Maladera rufonitida 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 : 170-171

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

Figures 38 A–D, 106

Type material examined. Holotype: ♂ “ China: Hunan; Mupu Mt. 1600m, Pingjiang VIII-2003, leg. Li et al. / 719 Sericini : Asia spec.” ( ZFMK) . Paratype: 1 ♂ “[ China] Jinxiu , Guangxi, 11.VI. 1982, 720m, leg. Yang Jikun ” ( CAU) .

Description. Length: 8.9 mm, length of elytra: 6.5 mm, width: 5.1 mm. Body oblong-oval, 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, 2.5 times as wide as long; ocular canthus moderately long and wide (1/3 of ocular diameter), finely densely punctate, with two terminal setae. Frons shiny, with irregularly dense and coarse punctures, partly completely impunctate, with a few single setae beside eyes. Eyes large, ratio diameter/ interocular width: 0.83. Antenna with nine antennomeres; club with three antennomeres and strongly reflexed, twice 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 fine 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, intervals weakly convex, with fine, sparse punctures concentrated along striae, 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: 1/1.7. Pygidium moderately convex, shiny, coarsely and densely punctate, without smooth midline, with a few long but 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: 1/2.5, 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. 38 A–C. Habitus: Fig. 38D . Female unknown.

Diagnosis. Maladera rufonitida Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu , sp. n. differs from the similar M. nitens (Moser) in having the right paramere abruptly and strongly bent after basal half.

Etymology. The name (adjective in nominative singular) of the new species is derrived from the combined Latin words rufus (red) and nitidus (shiny), with reference on the body integumaent of the species.

Variation. Length: 8.1–8.9 mm, length of elytra: 5.9–6.5 mm, width: 4.8–5.1 mm.

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

Figures

FIGURE 38. A–D: Maladera rufonitida Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, sp. n. (holotype); E–H: M. songi Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, sp. n. (holotype); I–L: M. detersa (Erichson, 1834) (Vietnam: DaNang). 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..