Maladera paranitens 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 : 168-169

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

Figures 37 E–H, 106

Type material examined. Holotype: ♂ “ China: E-Yunnan; Damaidi 2500m, Guangnan near Vietnam VII-2003 leg. Li et al. / 735 Sericini : Asia spec.” ( ZFMK). Paratypes: 3 ♂♂, 3 ♀♀ “ China: E-Yunnan; Damaidi 2500m, Guangnan near Vietnam VII-2003 leg. Li et al. ” ( ZFMK), 4 ♂♂, 1 ♀ “ China-Guangdong, Daqiao env., 1000-1200m, 24°54’N - 113°01’E, 1.-3.v.2002, Dr.R. Fencl lgt.” ( CP).

Description. Length: 7.5 mm, length of elytra: 5.9 mm, width: 4.6 mm. Body oblong-oval, dark reddish brown, antenna yellow, shiny, dorsal face nearly glabrous.

Labroclypeus moderately wide and subtrapezoidal, widest at base, lateral margins strongly convex and convergent anteriorly, anterior angles strongly rounded, anterior margin distinctly emarginate, margins moderately reflexed; lateral margin and ocular canthus produce a blunt angle; surface flat, coarsely, very densely punctate, with a few long setae anteriorly; frontoclypeal suture distinctly incised, weakly curved; smooth area anterior to eye convex, 3 times as wide as long; ocular canthus moderately long and wide (1/3 of ocular diameter), finely densely punctate, with one terminal seta. Frons shiny, with irregularly dense and coarse punctures, with a few single setae beside eyes. Eyes large, ratio diameter/ interocular width: 0.8. Antenna with nine antennomeres; club with three antennomeres and strongly reflexed, 2.2 times as long as remaining antennomeres combined. Mentum elevated and slightly flattened anteriorly.

Pronotum moderately transverse, widest at base, lateral margins in basal half straight and weakly convergent anteriorly, in anterior half convex and more convergent, anterior angles distinctly produced and sharp, posterior angles blunt; anterior margin weakly convex, with robust marginal line, base without marginal line; surface densely and coarsely punctate, with minute setae in punctures being as long as puncture diameter, otherwise glabrous; anterior and lateral margin densely setose; hypomeron carinate, not produced ventrally. Scutellum wide, triangular, with fine, dense punctures.

Elytra widest in posterior third, striae finely impressed, finely and densely punctate, odd intervals weakly convex, with fine, sparse punctures concentrated along striae, even intervals flat with even punctures, with minute setae in punctures, penultimate lateral interval with a few single setae; epipleural margin robust, ending at apical external angle of elytra, epipleura densely setose; apical border of elytra membraneous, with a very fine rim of microtrichomes (visible at ca 100x magnification).

Ventral surface shiny, coarsely and densely punctate, metasternum including disc densely setose; metacoxa glabrous, with a few longer setae laterally. Abdominal sternites finely and densely punctate, punctures with minute setae, each sternite with a transverse row of punctures each bearing a fine seta. Mesosternum between mesocoxae as wide as mesofemur. Ratio of length of metepisternum/metacoxa: 1/1.36. Pygidium strongly convex, shiny, coarsely and densely punctate, without smooth midline, with numerous long, fine setae along apical margin.

Legs long and moderately wide, shiny; femora with two longitudinal rows of setae, coarsely and densely punctate in basal half, otherwise punctures sparse. Anterior margin of metafemur acute, with adjacent continuous serrated line, anterior row of setae complete; posterior ventral margin smooth, weakly widened at ventral apex, dorsal posterior margin smooth, neither serrate, glabrous. Metatibia moderately long and moderately wide, widest at apex, 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, in basal half with a few short and robust single setae and a continuous serrated line beside basal half of dorsal margin; lateral face longitudinally convex, except a few punctures on base smooth and glabrous; ventral margin finely serrate, with four equidistant robust setae; medial face smooth and glabrous; apex finely serrate, distinctly concavely emarginate interiorly near tarsal articulation. Tarsomeres dorsally impunctate, glabrous, neither laterally nor dorsally carinate, moderately setose ventrally; metatarsomeres with a strongly serrated ridge ventrally and a smooth subventral longitudinal carina, glabrous; first metatarsomere distinctly longer than following tarsomere and longer than dorsal tibial spur. Protibia moderately long, bidentate; anterior claws symmetrical, basal tooth of both claws bluntly truncate at apex.

Aedeagus: Fig. 37 E–G. Habitus: Fig. 37H .

Diagnosis. Maladera paranitens Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu , sp. n. differs from the similar M. nitens (Moser) in having the right paramere not particularly widened in basal half.

Etymology. The name of the new species (noun in apposition) is derrived from the combined Gree prefix para - (close to) and the species name ‘ nitens ’, with reference to the similarity of the species to M. nitens .

Variation. Length: 7.5–9.5 mm, length of elytra: 5.9–7.1 mm, width: 4.6–5.4 mm. Female: eyes much smaller than in male, ratio of diameter/interocular width: 0.57; antennal club with three antennomeres, as long as remaining antennomeres combined; pygidium weakly convex.

Distribution. See map ( Fig. 106 ) and Table 1.

Figures

FIGURE 37. A–D: Maladera pseudonitens Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, sp. n. (holotype); E–H: M. paranitens Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, sp. n. (holotype); I–L: M. jiucailingensis 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 106. Distribution of the Maladera nitens group: Maladera paranitens sp. n., M. pseudonitens sp. n., M. rufonitida sp. n., M. songi sp. n..