Maladera jinggangshanica 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 : 323-324

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

Figures 76 I–L, 129

Type material examined. Holotype: ♂ “[ China] Changguling Forestry Farm, Mts. Jinggangshan , Jiangxi, 3.VII.1975, light trap ” ( IZAS).

Description. Length: 8.7 mm, length of elytra: 6.8 mm, width: 5.5 mm. Body oval, reddish brown, antenna yellowish, dorsal surface dull, labroclypeus shiny, with several short setae on head and elytra.

Labroclypeus subtrapezoidal, wider than long, widest at base, lateral margins weakly convex and convergent to strongly rounded anterior angles, lateral margin and ocular canthus producing a blunt angle; margins moderately reflexed; anterior margin weakly emarginate medially; surface moderately convex medially, shiny, finely and moderately densely punctate, with few long, erect setae anteriorly; frontoclypeal suture weakly impressed and curved medially; smooth area in front of eye approximately three times as wide as long; ocular canthus short and wide, finely punctate, with one terminal seta. Frons dull, with fine, irregularly dense punctures, glabrous except for a few setae beside eyes and frontoclypeal suture. Eyes moderately large, ratio of diameter/interocular width: 0.64. Antenna with 10 antennomeres; club with three antennomeres, longer than remaining antennomeres combined. Mentum anteriorly elevated and flattened.

Pronotum trapezoidal, widest at base, lateral margins weakly convex and strongly convergent anteriorly; anterior angles produced, posterior angles blunt; anterior marginal line complete, margin weakly convexly produced medially; surface finely and densely punctate, with minute setae in punctures only; anterior and lateral margins sparsely setose. Scutellum wide, triangular, with fine and dense punctures, each bearing a single minute seta, impunctate medially.

Elytra oblong, widest at posterior third, striae well impressed, finely and densely punctate, intervals distinctly elevated, with fine, dense punctures concentrated along striae, with a few fine, erect, short setae, otherwise punctures with minute setae only; epipleural margin robust, ending at the strongly rounded external apical angle of elytra, epipleura densely setose; apical border membraneous, with a rim of short microtrichomes.

Ventral surface dull, with large and dense punctures, sparsely setose; metacoxa glabrous except for several longer lateral setae. Mesosternum between mesocoxae as wide as mesofemur. Ratio of length of metepisternum/metacoxa: 1/1.7. Abdominal sternites, in addition fine and moderately dense punctures, each with a distinct transverse row of coarse punctures each bearing a short and robust seta, punctures with microscopic setae; penultimate sternite apically with a shiny smooth chitinous border, which is one third as long as sternite. Pygidium moderately convex, finely and moderately densely punctate, without smooth midline; punctures with microscopic setae and with a few long setae along apical margin.

Legs moderately wide; femora with two longitudinal rows of setae, finely and moderately densely punctate; metafemur dull, anterior margin acute, lacking an adjacent serrated line, posterior ventral margin somewhat produced distally but straight, not widened in apical half, strongly serrate over its nearly entire length, dorsal posterior margin not serrated, finely setose. Metatibia moderately wide and long, widest at apex, ratio width/length: 1/2.8, sharply carinate dorsally; with two groups of spines, basal one shortly behind middle, apical one at four fifths of metatibial length, with a straight serrated line from base to the basal group of spines and from the basal group to the posterior one; beside it with a few punctures, with few robust spines; lateral face longitudinally convex, with dense and very fine punctures, with minute setae in punctures; ventral margin serrate, with four equidistant spines; medial face finely superficially punctate; apex interiorly near tarsal articulation shallowly concave. Tarsomeres impunctate dorsally, ventrally with sparse, short setae; metatarsomeres glabrous ventrally, with a strongly serrated ridge, beside which is a fine carina; first metatarsomere shorter than two following tarsomeres combined and slightly longer than dorsal tibial spur. Protibia short, bidentate. All claws symmetrical, feebly curved and long, with normally developed basal tooth.

Aedeagus: Fig. 76 I–K. Habitus: Fig. 76L . Female unknown.

Diagnosis. This new species differs from all other Chinese Maladera in that the posterior ventral margin of the metafemur is straight and produced distally, as well as being strongly serrate over most of its length.

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

Distribution. See map ( Fig. 129 ) and Table 1.

Figures

FIGURE 76. A–D: Maladera baishaoensis Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, sp. n. (holotype); E–H: M. hutiaoensis Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, sp. n. (holotype); I–L: M. jinggangshanica 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 129. Distribution of Maladera species with uncertain systematic status: Maladera baishaoensis sp. n., M. hutiaoensis sp. n., M. jinggangshanica sp. n., M. lukjanovitschi (Medvedev, 1966), M. luoxiangensis sp. n., M. nabanensis sp. n., M. nanlingensis sp. n..