Maladera dadongshanica 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 : 255-256

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

Figures 59 I–L, 121

Type material examined. Holotype: ♂ “[ China] Mt. Dadongshan , Lianxian County, Guangdong, 7.VI.2001, leg. Tang Lixia ” ( LSSYU) . Paratypes: 2 ♂♂ “[ China] Mts. Fengyangshan , Zhejiang, 23.VI.2008, leg. Liu Guolong ” ( IZAS) .

Description. Length: 9.1 mm, length of elytra: 6.9 mm, width: 5.2 mm. Body oval, dark reddish brown, antenna yellow, labroclypeus weakly shiny, remainder of dorsal surface dull, glabrous.

Labroclypeus subtrapezoidal, little wider than long, widest at base, lateral margins weakly convex and convergent to moderately rounded anterior angles, lateral margin and ocular canthus producing a blunt angle, margins moderately reflexed, anterior margin weakly emarginate medially; surface flat, shiny, coarsely and moderately densely punctate, with a few long, erect setae anteriorly; frontoclypeal suture weakly impressed and angled medially; smooth area in front of eye approximately three times as wide as long; ocular canthus short and wide, finely punctate, without terminal seta. Frons with fine, dense punctures, glabrous except for a few setae beside eyes. Eyes small, ratio of diameter/interocular width: 0.63. Antenna missing in holotype. Mentum anteriorly elevated and flattened.

Pronotum subtrapezoidal, widest at base, lateral margins in basal half straight, weakly convergent anteriorly, in anterior half weakly convex and convergent, anterior angles moderately produced but sharp; anterior margin weakly convex, marginal line interrupted medially; surface finely and densely punctate, glabrous; anterior and lateral margins sparsely setose. Scutellum wide, triangular, with fine and dense punctures each bearing a minute seta, along middle impunctate.

Elytra oblong, widest at middle, striae weakly impressed, finely and densely punctate, intervals weakly elevated, with fine, moderately dense punctures concentrated along striae, odd intervals with a few fine, erect, short setae, otherwise punctures with a very minute seta; epipleural margin robust, ending at strongly rounded external apical angle of elytra, epipleura sparsely setose, apical border membraneous, with a rim of very short microtrichomes.

Ventral surface dull, metasternum and metacoxa with large and dense punctures, sparsely setose; metacoxa glabrous except for a 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, punctures with microscopic setae, penultimate sternite apically with a shiny smooth short chitinous border. Mesosternum between mesocoxae narrower than mesofemur. Ratio of length of metepisternum/metacoxa: 1/1.3. Pygidium of holotype lost after dissection.

Legs moderately wide and long; femora with two longitudinal rows of setae, finely and moderately densely punctate; metafemur dull, anterior margin acute, lacking an adjacent serrated line, posterior ventral margin medially straight, weakly widened in apical half and entirely strongly serrate, dorsally also serrate, finely setose. Metatibia moderately wide and long, widest at apex, ratio width/length: 1/3.5, dorsally sharply carinate, with two groups of spines, basal shortly before middle, apical one at three quarters of metatibial length, in basal half with a few punctures, and short spines; lateral face longitudinally convex, with moderately dense and fine longitudinally impressed punctures; ventral margin serrate, with two widely distant spines; medial face finely sparsely punctate, apex interiorly near tarsal articulation shallowly concave. Tarsomeres finely punctate dorsally, ventrally with sparse, short setae; metatarsomeres missing in holotype. Protibia short, bidentate. All claws symmetrical, feebly curved and long, with normally developed basal tooth.

Aedeagus: Fig. 59 I–K. Habitus: Fig. 59L . Female unknown.

Diagnosis. Maladera dadongshanica Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu , sp. n. is very similar to M. uncipenis , but in the former, the aedeagus is generally narrower and the parameres are slightly finer and shorter.

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

Variation. Length: 9.1–9.4 mm, length of elytra: 6.9–7.2 mm, width: 4.8–5.2 mm. Antenna with 10 antennomeres; club with three antennomeres, moderately reflexed, twice as long as remaining antennomeres combined.

Distribution. See map ( Fig. 121 ) 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 121. Distribution of the Maladera uncipenis group: Maladera baii sp. n., M. bawanglingana sp. n., M. beidouensis sp. n., M. chinensis (Moser, 1915), M. dadongshanica sp. n., M. dayaoshanica sp. n., M. emeifengensis sp. n., M. excisilabrata sp. n..