Maladera bansongchana 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 : 206

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

Figures 47 A–E, 111

Type material examined. Holotype: ♂ “ Laos, 1.-16.v.1999, Louangphrabang pr., 20°33-4’N 102°14’E, BanSong-Cha (5km W) 1200m, Vit Kuban leg./ 384 Sericini Asia spec.” ( CP) . Paratypes: 1 ♂ “ Laos, 1.-16.v.1999, Louangphrabang pr., 20°33-4’N 102°14’E, BanSongCha (5km W) 1200m, Vit Kuban leg./ 384 Sericini Asia spec./ LS44” ( CP) , 1 ♂ “[ China] Yunnan, Xishuangbanna, Mengla , 2011-IV-28 / LW-1342” ( IZAS) , 1 ♂ “[ China] Mengla , Yunnan, 20.IV. 1982, 670m, leg. Yu Peiyu ” ( IZAS) .

Description. Length: 6.9 mm, length of elytra: 5.4 mm, width: 4.0 mm. Body oblong-oval, dorsal face reddish brown, dull, antenna yellow, labroclypeus shiny, except some single setae on head dorsal surface nearly glabrous.

Labroclypeus narrow and subrectangular, widest at base, lateral margins straight and subparallel, anterior angles strongly rounded, anterior margin weakly emarginate medially, margins distinctly reflexed; lateral margin and ocular canthus produce a distinct angle; surface flat, finely and densely punctate, with a few larger punctures each bearing an erect seta; frontoclypeal suture indistinctly incised, evenly curved; smooth area anterior to eye weakly convex, three times as wide as long; ocular canthus moderately long and narrow (1/4 of ocular diameter), finely and densely punctate, with a terminal seta. Frons dull, behind frontoclypeal suture narrowly shiny, with moderately dense, fine punctures, with a few long setae beside eyes and behind frontoclypeal suture. Eyes very large, ratio diameter/ interocular width: 0.9. Antenna with ten antennomeres; club with three antennomeres and strongly reflexed, 2.5 times as long as remaining antennomeres combined. Mentum elevated and slightly flattened anteriorly.

Pronotum transverse, widest at middle, lateral margins evenly convex and convergent to angles, anterior angles moderately produced and right-angled, posterior angles blunt, weakly rounded at tip; anterior margin convex, with indistinct but complete marginal line, base without marginal line; surface finely and densely punctate, with minute setae in punctures; lateral anterior and lateral margin finely setose; hypomeron carinate, not produced ventrally. Scutellum wide, triangular, with fine, dense punctures.

Elytra widest in posterior third, striae distinctly impressed, finely and sparsely punctate, intervals slightly convex, with fine and dense punctures concentrated along striae, with minute setae in punctures, odd intervals with a very few short setae; epipleural margin robust, ending at strongly curved external apical angle of elytra, epipleura sparsely setose; apical border of elytra membraneous, with a rim of microtrichomes (visible at ca 100x magnification).

Ventral surface dull, coarsely and densely punctate, glabrous, metasternal disc sparsely covered with fine, short setae; metacoxa with a few longer setae laterally. Mesosternum between mesocoxae as wide as mesofemur. Ratio of length of metepisternum/metacoxa: 1/1.8. Abdominal sternites finely and densely punctate, glabrous, each sternite with a transverse row of punctures each bearing a fine seta. Pygidium moderately convex and dull, coarsely and densely punctate, without impunctate midline, glabrous except a few robust setae along apical margin.

Legs moderately long and wide, shiny; femora with two longitudinal rows of setae, finely and sparsely punctate. Metafemur with anterior margin acute, without adjacent serrated line, anterior row of setae not reduced; posterior margin smooth, weakly widened at apex and smooth ventrally, not serrate dorsally, finely shortly setose. Metatibia moderately long and wide, widest at middle, ratio of width/length: 1/3.0, sharply carinate dorsally, with two groups of spines, basal group at middle, apical group at three quarters of metatibial length, with a few robust setae basally subparallel to dorsal margin; lateral face longitudinally convex, shiny, sparsely punctate and glabrous; ventral margin finely serrate, with three long and robust setae of which distal one is more distant; medial face smooth and glabrous; apex finely serrate, moderately truncate interiorly near tarsal articulation. Tarsomeres dorsally sparsely and finely punctate, punctures with short setae, moderately setose ventrally; metatarsomeres with a strongly serrated ridge ventrally and a smooth subventral longitudinal carina, laterally and dorsally carinate; first metatarsomere little shorter than following two tarsomeres combined and little longer than dorsal tibial spur. Protibia moderately long, bidentate; anterior claws symmetrical, basal tooth of both claws bluntly truncate at apex.

Aedeagus: Fig. 47 A–D. Habitus: Fig. 47E . Female unknown.

Diagnosis. The shape of the parameres in Maladera bansongchana Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu , sp. n. differs in from other Chinese species of the M. indica group in having blunt lateral extensions at the tip of both parameres on both sides.

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

Variaion. Length: 6.9–7.1 mm, length of elytra: 5.4–5.6 mm, width: 3.8–4.0 mm.

Distribution. See map ( Fig. 111 ) and Table 1.

Figures

FIGURE 47. A–E: Maladera bansongchana Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, sp. n. (holotype); F–I: M. peregoi Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, sp. n. (holotype); J–M: M. pallida (Burmeister, 1855) (China). A, F, J: aedeagus, left side lateral view; D, H, L: aedeagus, right side lateral view; B, G, K: parameres, dorsal view; E, I, M: habitus. Scale: 0.5 mm. Habitus not to scale.

FIGURE 111. Distribution of the Maladera indica group: Maladera bansongchana sp. n., M. habashanensis sp. n., M. huanianensis sp. n., M. jingdongensis sp. n., M. jizuana sp. n., M. kryschanowskii sp. n..