Malaia (M) simulatrix Heller 1892
Creators: name: Kaneko, Naoki
name: Wada, Kaoru
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Rutelidae
Malaia

description: Malaia (M.) simulatrix Heller, 1892 (Figs. 7–9, 12–13)
Malaia simulatrix Heller, 1892: 303–305, fig. 16.
Type locality. “Insula Bangkai [= Pulau Banggai (Sulawesi Tengah)]”.
Type material examined. None.
Additional material examined. 3 ♀♀: “ Puncak / Palopo / IX-X. 1990 / CELEBES ” (PSMF); 1 ♀: “near Palu / SULAWESI / INDONESIA / JUL. 1993.” (PCMF); 2 ♂♂, 5 ♀♀: “ INDONESIA: / C. SULAWESI / Palolo Palu / JAN. 2001.” (PCMF); 4 ♂♂, 6 ♀♀: “ INDONESIA: / C. SULAWESI / Palolo Palu / JAN. 2009.” (PCMF); 2 ♀♀: “[Indonesia] / Puncak Palopo pass, / Central Sulawesi. / X. 2017. / Native Collector leg.” (RIEB); 1 ♂: “ Peleng / nr. Celebes ” (RIEB).
Diagnostic characters. Body shape ovoid, slightly bent laterally (Figs. 7–9). Color almost blackish-brown with a dull vitreous green gloss; legs black with green vitreous luster; elytra black with two or four reddish-brown maculae, or dark blue. Head distinctly convex; clypeus trapezoidal with rounded angles, weakly reflexed anterior margin, weakly concave at the center; frons shallowly depressed and without a median groove extending to the vertex. Pronotum with a pair of shallow oblique depressions in the middle to the anterior part of the lateral sides; anterior angles acute and protruding weakly; lateral sides of pronotum with dense short appressed yellowish-white scaly hairs along anterior to posterior angles. Pygidium convex and apex broadly rounded. Mesoventrites covered with dense appressed yellowish-white hairs. Abdominal ventrites covered with dense appressed yellowish-white hairs. Protibia with bidentate, apical, and proximal tooth developed. Meso- and metatibia short and fusiform. Aedeagus curved in lateral view, shape simple as shown in Figs. 12–13. Parameres almost symmetrical, with each lobe protruding at the apex, and multiple sparse short reddish setae at the apex.
Distribution. Indonesia: Sulawesi (Sulawesi Tengah, Pulau Banggai, and Pulau Peleng).
Remarks. Malaia simulatrix was described by Heller (1892). Later, Machatschke (1957) classified the genus Malaia into three subgenera, and assigned M. simulatrix to the subgenus Malaia. Additionally, M. simulatrix was assigned to the simulatrix group, one of the species groups included in the subgenus Malaia. However, Machatschke (1957) established five species groups in the subgenus Malaia without clearly defining the characteristics of those species groups, so the features that characterized each group remain unknown. Therefore, it will be necessary to review all species in the genus Malaia in the future to establish a definition of these species groups. Our examination showed some important characters for differentiating M. (M.) simulatrix from M. (M.) medea. For a clearer differentiation, see the identification key below.
Unfortunately, we were not able to examine the holotype of M. (M.) simulatrix in this study. We contacted Senckenberg Natural History Collections Dresden (Germany) and Dr. Guido Sabatinelli (Natural History Museum of Geneva, Switzerland), who had knowledge of whereabouts of Heller’s type material, but the holotype of M. (M.) simulatrix had not been found and seemed to be missing. Therefore, we identified M. (M.) simulatrix based on the original description and the photograph of M. (M.) simulatrix Heller, 1892 sensu Sabatinelli.
description: Published as part of Kaneko, Naoki & Wada, Kaoru, 2022, A new species of the genus Malaia Heller, 1892 (Scarabaeidae: Rutelinae: Anomalini) from Sulawesi Island, Indonesia, pp. 426-432 in Zootaxa 5104 (3) on pages 429-431, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5104.3.4, http://zenodo.org/record/6332094