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

description: Maechidius merdeka sp. nov.
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 4CE118C9-AC74-47C5-93B3-82F7844A0000
Figs 61, 145, 232, 323, 396, 492, 664–666
Etymology
The name is derived from the Indonesian ‘merdeka’ (meaning ‘independent’, ‘free’) to celebrate the craving for spiritual freedom of the Papuan people. Noun in apposition.
Type material
Holotype
COUNTRY UNKNOWN (Island of New Guinea) • ♂; “ New Guinea Doron xi.1921 R.Neill Rothschild B.M.1939-1”; BMNH.
Paratype
COUNTRY UNKNOWN (Island of New Guinea) • 1 ♂; same label as in holotype; BMNH.
Description
MEASUREMENTS. Male holotype, total body length 7.05 mm. Head 1.30 mm long, across eyes 1.50 mm wide. Pronotum 1.45 mm long, maximum width 2.30 mm. Elytral length 4.30 mm, maximum combined width 3.05 mm.
With general features of M. bintang sp. nov., M. crypticus sp. nov., M. lapsus sp. nov. and M. owenstanleyi sp. nov. (see descriptions above and below). Dorsal surface covered with microscopic velvety pubescence. Male labroclypeus (Fig. 145) straight on anterior margin. Anterolateral angles of male labroclypeus strongly protruding anteriad, acute. Lateral margins of male labroclypeus sinuous both in dorsal and lateral view. Head dorsal punctures deep, circular to ovoid. Antennae 9-segmented, club 3-lamellate. Head and pronotum covered with sparse, rather short suberect scale-like setae which are rounded apically. Pronotum constricted postmedially towards base. Obtuse median angulation on lateral margin of pronotum in dorsal view (Fig. 232). Pronotal punctures deep of different shape and size. Scales broader on sides of pronotal disc. With vague track of one longitudinal carina on each elytron; carina with multiple interruptions. Elytral punctures with ovoid to linear incision-shaped deep punctures (Fig. 323). Intervening spaces microreticulate, subopaque, larger than punctures. Elytral scale-like setae strongly vary in size from minute (more abundant) to clavate and strongly surpassing length of corresponding punctures. Sutural carinae partly present, with interruptions. Setae scale-like, extremely minute (miniseta rising from anterior margin of each puncture) with sparse large scales. Male pygidium with deep ovoid punctures, intervening spaces covered with microscopical velvety pubescence (Fig. 492). Setae of pygidium scale-like, larger and clavate in median part (all pointing obliquely to the middle), minute and not surpassing length of corresponding punctures in most of anterior part of pygidium. Male protibia with two distal teeth on external margin (Fig. 396). Male metatibial terminal spurs distinctly shorter than length of basal metatarsomere. Spiculum gastrale rounded distally. Male aedeagus as in Figs 664–666.
Sexual dimorphism
Female is unknown.
Ecology
Unknown.
Distribution
New Guinea. Exact location of Doron cannot be tracked.
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 77-78, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2020.721.1127, http://zenodo.org/record/4122118