Maladera apicalis 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 : 150-152

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

Figures 33 A–D, 102

Type material examined. Holotype: ♂ “ China: Hunan; Mupu Mt. 1600m, Pingjiang VIII-2003, leg. Li et al. / 732 Sericini : Asia spec.” ( ZFMK) . Paratypes: 1 ♂ “[ China] Huangtupo, Kunming , 20.V.1942 ” ( CAU) , 1 ♂ “[ China] Ninglang , Yunnan, 13-15.VII.2004, leg. Yuan Caixia, Lijing” ( HBUM) .

Description. Length: 7.9 mm, length of elytra: 5.4 mm, width: 4.2 mm. Body oblong-oval, dark yellowish brown, dull, labroclypeus shiny, dorsal face nearly glabrous.

Labroclypeus wide and subtrapezoidal, widest at base, lateral margins weakly convex and convergent anteriorly, anterior angles moderately rounded, anterior margin shallowly emarginate and distinctly reflexed medially, margins moderately reflexed; lateral margin and ocular canthus produce an indistinct angle; surface distinctly elevated along middle, finely, densely punctate, with a few erect, long setae; frontoclypeal suture distinctly incised, bluntly angled medially; smooth area anterior to eye very small and flat, 3 times as wide as long; ocular canthus short and wide (1/3 of ocular diameter), finely densely punctate, with a terminal seta. Frons dull, with very sparse and superficial punctures, with a few single setae beside eyes and behind frontoclypeal suture. Eyes small, ratio diameter/ interocular width: 0.66. 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 middle, lateral margins evenly convex and convergent towards angles, anterior angles moderately produced and blunt, posterior angles blunt, 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 and a very few long setae on lateral disc; anterior and lateral margin finely setose; hypomeron carinate, not produced ventrally. Scutellum wide, triangular, with fine, sparse punctures.

Elytra widest in posterior third, striae finely impressed, finely and densely punctate, intervals flat, with fine, sparse punctures and with minute setae in punctures, odd intervals with a very few long single setae; epipleural margin fine, ending behind middle of elytra, epipleura sparsely setose; 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: 1/1.58. Pygidium moderately convex, dull, coarsely and moderately densely punctate, without smooth midline, with a few long setae beside 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, moderately widened at ventral apex, dorsal posterior margin smooth, neither serrate, glabrous. Metatibia short and wide, widest at middle, ratio of width/length: 1/3.1, 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; lateral face longitudinally convex, superficially and sparsely punctate, along midline widely smooth, glabrous; ventral margin finely serrate, with four equidistant robust setae; medial face smooth and glabrous; apex finely serrate, shallowly 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 shorter than following two tarsomeres combined and slightly longer than dorsal tibial spur. Protibia moderately long, bidentate; anterior claws symmetrical, basal tooth of both claws bluntly truncate at apex.

Aedeagus: Fig. 33 A–C. Habitus: Fig. 33D . Female unknown.

Diagnosis. Maladera apicalis Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu , sp. n. has the apical branches of left and right parameres narrow and a filiform extension of basal lobe straight. By these characters it is distinguished from those species of the Maladera thomsoni group possessing only one basal lobe, which is on the left paramere.

Etymology. The new species is named apicalis (regarding the tip), with reference on the sharply pointed shape of parameres (adjective in the nominative singular).

Variation. Length: 7.4–7.9 mm, length of elytra: 5.2–5.4 mm, width: 4.0– 4.2 mm.

Distribution. See map ( Fig. 102 ) and Table 1.

Figures

FIGURE 33. A–D: Maladera apicalis Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, sp. n. (holotype); E–H: M. senta (Brenske, 1897) (China: Fujian: Tianbao); I–L: M. pseudosenta 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 102. Distribution of the Maladera thomsoni group: Maladera apicalis sp. n., M.aureola (Murayama, 1938), M. botrytibia Nomura, 1974, M. guomenshanica sp. n., M. hansmalickyi sp. n..