Pizacris Souza-Dias & Desutter-Grandcolas

Souza-Dias, Pedro G. B., Desutter-Grandcolas, Laure & Pereira, Marcelo Ribeiro, 2015, Pizacris: a new genus and two new species of Luzarinae cricket close to Guabamima de Mello, 1992 and Mellopsis Mews & Sperber, 2010 (Orthoptera: Grylloidea: Luzarinae), Zootaxa 3956 (3), pp. 374-388 : 376-381

Pizacris Souza-Dias & Desutter-Grandcolas n. gen.

Etymology. Taxon named after the Brazilian zoologist Salvador de Toledo Piza Júnior (1898–1988) for his work on Orthoptera .

Type species. Mellopsis zefai Mews & Szinwelski, 2010

Species included. Pizacris zefai ( Mews & Szinwelski, 2010) , n. comb., Pizacris carioca Desutter-Grandcolas & Souza-Dias , n. sp.

Distribution. Southeastern Brazil, in the Atlantic Forest of Minas Gerais, Espírito Santo and Rio de Janeiro States.

Diagnosis. Body densely pilose, mainly the head and pronotum; general coloration dark brown, almost uniform, with maxillary palpi joints 4 and 5 white. Fastigium wider than long in P. z e f a i ( Mews & Szinwelski, 2010), n. comb. and longer than wide in P. c ar i o ca Desutter-Grandcolas & Souza-Dias, n. sp., slightly convex distally, covered with strong setae, not separated from the vertex by a transverse furrow but distinctly flattened at base; median ocellus clearly subapical. Male FWs coriaceous, reduced (very small scales in P. c a r i o c a Souza-Dias & Desutter-Grandcolas, n. sp.), rounded, not covering the first tergite, without stridulatory file or specialized veins and covered with very small bristles. Female FWs reduced to a small scale. Metanotal and abdominal glands absent. Male genitalia: pseudepiphallic sclerite with small, ventrally-oriented pseudepiphallic arms; pseudepiphallic parameres with an elongate, laterally enlarged, highly sclerotized, and uncovered dorsal part (PsP2); occurrence of a pair of phallic vesicles, ventrally visible at the base of the short arms; endophallic apodemes large and robust, well developed. Female genitalia: copulatory papilla elongated, with apex pointed and convex basis, in ventral view.

Description. Size medium, general coloration dark brown, legs medium brown with dark spots ( Figs. 1 A, B; 2 A, B). Body densely pilose; head and pronotum covered with strong setae ( Figs. 2 C–E); abdomen pubescent ( Figs. 2 A, B). Occiput and vertex pilose, dark brown ( Figs. 2 C–E). Fastigium wider than long in P. z e f a i ( Mews & Szinwelski, 2010), n. comb. and longer than wide in P. c a r i o ca Souza-Dias & Desutter-Grandcolas, n. sp., slightly convex distally, covered with strong setae and not separated from the vertex by a transverse furrow but flattened basally, with the apex below vertex level ( Figs. 2 C–E). 3 ocelli present, the lateral ones larger than the median ( Fig. 2 E); a pair of setae between the lateral ocelli and the eyes margin. Eyes small and not prominent, without unpigmented ommatidia ( Figs. 2 D, E), but dorsal part of the eyes lighter brown in P. c a r i o c a Desutter-Grandcolas & Souza-Dias, n. sp. Scapes longer than wide. Antennae brown, their base yellowish, with widely seperate yellow articles. Third ( P. zefai ( Mews & Szinwelski, 2010) , n. comb.) or fourth (P. c a r i o c a Desutter-Grandcolas & Souza- Dias, n. sp.) joint of maxillary palpi the longest; joints 4 and 5 white; fifth joint curved on both dorsal and ventral sides ( Fig. 2 E). Pronotum transverse, pubescent ( Figs. 2 A–C); DD cephalic margin slightly concave; DD caudal margin slightly convex (concave in P. cari oca Desutter-Grandcolas & Souza-Dias , n. sp.); LL ventro-cephalic angle rounded, with ventral margin ascending arcuate into the caudal margin and ventro-caudal angle not distinct ( Figs. 2 C, D, H). TI bearing an external tympanum only (P. z e f a i ( Mews & Szinwelski, 2010), n. comb.) or two reduced tympana (P. c a r i o c a Desutter-Grandcolas & Souza-Dias, n. sp.), with 2 ventral, apical spurs. TII with 4 apical spurs, the inner ventral the longest. Tibia and femur III equal in length; TIII subapical spurs: 4/4, short and alternate; strong serrulation between and above subapical spurs, except between inner subapical spurs 1 and 2; apical spurs: 3/3, the median the longest on both sides; inner apical spurs longer than the outer ( Figs. 1 I, J). Basitarsomeres III elongated; with two rows of spines.

Male. Metanotum and tergites not glandular. FWs coriaceous, dark brown, reduced to a very small scale ( P. carioca Desutter-Grandcolas & Souza-Dias , n. sp.) ( Fig. 4 B) or reaching until the anterior border of the first tergite ( P. zefai ( Mews & Szinwelski, 2010) , n. comb.) ( Fig. 2 C), lustrous, slightly pubescent, and without stridulatory file or specialized veins. Supra anal plate pubescent, without extended angles distally, but the distal half clearly elongate, the proximal margin straight and the distal margin rounded, wide. Subgenital plate elongated, pubescent, the proximal margin concave; median portion of the distal margin broadly convex, with extended angles.

Male genitalia. Pseudepiphallic sclerite transverse; pseudepiphalic arms short, comprising a short dorsal part and a longer, partly separate, ventral part. Pseudepiphallic parameres with an elongated, laterally enlarged, highly sclerotized, and uncovered dorsal part (PsP2); occurrence of a pair of phallic vesicles, ventrally visible at the arm basis. Rami elongated, longer than the ectophallic apodemes. Ectophallic apodemes thin, the base of each apodeme inflated against the pseudepiphallic sclerite; ectophallic arc located anteriorly to the median part of pseudepiphallic sclerite. Endophallic sclerite elongated, longitudinal, reaching the basis of the pseudepiphallic parameres; endophallic apodemes paired, large and robust, well developed.

Female. Larger than male; general appearance and coloration similar to male, but with a pair of median yellow brown spots from third to sixth tergite, in addition to lateral yellow spots ( Fig. 1 B). Female FWs reduced to a very small scale ( Fig. 2 H). Supra anal plate densely pilose, the proximal margin slightly concave and the distal rounded Subgenital plate wider than long, distal margin bilobate. Ovipositor flattened laterally; apex small, without high crests or teeth but lightly punctuated.

Female genitalia. Copulatory papilla elongated, its apex pointed, with convex basis in ventral view.

Systematic relationships. The Luzarinae C–group is particularly diverse in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, where all the genera described from Brazil are present, except the Amazonian Joadis . The species of Pizacris Souza-Dias & Desutter-Grandcolas , n. gen. and its related genera, Guabamima and Mellopsis , are known for the Atlantic Forest of Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro, Espírito Santo and Bahia States.

According to Mews et al. (2010), Guabamima and Mellopsis form a solid group inside the Luzarinae C–group, sharing similar morphological characters. Pizacris Souza-Dias & Desutter-Grandcolas , n. gen. is clearly close to Guabamima and Mellopsis , as the three genera share some general morphological characters such as the dark brown coloration with white maxillary palpi, the reduced, pubescent and coriaceous FWs, and the densely pilose body. Nevertheless, the male genitalia provide the most informative characters for this clustering.

The main characteristics of the phallic complex of these genera regard the pseudepiphallic arms and the pseudepiphallic parameres. Among the C-group, these genera are characterized by having small pseudepiphallic arms, in comparison to other genera as the Aracambiae group. In Guabamima , the pseudepiphallic arms are dorsally visible and lateral, with pointed apex ( Figs. 6 A, C, F). In Mellopsis ( Figs. 6 B, D, E) and Pizacris Souza- Dias & Desutter-Grandcolas, n. gen. ( Figs. 3 A–F; 4C–E; 5A–C) the pseudepiphallic arms are not visible in dorsal view, being small, thin and ventrally-oriented. For informations about the patterns of the pseudepiphallic arms of Luzarinae C–group, see de Mello & de Andrade (2003) and Souza-Dias & Desutter-Grandcolas (2014).

Other common features concerning the male genitalia of these genera are the enlarged and uncovered pseudepiphallic parameres, mainly the dorsal projections (PsP2), elongated ectophallic apodemes and rami, and well-developed endophallic apodemes.

Pizacris Souza-Dias & Desutter-Grandcolas , n. gen. can be separated from its related genera by the characters present in the key below.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Pizacris zefai (Mews & Sperber, 2010), n. comb. A, male habitus; B, female habitus.

FIGURE 2. Pizacris zefai (Mews & Sperber, 2010), n. comb. General morphology of neotype and female topotype. A, male habitus, dorsal; B, female habitus, dorsal; C, male head, pronotum and FW, dorsal; D, male head and pronotum, lateral; E, male head and pronotum, frontal; F, male right FW, dorsal face; G, male right FW, ventral face; H, female pronotum, dorsal—arrow: female reduced FW; I, male outer apical spurs of TIII (see Abbreviations); J, male inner apical spurs of TIII (see Abbreviations); K, male supra anal plate; L, female supra anal plate; M, female subgenital plate; N, male subgenital plate.

FIGURE 3. Pizacris zefai (Mews & Sperber, 2010), n. comb. Genitalia of neotype and female topotype. A – F, male genitalia in dorsal (A, B), ventral (C, D), and lateral view (E, F); G – I, female copulatory papilla in ventral (G), lateral (H) and dorsal (I). See Abbreviations on Material and methods. Scale bar: 1 mm.

FIGURE 4. Pizacris carioca Desutter-Grandcolas & Souza-Dias, n. sp. General morphology and male and female genitalia. A, lateral view of maxillary palpus; B, lateral view of male pronotum and metanotum; C – E, male genitalia in dorsal (C), ventral (D) and lateral (E) view; F, female subgenital plate; G – I, female copulatory papilla in ventral (G), dorsal (H) and lateral (I). See Abbreviations on Material and methods. Scale bar: 1 mm.

FIGURE 6. Comparison between the male phallic complexes of Guabamima de Mello, 1992, and Mellopsis Mews & Sperber, 2010. Male genitalia of Guabamima sp. in dorsal (A), ventral (C) and lateral view (F); male genitalia of Mellopsis doucasae Mews & Sperber, 2010 in dorsal (B), ventral (D) and lateral (E) view. The arrow indicates the separation of the arm of Mellopsis doucasae (in dorsal view) from the median part of the pseudepiphallus. Abbreviation: Arm = pseudepiphallic arm. Scale bar: 1 mm.