Maladera juxianensis 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 : 145-146

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

Figures 31 E–H, 103

Type material examined. Holotype: ♂ “[ China] Juxian County, Henan, 21.VI.1960 ” ( IZAS).

Description. Length: 7.5 mm, length of elytra: 5.9 mm, width: 4.4 mm. Body oblong-oval, yellowish brown, dull, labroclypeus shiny, dorsal face glabrous.

Labroclypeus wide and subtrapezoidal, widest at base, lateral margins slightly convex and convergent anteriorly, anterior angles strongly rounded, anterior margin shallowly emarginate, margins moderately reflexed; lateral margin and ocular canthus produce an indistinct angle; surface distinctly elevated along middle, finely, densely punctate, glabrous; frontoclypeal suture distinctly incised, evenly curved; smooth area anterior to eye convex, twice as wide as long; ocular canthus short and wide (1/3 of ocular diameter), finely densely punctate, terminal seta lacking. Frons dull, with very sparse and superficial punctures, glabrous. Eyes small, ratio diameter/ interocular width: 0.58. Antenna with ten antennomeres; club with three antennomeres and straight, as long as remaining antennomeres combined. Mentum elevated and slightly flattened anteriorly.

Pronotum moderately transverse, widest at base, lateral margins in basal half nearly straight and slightly convergent anteriorly, convex and convergent in anterior half, anterior angles distinctly produced and sharp, posterior angles blunt, little rounded at tip; anterior margin straight, with fine marginal line, base without marginal line; surface moderately finely and densely punctate, with minute setae in punctures; anterior and lateral margin glabrous; hypomeron carinate, not produced ventrally. Scutellum wide, triangular, with fine, moderately dense punctures, impunctate on midline.

Elytra widest at middle, striae finely impressed, finely and densely punctate, intervals flat, with fine, sparse punctures and with minute setae in punctures, odd intervals with numerous single robust punctures that might have had setae (abraded in holotype?); epipleural margin robust, ending at apical third of elytra, epipleura glabrous; apical border of elytra membraneous, with a very fine rim of microtrichomes (visible at ca 100x magnification).

Ventral surface dull, finely and densely punctate, nearly glabrous, metasternal disc sparsely covered with fine, short setae; metacoxa 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: 1/1.87. Pygidium weakly convex, partly shiny, coarsely and moderately densely punctate, with narrow smooth midline, with a few long but fine setae along apical margin.

Legs short and wide, dull; femora with two longitudinal rows of setae, finely and sparsely punctate. Anterior margin of metafemur acute, without adjacent serrated line, anterior row of setae completely reduced; posterior ventral margin smooth, strongly widened at ventral apex, dorsal posterior margin smooth, neither serrate, glabrous. Middle limps and metatibia lacking in holotype. Protibia moderately long, bidentate; anterior claws symmetrical, basal tooth of both claws bluntly truncate at apex.

Aedeagus: Fig. 31 E–G. Habitus: Fig. 31H . Female unknown.

Diagnosis. The right paramere in Maladera juxianensis Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu , sp. n. possesses a basal lobe, thus differentiating it from those species of the Maladera thomsoni group with only one basal lobe.

Etymology. The new species is named (adjective in nominative singluar) after the type locality, Juxian county.

Distribution. See map ( Fig. 103 ) and Table 1.

Figures

FIGURE 31. A–D: Maladera kubeceki Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, sp. n. (holotype); E–H: M. juxianensis Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, sp. n. (holotype). A, E: aedeagus, left side lateral view; C, G: aedeagus, right side lateral view; B, F: parameres, dorsal view; D, H: habitus. Scale: 0.5 mm. Habitus not to scale.

FIGURE 103. Distribution of the Maladera thomsoni group: Maladera jaintiaensis Ahrens & Fabrizi 2016, M. juxianensis sp. n., M. kubeceki sp. n., M. pseudosenta sp. n., M. senta (Brenske, 1897), M. straminea (Moser, 1915), M. subtruncata (Fairmaire, 1887).