Maechidius mailu Telnov 2020, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Telnov, Dmitry
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Scarabaeidae
Maechidius
Maechidius mailu

description: Maechidius mailu sp. nov.
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 65367219-2F03-4D5A-B717-CA6A980839F6
Figs 56, 141, 230, 271, 321, 394, 490, 658–660
Differential diagnosis
Maechidius mailu sp. nov. is peculiar among all congeners primarily due to the shape of the male aedeagus, the almost straight lateral margins of the pronotum and the partly wrinkled elytral sculpture.
Etymology
Named after the Mailu, the local tribe and language of Amazon Bay, Papua New Guinea. Noun in apposition.
Type material
Holotype
PAPUA NEW GUINEA • ♂; “ NEW GUINEA Amazon Bay area, Komania. 3400 ft., 11.11.– 26.11.1962 W. W. Brandt [p]// PARATYPE [p, red label]// Maechidius lineatopunctatus n sp [h] det. G.Frey,1967/68 [p]”; NHMB.
Paratypes
PAPUA NEW GUINEA • 3 specimens; same labels as for holotype: NHMB.
Remarks
According to the original description of M. lineatopunctatus (Frey 1969: 502), there are 17 male /female paratypes at NHMB of which I had the opportunity to study one single male and three additional specimens that were allocated by the NHMB staff (C. Germann, personal communication).
Description
MEASUREMENTS. Male holotype, total body length 8.20 mm. Head 1.50 mm long, across eyes 2.00 mm wide. Pronotum 1.70 mm long, maximum width 2.90 mm. Elytral length 5.00 mm, maximum combined width 4.00 mm.
Dorsum and venter uniformly brown, appendages and labroclypeus castaneous. Head flattened dorsally on frons, subopaque dorsally and ventrally. Male labroclypeus (Fig. 141) broadly and shallowly emarginate on anterior margin, its lateral margins sinuous in both dorsal and lateral views. Anterolateral angles strongly obtuse, rounded, not protruding. Upper- and underside of labroclypeus with sparse inconspicuous setae along anterior and lateral margins. Compound eye moderately large. Canthus very broadly rounded in dorsal view. Head punctures circular, moderately deep and dense. Intervening spaces glossy to microreticulate, variably large. Head setae minute, appressed, rise from anterior margin of each puncture, not surpassing midlength of corresponding punctures. Antenna 9-segmented, club 3-lamellate. Pronotum strongly transverse, glossy dorsally and laterally.Anterior margin of pronotum slightly sinuous with anterolateral angles slightly protruding anteriad. Basal margin of pronotum slightly sinuous. Lateral margin of pronotum in dorsal view nearly straight, very slightly emarginate in basal half, delicately crenulate all along (Fig. 230). Minute erect seta present between every two crenulae. Lateral margin of pronotum slightly sinuous in lateral view. Hypomeron separated from prosternum by moderately high nearly straight carina which is shortly flange-like protruding in posterior half, with long setae on its anterolateral margin opposite to compound eye (Fig. 271). Antennal pocket moderately deep. Pronotal punctures circular to ovoid, dense and moderately deep, in part annular. Intervening spaces glossy or delicately microreticulate, variably large, in part wrinkled. Setae as those on head, very inconspicuous. Scutellar shield triangular, pointed apically. Elytron subopaque, without tracks of longitudinal carinae. Punctures of elytral disc ovoid, deep, dense. Intervening spaces in part wrinkled in part glossy, variably large. Elytral setae inconspicuous, appressed; each seta rises from anterior margin of each puncture, not surpassing length of corresponding puncture (Fig. 321). Male pygidium flattened dorsally, with large and shallow irregularly hexagonal punctures (Fig. 490). Intervening spaces microreticulate, much smaller than punctures. Setae of pygidium very short in anterior, slightly longer in apical half. Male protibia with two inconspicuous distal teeth on external margin (Fig. 394). Male protibial terminal spur straight, pointed. Male lower mesotibial terminal spur slightly curved. Tarsal claws with pulvilli (in male only?). Aedeagus as in Figs 658–660.
Sexual dimorphism
Female not studied.
Ecology
Unknown.
Distribution
Hitherto only known from Papuan Peninsula of New Guinea.
description: Published as part of Telnov, Dmitry, 2020, A revision of the Maechidiini Burmeister, 1855 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Melolonthinae) from the Indo-Australian transition zone, and the first record of the tribe west of Wallace's Line, pp. 1-210 in European Journal of Taxonomy 721 on pages 74-75, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2020.721.1127, http://zenodo.org/record/4122118