Maladera tripuraensis 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 : 497-498

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

( Figs. 13–16 )

Type locality. India: Tripura, North Tripura, 29 m, 23°35’N, 91°52’E .

Type material. Holotype, male: “ India: Tripura, North Tripura, 29 m, 23°35’N, 91°52’E, 16.v.2010, leg. P.P. Bhatt / Col/ Scar. 2711/ B.K. Agarwala Tripura University/ 1070 Sericini: Asia spec./ICAR–NBAIR– S18” ( NBAIR). The specimen bear a red printed label: “ Maladera tripuraensis sp. nov., HOLOTYPE, Kailash Chandra, Dirk Ahrens, Debika Bhunia, Kolla Sreedevi & Devanshu Gupta, Det. 2020”.

Description (holotype, male).

Body. Length: 11.8 mm, elytral length: 8.2 mm, width: 6.7 mm. Body wide, oval, black, dorsal surface dull, labroclypeus, tarsomeres, and tibiae shiny, glabrous.

Head. Labroclypeus wide, lateral margins strongly convex and convergent, lateral margins produce with ocular canthus an indistinct angle, anterior angles strongly convex, anterior margin shallowly emarginate medially, margins weakly reflexed; surface shiny, at base narrowly dull, strongly convex medially, densely and finely punctate, distance between punctures partly smaller their diameter, with a few single setae anteriorly; frontoclypeal suture finely incised, bluntly angled medially; ocular canthus moderately wide and long (1/3 of ocular diameter), finely and densely punctate, with a short terminal seta. Eyesmoderately large, ratio diameter/ interocular width: 0.62. Frons with more superficial and moderately dense punctures, with a single seta beside eyes. Antenna with ten antennomeres, club with three antennomeres and straight, 1.2 times as long as remaining antennomeres combined. Mentum convexly elevated and flattened anteriorly.

Pronotum strongly convex, widest at base, lateral margins evenly convex and convergent anteriorly, slightly narrowed towards strongly rounded posterior angles, anterior angles sharp and distinctly produced; anterior margin with a fine marginal line, straight; basal margin without marginal line; surface finely and evenly densely punctate, setae of lateral and lateral anterior margin robust but sparse, punctures with microscopic setae only. Scutellum wide, triangular, punctation as in pronotum.

Elytra strongly convex, widest shortly behind middle, striae finely impressed, finely punctate, intervals flat, evenly densely and finely punctate, with minute setae in punctures; epipleura ending at strongly rounded external apical angle of elytra, sparsely setose; apex of elytra with a fine membraneous rim of short microtrichomes.

Ventral face coarsely and densely punctate, nearly glabrous, only metasternal plate and lateral metacoxa with a few robust setae. Mesosternum between mesocoxae wide, 1.5 times as wide as mesofemur. Ratio of length of metepisternum/metacoxa: 1/1.81. Abdominal sternite finely and moderately densely punctate, each with a row of coarse punctures bearing each a robust seta. Pygidium weakly convex, coarsely and densely punctate, apical margins with a few long setae.

Legs wide and short; femora superficially and sparsely punctate, with two longitudinal rows of setae. Metafemur shiny, anterior edge acute, without adjacent serrated line, anterior longitudinal row of setae reduced; posterior ventral margin almost straight, weakly widened in apical half, neither ventrally nor dorsally serrated but smooth, glabrous. Metatibia short and wide, widest at middle; flattened, ratio width/length: 1/2.3, dorsal margin sharply carinate, with three groups of spines, basal one at one third, median one shortly behind middle, and apical one at three quarters of metatibial length, basally with a few fine and short setae; lateral face weakly longitudinally convex, with sparse superficial punctures; medial face impunctate, apex shallowly and concavely emarginate interiorly near tarsal articulation. Tarsomeres impunctate dorsally, with dense, fine setae ventrally; metatarsomeres ventrally glabrous, with a strongly serrated carina, subventrally with a second, smooth longitudinal carina, first metatarsomere little shorter than following two tarsomeres combined and as long as dorsal tibial spur. Protibia short, bidentate. Anterior claws symmetrical.

Aedeagus. Figs. 13–15 . Habitus. Fig. 16 .

Female unknown.

Etymology. This new species is named after its occurrence in Tripura (adjective in the nominative case singular).

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

Differential diagnosis. Maladera tripuraensis new species differs from all M. siniaevi Ahrens, 2004 but the shorter parameres, from M. weigeli Ahrens, 2004 by the reflexed left paramere and the wider (lateral view) lateral process of phallobase ( Figs.13–15 ).

Figures

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

FIGURES 13–20. 13–16. Maladera tripuraensis new species; 17–20. Lepidoserica barapaniensis new species. (13, 17) Aedeagus in lateral view (left); (14, 18) Parameres in dorsal view; (15, 19) Aedeagus in lateral view (right); (16, 20) Habitus, dorsal view. Scale 0.5 mm; habitus not to scale.