Maladera qianqingtangensis 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 : 254-255

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

Figures 59 E–H, 123

Type material examined. Holotype: ♂ “[ China] Qianqingtang, Mt. Qingliangfeng , Zhejiang, 1.VIII.2008, 1140m, leg. Yang Juan ” ( IZAS) . Paratype: 1 ♂ “ China: Zhejiang Prov. West Tianmu Shan (Mts) reserve Immortal Peak, mountainous low forest, esp. on flowering Castanee sequinii, 5.-6.vii.2017; 1500m 30°20’58.5’’N, 119°25’26.5’’E J. Hajek & J. Ruzicka leg.” ( NMPC) .

Description. Length: 9.8 mm, length of elytra: 7.5 mm, width: 5.1 mm. Body oval, brown with iridescent shine, antenna yellow, with a few single short setae on head and elytra.

Labroclypeus subrectangluar, wider than long, widest at base, lateral margins straight and weakly convergent to strongly rounded anterior angles, lateral margin and ocular canthus producing a blunt angle; margins moderately reflexed, anteriorly distinctly emarginate medially; surface flat, shiny, finely and densely punctate, with few long, erect setae anteriorly; frontoclypeal suture very weakly impressed and moderately curved; smooth area in front of eye approximately 1.5 times as wide as long; ocular canthus moderate long and narrow, finely punctate, without terminal seta. Frons with fine and posteriorly less dense punctures, with a few single long setae beside eyes. Eyes large, ratio of diameter/interocular width: 0.72. Antenna with 10 antennomeres; club with three antennomeres, 1.5 times as long as remaining antennomeres combined, slightly reflexed. Mentum anteriorly elevated and flattened.

Pronotum subtrapezoidal, widest at base, lateral margins straight, in basal half subparallel, in anterior half convergent anteriorly, anterior angles distinctly produced and sharp, posterior angles blunt; anterior margin weakly convexly produced medially, its marginal line fine, widely interrupted medially; surface finely and densely punctate, with very minute setae in the punctures only; anterior and lateral margins sparsely setose. Scutellum wide, triangular, with fine and dense punctures, impunctate at middle.

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

Ventral surface iridescent shiny, metasternum and metacoxa with moderately large and dense punctures, sparsely setose; metacoxa glabrous except for a several long setae laterally. Mesosternum between mesocoxae slightly narrower than width of mesofemur. Ratio of length of metepisternum/metacoxa: 1/1.5. Abdominal sternites, in addition to fine and moderately dense punctures, each with a distinct transverse row of coarse punctures each bearing a short and robust seta, punctures with microscopic setae; penultimate sternite apically with a shiny smooth chitinous border, which is half as long as sternite. Pygidium weakly convex, finely and moderately densely punctate, with smooth midline, punctures with microscopic setae and with a few long setae on apical half.

Legs long and moderately wide; femora with two longitudinal rows of setae, finely and moderately densely punctate; metafemur shiny, anterior margin acute, lacking an adjacent serrated line, posterior ventral margin straight, weakly widened in apical half and serrate, posterior dorsal margin completely serrated, glabrous. Metatibia moderately wide and long, widest at apex, ratio width/length: 1/3.3, dorsally sharply carinate, with two groups of spines, basal one at one third, apical one at three quarter of metatibial length; lateral face longitudinally convex, with dense and coarse, longitudinally impressed punctures, with minute setae in punctures; ventral margin serrate, with three robust spines, of which the distal one is more distant; medial face impunctate; apex interiorly near tarsal articulation shallowly concave. Tarsomeres densely punctate dorsally, ventrally with sparse, short setae; metatarsomeres glabrous ventrally, with a strongly serrated ridge; first metatarsomere shorter than following two tarsomeres combined, dorsal tibial spur of holotype missing. Protibia short, bidentate. All claws symmetrical, feebly curved and long, with normally developed basal tooth.

Aedeagus: Fig. 59 E–G. Habitus: Fig. 59H . Female unknown.

Diagnosis. Maladera qianqingtangensis Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu , sp. n. differs from all other species of the Maladera uncipenis group in having short, hook-like parameres of which only the right one bears dense short setae on its entire surface and the apex of the aedeagus is not dorsoventrally flattened as in M. uncipenis .

Etymology. The new species is named (adjective in the nominative case) after its type locality, Qianqingtang.

Variation. Length: 9.2–9.8 mm, length of elytra: 7.0– 7.5 mm, width: 5.0– 5.1 mm.

Distribution. See map ( Fig. 123 ) and Table 1.

Figures

FIGURE 59. A–D: Maladera uncipenis Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, sp. n. (holotype); E–H: M. qianqingtangensis Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, sp. n. (holotype); I–L: M. dadongshanica 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 123. Distribution of the Maladera uncipenis group: Maladera pieli sp. n., M. putaodiensis sp. n., M. qianqingtangensis sp. n., M. serripes (Moser, 1915), M. shangraoensis sp. n..