Alexanderellus Cadena-Castañeda, 2022

Cadena-Castañeda, Oscar J., Braun, Holger & García, Alexander García, 2022, The tribe Dysoniini part VI: Phylogeny, biogeography and evolutionary trends of the lichen katydid genera (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae: Phaneropterinae). Eleventh contribution to the suprageneric organization of Neotropical phaneropterines, Zootaxa 5166 (1), pp. 1-93 : 41-44

Alexanderellus Cadena-Castañeda n. gen.

Diagnosis. Body small and moderately slender. Coloration brown, with various whitish, black and green spots on the extremities and the tegmina ( Figs. 24A, B ). Head longer than wide and relatively narrow in profile; vertex moderately raised, ocellar tubercle little developed ( Figs. 24C, F ); antennae filiform with a few dispersed nodes on the flagellum. Meso- and metazona of pronotal disc elevated progressively ( Figs. 24C, F ). Tegmina transparent with some diffuse spots; ventro-distal portion of anal margin gently expanded; hind femur with a distal foliose spine ( Fig. 24B ). Cerci laterally flattened, with triangular branches of similar shape.

Taxa included. Alexanderellus kumangui Cadena-Castañeda n. sp. (type species)

and A. mariposa ( Gorochov, 2012b) n. comb. (described as Dysonia (Dysonia) mariposa ).

Distribution. Amazon region of Colombia and eastern foothills of the Peruvian Andes ( Map 9 ).

Etymology. Dedicated to Professor Dr. Alexander García García, in gratitude for his friendship, teachings, continuous willingness to help, and in recognition of his impressive teaching work, making generation after generation fall in love with the study of arthropods. The grammatical gender is masculine.

Comparison. The new genus is distinguished from the other genera of the Dysoniini by its greenish-brown coloration with green and whitish spots (similar only in some species of Anaphidna ), dorso-ventrally flattened cerci with triangular branches (only Dysonia pardalis ( Gorochov, 2012a) has cerci of similar shape). The antennae of Alexanderellus are similar in structure to the antennae of Paraphidnia , Anaphidna , Lichenomorphus , Lichenodentix , and Dysonia , but the flagellum nodes are not as conspicuous in the new genus. The tegmina are almost translucent (with brown or green spots), similar to Paraphidnia and Anaphidna . In Alexanderellus the wings rest on the body, in contrast to the latter two genera, which have them narrower and projecting in a 40- to 45-degree angle from the abdomen. The hind femora of the new genus have a foliose spine similar in development to Dysonia species.

Key to species of Alexanderellus n. gen.

1. Male cerci with a distal spine-like prolongation on the outer branch ( Figs. 24H–G ). Male subgenital plate with U-shaped emargination, styli conical................................................... A. kumangui Cadena-Castañeda n. sp.

- Male cerci without a distal spine-like prolongation on the outer branch ( Figs. 24D–E ). Male subgenital plate with V-shaped emargination, cylindrical and longer styli compared to the previous species............................................................................................................ A. mariposa Gorochov, 2012 n. comb.

Figures

Map 9. Distribution map of Alexanderellus n. gen. species.

FIGURE 24. Alexanderellus n. gen. species. A, C–E. A. mariposa n. comb. B., F–I. A. kumangui n. sp. (Photos: A and C. A. Gorochov. Figs. D and E. after Gorochov, 2012)