally and with a strongly serrated longitudinal ridge as well as a strong, smooth carina beside it, first metatarsomere distinctly shorter than following two tarsomeres combined and slightly longer than dorsal tibial spur. Protibia short, bidentate. All claws symmetrical, feebly curved and long, with normally developed basal tooth.

Aedeagus: Fig. 8 E–G. Habitus: Fig. 8H . Female unknown.

Diagnosis. Maladera weni Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu , sp. n. differs from M. cariniceps (Moser) in having the right paramere evenly curved and the left paramere apically widened and provided with a blunt dorsal tooth.

Etymology. The name of the new species (noun in the genitive singular case) is derived from the name of the collector, Mr. Wen.

Variation. Length: 8.0– 8.8 mm, length of elytra: 6.6–6.8 mm, width: 5.4–5.9 mm.

Distribution. See map ( Fig. 94 ) and Table 1.

Figures

FIGURE 8. A–D: Maladera cariniceps (Moser, 1915) (China: Fujian: Kuatun); E–H: M. weni Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, sp. n. (holotype). A, E: aedeagus, left side lateral view; C, G: aedeagus, right side lateral view; B, F: parameres, dorsal view; D, H: habitus. Scale: 0.5 mm. Habitus not to scale.

FIGURE 94. Distribution of the subgenus Omaladera: Maladera sontica (Brenske, 1898), M. verticalis (Fairmaire, 1888), M. weni sp. n., M. wuliangshanensis sp. n., M. xingkei sp. n., M. yibini sp. n..