Maladera jinghongensis 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 : 160-161

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

Figures 35 E–H, 104

Type material examined. Holotype: ♂ “ China 9.-14.7. Prov. Yunnan mer. Jinghong 1990 R. Cervenka lgt./ 795Sericini: Asia spec.” ( ZFMK) . Paratypes: 1 ♂, 4 ♀♀ “ China 9.-14.7. Prov. Yunnan mer. Jinghong 1990 R. Cervenka lgt.” ( ZFMK) , 1 ♂ “S. China 10.- 14.7.1990 Jinghong pr. Yunnan lgt. S. Becvar ” ( ZFMK) .

Description. Length: 6.8 mm, length of elytra: 4.7 mm, width: 3.7 mm. Body oblong-oval, reddish brown, dull, labroclypeus shiny, dorsal face nearly glabrous.

Labroclypeus moderately wide and subtrapezoidal, widest at base, lateral margins weakly convex and convergent anteriorly, anterior angles moderately rounded, anterior margin shallowly emarginate medially, margins strongly reflexed; lateral margin and ocular canthus produce an indistinct angle; surface weakly convex, coarsely, densely punctate, with a few erect, long setae; frontoclypeal suture finely incised, medially angled; smooth area anterior to eye small and flat, twice as wide as long; ocular canthus short and wide (1/3 of ocular diameter), finely densely punctate, with a terminal seta. Frons dull, anterior quarter shiny, with dense and fine punctures, with a few single setae beside eyes. Eyes small, ratio diameter/ interocular width: 0.6. 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 in basal half straight and subparallel, evenly convex and convergent in anterior half, anterior angles distinctly produced and sharp, 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 setose; hypomeron carinate, not produced ventrally. Scutellum wide, triangular, with fine, sparse punctures.

Elytra widest at middle, striae finely impressed, finely and densely punctate, intervals flat, with fine, sparse punctures and with minute setae in punctures, penultimate lateral interval with a very few long single setae; epipleural margin fine, ending at external apical 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 moderately shiny, coarsely 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: 1/1.78. Pygidium moderately convex, shiny, coarsely and 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 complete; posterior ventral margin smooth, strongly widened at ventral apex, dorsal posterior margin smooth, neither serrate, glabrous. Metatibia short and wide, widest at middle, ratio of width/length: 1/2.3, 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, on base sparsely punctate, otherwise smooth and 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 as long as following two tarsomeres combined and slightly longer than dorsal tibial spur. Protibia short, bidentate; anterior claws symmetrical, basal tooth of both claws bluntly truncate at apex.

Aedeagus: Fig. 35 E–G. Habitus: Fig. 35H .

Diagnosis. Maladera jinghongensis Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu , sp. n. differs from the similar M. taiwana Nomura, 1974 by the parameres being distinctly longer than the phallobase and the long basal lobe of the left paramere exceeding half the paramere length.

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

Variation. Length: 6.8–7.5 mm, length of elytra: 4.7–5.0 mm, width: 3.7–4.2 mm. Female: eyes only little smaller than in male, ratio of diameter/interocular width: 0.58; antennal club with three antennomeres, distinctly shorter than remaining antennomeres combined; pygidium evenly moderately convex.

Distribution. See map ( Fig. 104 ) and Table 1.

Figures

FIGURE 35. A–D: Maladera taiwana Nomura, 1974 (China: Guangxi: Pingxiang); E–H: M. jinghongensis 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 104. Distribution of the Maladera modestula group: Maladera jinghongensis sp. n., M. modestula (Brenske, 1902), M. rufotestacea (Moser, 1915), M. taiwana Nomura, 1974, M. vethi (Moser, 1916).