Maladera pieli 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 : 264-266

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

Figures 62 F–I, 123

Type material examined. Holotype: ♂ “[ China] Mo Kan Shan , 18.V.1936, leg. O. Piel, Musee Heude/ LW-964” ( IZAS).

Description. Length: 9.5 mm, length of elytra: 7.3 mm, width: 5.2 mm. Body elongate, dark reddish brown, dorsal surface dull, labroclypeus, tibiae and tarsi shiny, nearly glabrous except lateral setae of pronotum and elytra and a few setae on head.

Labroclypeus trapezoidal, widest at base, lateral margins straight and strongly convergent anteriorly, producing a distinct blunt angle with ocular canthus; anterior angles moderately convex, anterior margin straight, margins weakly reflexed; surface flat, densely, finely punctate, with a few robust erect setae. Frontoclypeal suture fine, not incised, weakly bent medially; smooth area in front of eyes 1.5 times as wide as long; ocular canthus long and narrow (ca 1/2 of ocular diameter), finely and densely punctate, with two short terminal setae. Frons finely and sparsely, irregularly punctate, with a few erect seta beside eyes. Eyes moderately large, ratio diameter/ interocular width: 0.54. Antenna with ten antennomeres, club with three antennomeres, strongly reflexed, 2.3 times as long as remaining antennomeres combined, antennomeres 3-7 short and transverse. Mentum convexly elevated, flattened anteriorly.

Pronotum widest at base, lateral evenly moderately curved and convergent anteriorly, anterior angles sharp and distinctly produced, posterior angles moderately rounded; anterior margin convex, fine marginal line widely lacking medially; surface with fine, moderately dense punctures, with minute setae in punctures, anterior and lateral margins with sparse and moderately long setae; hypomeron carinate. Scutellum very short, triangular, punctation as in pronotum.

Elytra widest at middle; striae strongly impressed, finely and densely punctate; intervals convex, finely and densely punctate, punctures concentrated along striae, along middle sparsely punctate, odd intervals with a few single short setae, otherwise only with minute setae in punctures; epipleural margin robust and convex, ending slightly before external apical angle; epipleura finely and sparsely setose; apical margin membraneous, with a very fine rim of microtrichomes.

Ventral face coarsely and densely punctate, meso-and metasternum densely setose; mesosternum between mesocoxae as wide as mesofemur; distance between meso-and metacoxae as wide as mesofemur. Metacoxa glabrous, laterally with a few robust setae. Ratio of length of metepisternum/ metacoxa: 1/ 1.47. Abdominal coarsely and superficially, moderately densely punctate, with a row of robust punctures each bearing a short seta. Pygidium convex, finely and moderately densely punctate, with minute setae in punctures, with a few robust setae at apex.

Legs long and moderately wide, shiny; femora finely and sparsely punctate, with two longitudinal rows of setae. Metafemur with acute anterior margin, without adjacent serrated line; posterior ventral margin almost straight, weakly widened in apical half, finely serrated at apex; dorsally completely robustly serrated but glabrous. Metatibia long and moderately wide, widest at apex, ratio width/ length: 1/ 3.6; dorsal margin longitudinally convex, with two groups of spines, basal one shortly before middle, apical one shortly behind three quarters of metatibial length, with a few fine robust setae basally; lateral face slightly concave along middle, with sparse and fine punctures; ventral margin serrate, with two widely distant spines; medial face smooth and glabrous; apex interiorly near tarsal articulation shallowly and concavely emarginate. Tarsi in cross section circular, without lateral carina, densely punctate dorsally, ventrally finely setose; metatarsomeres ventrally glabrous, with a strongly serrated carina, subventrally with a second, smooth longitudinal carina; first metatarsomere as long as following two tarsomeres combined and one third of its length longer than dorsal tibial spur. Protibia moderately long, bidentate. All claws symmetrical, feebly curved and long, with normally developed basal tooth.

Aedeagus: Fig. 62 F–H. Habitus: Fig. 62I . Female unknown.

Diagnosis. Maladera pieli Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu , sp. n. differs from M. hunanensis Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu , sp. n. in having the right paramere longer and curved externally at apex, and a slightly shorter antennal club.

Etymology. The new species is named after its collector, O. Piel (noun in the genitive singular case).

Distribution. See map ( Fig. 123 ) and Table 1.

Figures

FIGURE 62. A–E: Maladera guanxiensis Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, sp. n. (holotype); F–I: M. pieli Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, sp. n. (holotype); J–M: M. chinensis (Moser, 1915) (China: Shaanxi: Hunyuan). A, F, J: aedeagus, left side lateral view; D, H, L: aedeagus, right side lateral view; C: aedeagus, dorsal view; B, G, K: parameres, dorsal view; E, I, M: habitus. Scale: 0.5 mm. Habitus not to scale.

FIGURE 123. Distribution of the Maladera uncipenis group: Maladera pieli sp. n., M. putaodiensis sp. n., M. qianqingtangensis sp. n., M. serripes (Moser, 1915), M. shangraoensis sp. n..