Maechidius fraterculus Moser Determined 1920
Creators: name: Telnov, Dmitry
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Scarabaeidae
Maechidius
Maechidius fraterculus

description: Maechidius fraterculus Moser, 1920
Figs 38, 117, 214, 304, 377, 471
Type material
Lectotype [herewith designated]
COUNTRY UNKNOWN (Island of New Guinea) • ♀; “ Maechidius fraterculus Mos. Typ [h] // N. Guinea … [h, in part unreadable] // SYNTYPE Maechidius fraterculus Moser, 1920 labelled by MFNB 2019 [p, red label]”; ZMHB.
Remarks
Moser (1920: 15) based his description of M. fraterculus on an unstated number of specimens. The lectotype is therefore designated for the single syntype in ZMHB in order to enhance the stability of nomenclature and fix the specimen I based my redescription on, in case other syntypes are discovered in the future.
Description
MEASUREMENTS. Total body length 9.10 mm (lectotype).
Dorsum and venter uniformly castaneous brown except for paler appendages and antennae. Head flattened dorsally on frons between eyes, glossy dorsally and ventrally. Female labroclypeus deeply and broadly V-shaped emarginate anteriorly, its lateral margins strongly sinuous in both dorsal and lateral views (Fig. 117). Anterolateral angles broadly rounded, moderately protruding, raised up at angle of nearly 80° to frons in lateral view. Anterior and lateral margins of labroclypeus smooth. Upper- and underside of labroclypeus with sparse moderately long setae along anterior and lateral margins. Canthus broadly rounded in dorsal view. Punctures of frons large, of irregular shape (circular to hexagonal), moderately deep and dense. Intervening spaces glossy, distinctly smaller than punctures, in part wrinkled. Setae very inconspicuous, not surpassing length of corresponding punctures; each seta rises from anterior margin of puncture. Few much longer suberect setae present along inner eye margin. Female antenna 9-segmented, club 3-lamellate. Pronotum transverse, glossy dorsally and laterally. Anterior margin of pronotum broadly emarginate with protruding anterolateral angles, basal margin broadly rounded. Lateral margin of pronotum broadly rounded and crenulate in anterior half, stronger constricted towards base and with 5–6 large denticles in basal third (Fig. 214). An inconspicuous short erect seta present between every two crenulae / denticles. Lateral margin of pronotum in lateral view nearly straight, slightly angulate postmedially. Pronotal disc with vague circular impression on either side of dorsally hardly longitudinally impressed midline. Hypomeron slightly emarginate opposite of compound eye, separated from prosternum by low carina, with long setae on its anterolateral margin. Antennal pocket shallow. Punctures of pronotal disc generally smaller but denser than those on head, circular to hexagonal, inner margin with or without thin membrane. Punctures along lateral margins distinctly oblong. Intervening spaces glossy, much smaller than punctures, in part globose. Setae very inconspicuous, not surpassing length of corresponding punctures. Scutellar shield narrowly rounded apically. Elytra subopaque, with tracks of four vague longitudinal carinae, including sutural one. Punctures of elytral disc sinuous, long and narrow, incision-shaped, dense (Fig. 304). Intervening spaces subopaque, in part densely transverse microstriate. Setae inconspicuous, appressed to suberect; each seta rising from anterior margin of corresponding incision-shaped puncture and not surpassing its length. Female pygidium flattened dorsally, with shallow transverse impression at posterior margin, densely and shallowly annularly punctate and with sparse short to moderately suberect setae (Fig. 471). Female protibia with three distal teeth, two of which much larger and stronger acute (Fig. 377). Female protibial terminal spur short, slightly curved apically. Female metatibial terminal spurs long, rounded apically, strongly subequal in length. Tarsal claws with pulvilli (in female only?).
Sexual dimorphism
Male is unknown.
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 page 47, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2020.721.1127, http://zenodo.org/record/4122118