Maladera barasingha Gupta, Bhunia, Ahrens & Chandra, 2025

Gupta, Devanshu, Bhunia, Debika, Ahrens, Dirk & Chandra, Kailash, 2025, New species and records of Sericinae from India and Nepal (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae), Zootaxa 5613 (2), pp. 371-385 : 375-376

Maladera barasingha Gupta, Bhunia, Ahrens & Chandra , sp. nov.

( Fig. 1I–L )

Type locality. India, Manipur, Tamenlong , 25.0396N, 93.468E.

Type material. Holotype, ♂: “ India, Manipur, Tamenlong , 25.0396N, 93.468E, 24.xi.1992, leg. A.K. Mondal and Party ” ( NZCI). The holotype specimen bears additionally a red printed label with the following text: “ Maladera barasingha sp. nov., HOLOTYPE, Devanshu Gupta, Debika Bhunia, Dirk Ahrens & Kailash Chandra, Det. 2024”.

Description of the holotype. Length: 8.6 mm, length of elytra: 4.7 mm, width: 4.2 mm.

Body oval, dark reddish brown, dull, labroclypeus shiny, except some single setae on head dorsal surface nearly glabrous.

Head. Labroclypeus moderately wide and subtrapezoidal, widest at base, lateral margins weakly convex and convergent anteriorly, anterior angles strongly rounded, anterior margin weakly emarginate medially, margins weakly reflexed; lateral margin and ocular canthus produce an indistinct blunt angle; surface flat, finely and densely punctate, glabrous; frontoclypeal suture distinctly incised, evenly curved; smooth area anterior to eye weakly convex, 2.5 times as wide as long; ocular canthus short and wide (1/3 of ocular diameter), finely and densely punctate, with a terminal seta. Frons with sparse, fine punctures and a single, long seta beside each eye. Eyes small, ratio diameter/ interocular width: 0.58. Antenna with ten antennomeres; club with three antennomeres and reflexed, 1.5 times as long as remaining antennomeres combined. Mentum elevated and slightly flattened anteriorly.

Pronotum moderately wide, widest shortly before base, lateral margins evenly convex and convergent anteriorly, slightly convexly narrowed towards base, anterior angles distinctly produced and sharp, posterior angles blunt, strongly rounded in the tip; anterior margin convex, with marginal line widely lacking, base without marginal line; surface sparsely and finely punctate, glabrous; lateral margin finely setose, anterior margin glabrous; hypomeron carinate, not produced ventrally. Scutellum wide, triangular, dull, with fine, dense punctures.

Elytra widest at posterior third, striae distinctly impressed, finely and sparsely punctate, intervals nearly flat, with fine and evenly dense punctures, nearly entirely glabrous; epipleural edge robust, ending at strongly curved external apical angle of elytra, epipleura sparsely setose; apical border of elytra membraneous, with a 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 loose transverse row of punctures each bearing a fine seta. Mesosternum between mesocoxae as wide as mesofemur. Ratio of length of metepisternum/metacoxa: 1/1.52. Pygidium weakly convex and dull, coarsely and densely punctate, without midline, glabrous except a few robust setae along apical margin.

Legs long and slender, 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 completely reduced; posterior ventral margin smooth, widened and smooth at apex, posterior dorsal margin not serrate, glabrous. Metatibia short and wide, widest at middle, ratio of width/length: 1/2.7, sharply carinate dorsally, with two groups of spines, basal group shortly before middle, apical group at three quarters of metatibial length, with a few short, robust setae and a short serrated line parallel to dorsal margin basally; lateral face longitudinally convex, shiny but basal third dull, impunctate and glabrous; ventral margin finely serrate, with four equidistant robust setae; medial face smooth and glabrous; apex finely serrate, moderately truncate interiorly near tarsal articulation. Tarsomeres dorsally smooth and 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. Protibia moderately long, bidentate; anterior claws symmetrical, basal tooth of both claws bluntly truncate at apex.

Aedeagus: Fig. 1I–K . Habitus: Fig. 1L .

Female unknown.

Distribution. Species so far known only from type locality.

Diagnosis. Maladera barasingha sp. nov. is in shape of the male genitalia and external morphology similar to M. kolkataensis Bhunia, Gupta, Sarkar & Ahrens, 2023 . The new species differs from M. kolkataensis by the longer antennal club as well as by the curved and protruded parameres (Bhunia et al. 2023; figs 1–4, p. 353).

Etymology. Maladera barasingha sp. nov. is named after the India swamp deer( Rucervus duvaucelii ),barasingha (noun in apposition). The aedeagus of Maladera barasingha sp. nov. resembles the antler of the barasingha.

Figures

FIGURE 1. A–D. Maladera champhaiensis Gupta, Bhunia, Ahrens & Chandra sp. nov.; E–H. Neoserica churachandpurensis Gupta, Bhunia, Ahrens & Chandra sp. nov.; I–L. Maladera barasingha Gupta, Bhunia, Ahrens & Chandra sp. nov.. (A, E, I) Aedeagus in lateral view (left); (B, F, J) Aedeagus in dorsal view; (C, H, L) Aedeagus in lateral view (right); (D, H, L) Habitus, dorsal view. Scale 0.5 mm; habitus not to scale.