Maladera silviafabriziae Chandra, Ahrens, Bhunia, Sreedevi & Gupta, 2021

Chandra, Kailash, Ahrens, Dirk, Bhunia, Debika, Sreedevi, Kolla & Gupta, Devanshu, 2021, New species and records of Sericini from India (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae Melolonthinae), Zootaxa 4951 (3), pp. 492-510 : 494-495

Maladera silviafabriziae Chandra, Ahrens, Bhunia, Sreedevi & Gupta , new species

( Figs. 5–8 )

Type locality. India: Andaman and Nicobar , Tugapur, Maya Bundar, 12.9131N, 92.8977E .

Type material. Holotype, male: “ India: Andaman and Nicobar , Forest adjoining to Rest House, Tugapur, Maya Bundar. 12.9131N, 92.8977E, 13.v.1971, leg. B.K. Tikadar ” ( NZSI). The specimen bears a red printed label: “ Maladera silviafabriziae sp. n., HOLOTYPE, Kailash Chandra, Dirk Ahrens, Debika Bhunia, Kolla Sreedevi & Devanshu Gupta, Det. 2020”.

Description (holotype, male).

Body. Length: 8.2 mm, length of elytra: 6.3 mm, width: 5.4 mm. Body oblong-oval, dorsal face dark reddishbrown, ventral face dark yellowish-brown, moderately shiny, head moderately shiny, except some single setae on head dorsal surface nearly glabrous.

Head. Labroclypeus narrow and trapezoidal, widest at base, lateral margins straight and convergent anteriorly, anterior angles strongly rounded, anterior margin distinctly emarginate, margins moderately reflexed; lateral margin and ocular canthus produce a distinct angle; surface flat, finely and densely punctate, with a few larger punctures each bearing an erect seta; frontoclypeal suture indistinctly incised, evenly curved; smooth area anterior to eye weakly convex, twice as wide as long; Frons with dense, fine punctures; frons with fine dense fine punctures, with a single long seta beside eyes; eyes moderately large. ratio diameter/ interocular width: 0.91; antennae with ten antennomeres; club with three antennomeres and straight, slightly shorter than remaining antennomeres combined; ocular canthus short and moderately narrow, finely and densely punctate, terminal seta absent; mentum elevated and slightly flattened anteriorly.

Pronotum transverse, widest shortly before base, lateral margins evenly convex and moderately convergent anteriorly, slightly convexly narrowed towards base; anterior angles distinctly produced and moderately sharp, posterior angles distinctly rounded; anterior margin convex, with complete but indistinct marginal line, base without marginal line; surface densely and finely punctate, punctures less dense on midline, with minute setae in punctures; anterior and lateral margin finely setose. Hypomeron carinate.

Scutellum triangular, slender, punctures with fine, dense punctures, apical and lower apical midline without punctures; basal midline with less dense midline.

Elytra widest at middle, striae distinctly impressed, finely and sparsely punctate, intervals moderately convex, with fine and dense punctures, with minute setae in punctures, odd intervals with a very few short; epipleural edge robust, ending at strongly curved external apical angle of elytra, epipleura sparsely setose; apical border of elytra membranous, with a fine rim of microtrichomes.

Ventral surface dull, coarsely and densely punctate, glabrous, metasternal disc sparsely covered with fine, short setae; metacoxa with a few longer setae laterally. Abdominal sternites finely and densely punctate, glabrous, 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: 1/1.99.

Pygidium moderately convex and dull, coarsely and densely punctate, without impunctate midline, glabrous except a few robust setae along apical margin.

Legs moderately long and wide, shiny; femora with two longitudinal rows of setae, finely and sparsely punctate. Metafemur with anterior margin acute, without adjacent serrated line, anterior row of setae reduced to a few single setae; posterior margin smooth, weakly widened at apex and smooth ventrally, not serrate dorsally, finely shortly setose. Metatibia moderately long and wide, widest at middle, ratio of width/length: 1/2.67, sharply carinate dorsally, with two groups of spines, basal group at middle, apical group at three quarters of metatibial length, with a few robust setae basally subparallel to dorsal margin; lateral face longitudinally convex, shiny, impunctate and glabrous; ventral margin finely serrate, with four equidistant long and robust setae; medial face smooth and glabrous; apex finely serrate, moderately truncate 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; first metatarsomere as long as following two tarsomeres combined and slightly longer than dorsal tibial spur.

Aedeagus. Figs. 5–7 . Habitus. Fig. 8 .

Female unknown.

Etymology. This new species name (noun in the genitive case) is dedicated to the Italian taxonomist, Silvia Fabrizi, in recognition of her contribution to Melolonthinae beetle taxonomy, especially on Sericini.

Distribution. Only known from the type locality ( Fig. 21 ).

Differential diagnosis. Maladera silviafabriziae new species is in the shape of the genitalia and its external morphology similar to M. mizoramensis . The new species differs from M. mizoramensis , as the shape of parameres has distinct structural differences and aedeagus is much longer ( Figs. 5–7 ).

Figures

FIGURE 21. Map of India showing type localities of the newly described species.

FIGURES 1–12. 1–4. Maladera kaimurensis new species; 5–8. M. silviafabriziae new species; 9–12. M. kottagudiensis new species. (1, 5, 9) Aedeagus in lateral view (left); (2, 6, 10) Aedeagus in dorsal view; (3, 7, 11) Aedeagus in lateral view (right); (4, 8, 12) Habitus, dorsal view. Scale 0.5 mm; habitus not to scale.