Maladera bawanglingensis 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 : 234-236

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

Figures 54 A–D, 118

Type material examined. Holotype: ♂ “[ China] Mt. Bawangling Nature Reserve , Hainan, 9.IV.2008, light trap, leg. Zhu Gengping / LW-757” ( NKU) . Paratypes: 3 ♂♂, 2 ♀♀ “[ China] East of Mts. Bawangling, Changjiang , Hainan, 5-7.VI. 2008, 750m, leg. Ba Yibin, Lang Juntong” ( HBUM, ZFMK) .

Description. Length: 11.4 mm, length of elytra: 8.7 mm, width: 7.0 mm. Body oval, dark brown, antenna yellow, dorsal surface dull, except a few small setae on head and elytra glabrous.

Labroclypeus subtrapezoidal, little wider than long, widest at base, lateral margins weakly convex and conver gent to strongly rounded anterior angles, lateral margin and ocular canthus producing a blunt angle, margins moderately reflexed, anteriorly shallowly emarginate medially; surface moderately convex medially, dull, coarsely and densely punctate, with a transverse row of long, erect setae anteriorly; frontoclypeal suture feebly impressed and moderately angled medially; smooth area in front of eye approximately twice as wide as long; ocular canthus short and wide, finely punctate, with one terminal seta. Frons dull, with fine, moderately dense punctures, with a few long setae beside eyes and on disc. Eyes small, ratio of diameter/interocular width: 0.47. Antenna with 10 antennomeres; club with three antennomeres, 1.3 times as long as remaining antennomeres combined. Mentum anteriorly elevated and flattened.

Pronotum subtrapezoidal, widest at base, lateral margins convex and evenly convergent anteriorly, anterior angles moderately produced and sharp, anterior margin weakly convex, marginal line complete; surface moderately finely and densely punctate, with minute setae in punctures; anterior and lateral margins moderately densely setose; hypomeron carinate. Scutellum wide, triangular, with fine and moderately dense punctures each bearing a single minute seta, punctures along middle less dense.

Elytra oval, widest at posterior third, striae weakly impressed, finely and densely punctate, intervals almost flat, with fine and superficial, moderately dense punctures being, odd intervals with a few fine, erect, short setae, otherwise punctures with minute setae; epipleural margin robust, ending at the strongly rounded external apical angle of elytra, epipleura densely setose, apical border membraneous, with a fine rim of short microtrichomes.

Ventral surface dull, metasternum and metacoxa with large and dense punctures, meso-and metasternum densely setose; metacoxa with minute setae in large punctures and several long setae laterally. Abdominal sternites in addition to generally distributed fine and moderately dense punctures each with a distinct transverse row of coarse punctures each bearing a short and robust seta, otherwise punctures each with a microscopic seta. Mesosternum between mesocoxae as wide as mesofemur. Ratio of length of metepisternum/metacoxa: 1/1.48. Pygidium weakly convex, finely and moderately densely punctate, basally with short smooth midline, punctures with microscopic setae, with a few long setae along apical margin.

Legs short and moderately wide; femora with two longitudinal rows of setae, finely and sparsely punctate. Metafemur dull, anterior margin acute, lacking an adjacent serrated line, posterior ventral margin straight, weakly widened in apical half and not serrate, dorsally not serrated, finely setose. Metatibia moderately wide and long, widest at apex, ratio width/length: 1/3.0, dorsally sharply carinate, with two groups of spines, basal one at middle, apical one at three quarters of metatibial length, without contiguous serrated line basally but a few robust spines; lateral face longitudinally convex, finely sparsely punctate on sides; ventral margin finely serrate, with four equidistant spines; medial face impunctate; apex interiorly near tarsal articulation shallowly concave. Tarsomeres impunctate dorsally, ventrally with sparse, short setae; metatarsomeres lacking in holotype. Protibia short, bidentate. All claws symmetrical, feebly curved and long, with normally developed basal tooth.

Aedeagus: Fig. 54 A–C. Habitus: Fig. 54D .

Diagnosis. Maladera bawanglingensis Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu , sp. n. differs from M. sempiterna ( Brenske, 1898) from India (see, Ahrens and Fabrizi 2016) in being significantly larger, having the parameres longer and more dissimilar in length, the right paramere having a blunt tooth before apex, and the apex of phallobase being less produced ventrally.

Etymology. The new species is named after its type locality, Mts. Bawangling (adjective in the nominative singular).

Variation. Male Length: 11.2–12.0 mm, length of elytra: 8.7–9.0 mm, width: 7.0– 7.8 mm. Eyes, ratio of diameter/interocular width: 0.49-0.53. Metatarsomeres of paratypes ventrally with a strongly serrated ridge, beside which is not a strong longitudinal carina, first metatarsomere little shorter than following two tarsomeres combined and little longer than dorsal tibial spur. Female: eyes as large as in male; antennal club with three antennomeres, as long as remaining antennomeres combined; pygidium weakly convex.

Distribution. See map ( Fig. 118 ) and Table 1.

Figures

FIGURE 54. A–D: Maladera bawanglingensis Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, sp. n. (holotype); E–H: M. jiangi Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, sp. n. (holotype); I–L: M. beibengensis 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 118. Distribution of the Maladera ferruginea group: Maladera bawanglingensis sp. n., M. beibengensis sp. n., M. bubengensis sp. n., M. jiangi sp. n., M. pui sp. n..