Scaria hamata ( De Geer, 1773 )

Cadena-Castañeda, Oscar J., Mendes, Diego Matheus De Mello, Silva, Daniela Santos Martins, Granda, Juan Manuel Cardona, García, Alexander García & Tumbrinck, Josef, 2019, Systematics and biogeography of the genus Scaria Bolívar, 1887 (Orthoptera: Tetrigidae: Batrachideinae), Zootaxa 4675 (1), pp. 1-65 : 36-39

Scaria hamata ( De Geer, 1773)

Figs. 20, 21, 36

Acrydium hamatum De Geer, 1773: 503 .

Scaria hamata: Bolívar, 1887: 301 .

Type speciment. Neotype (here designated): ♂ BRAZIL, Amazonas , Campus universitário da Universidade Federal do Amazonas ( UFAM), 03.ii.1979, J.A. Rafael leg ( INPA).

Other specimens examined. BRAZIL, Amazonas, Manaus, Campus universitário, 03.ii.1979, J.A. Rafael leg. (2♀ 1♂) ; idem, 28.viii.1979 (1♂) ; idem, 18.xi.1978 (1♂) ; idem, 07.x.1978 (8♀ and 2♂) ; idem, 07.vii.1979 (1♂ 1♀) ; idem, 07.iv.1979 (1♂) ; idem, 02.ix.1978 (1♀) ; idem, 06.i.1979 (5♀ and 1♂) ; idem, 30.ix.1978 (2♀ and 1♂) ; idem, 04.xiii.1979 (1♀) ; idem, 08.ix.1979 (2♀ and 1♂) ; idem, 07.x.1978 (2♀) ; idem, 17.iii.1979 (1♀) ; idem, 12.v.1979 (1♀) ; idem, 03.ii.1979 (1♂) ; idem, 04.xii.1979 (1♂) ; idem, 20.i.1979 (1♀) ; idem, 21.vii.1979 (1♀) ; idem, 17.ii.1979 (2♀) ; idem, 24.ii.1979 (3♂ and 2♀) ; idem, 27.i.1979 (2♂ 1♀) ; idem, 24.iii.1979 (1♀) ; idem, 23.vi.1979 (1♂) ; idem, 21.xii.1978 (1♀) ; idem, 23.ix.1978 (3♀) ; idem, 09.ix.1978 (1♂) ; idem, 10.ii.1979 (1♀) ; idem, 13.i.1979 (1♀) ; idem, 31.viii.1979 (2♀) ; idem, 30.vi.1978 (1♀ and 1♂) ; idem, 28.x.1978 (1♂ and 1♀) ( INPA) . Para , VIII, 1♂ ( ANSP) , Rondonia, Ouro Preto de Oeste , 21-III-1985. M.F. Torres. MPEG 05034785 1♀ ( MPEG) . PERU, Huanuco, Tingo Maria , IX-23, X-19-1954, X-28-1946, XI-2-1954, 4♂ ( ANSP) , Huanuco, Marcapata 1♂ ( ANSP) . ECUADOR, Valle del Santiago ( Giglio-Tos, 1898) .

Photographic records. ECUADOR, Pastaza (Westerdujin & Cadena-Castañeda, 2014) 1♂. Zamora-Chinchipe, Río Zamora valley, El Pangui, Maralí; S 3.713300, W 78.551900; 900 meters (Holger Braun) 1♀.

Redescription. Male. Pronotal disc, upper half of lateral lobes of pronotum lime green (in specimens kept in alcohol the coloration changes to brown); face yellowish-green, post-ocular strip present, black as is the thin strip of the lateral lobes of the pronotum, the tegmina, wings, thoracic sternites and upper half of the abdominal tergites. Face greenish yellow or greenish white, as are the lower half of the lateral lobes of the pronotum ( Figs. 20A,D). Head, stout and moderately elongated; eyes globose but not very prominent; frontal costa highly arcuate in lateral view; dorsal carina shorth, usually not reaching the fastigium; lateral carinae blunt and poorly divergent, narrow scutellum ( Fig. 20B). Pronotum, flat to very lowly tectate, extending beyond the tip of the hind femora ( Figs.20A,D); anterior spine stout, apically arcuate, highly ascendant; anterior carinae absent; lateral lobes of the pronotum as wide as long, lateral shoulder carinae rounded and slightly prolonged ( Fig. 20C). Tegmina elongate, slender and with an ellipsoidal, prominent subapical spot ( Fig. 20C). Legs slender and elongate, fore femora with an obsolete sulcation above; with a minute, acute, external, dorso-apical spinule; mid femora six times longer than wide, with a moderately developed sulcation, internal dorso-apical spine present; hind femora with little developed pre-genicular spine. Abdomen. Subgenital plate longer than wide, narrow and deep in lateral view ( Figs.20 E–G) a little upturned, narrowing to the tip, almost subarcuate ( Fig. 20E), penultimate sternite with a poorly developed medial prolongation ( Fig. 20F), cerci of similar thickness in all their length, obliquely truncated at the tip ( Fig. 20G), epiproct triangular and with a pointed tip ( Fig. 20E).

Female. Similar to the male in shape and size, though it is somewhat more heavily built ( Figs. 20 A–D). Subgenital plate with a broad, apical emargination; with a low, subtriangulate to subarcuate median lobe ( Fig. 20E). Ovipositor thin, 2.5 times as long as the subgenital plate. Cerci conical, moderately thickened ( Fig. 20F).

Variation. This species mostly varies in the general coloration of the body. The greenish color of the pronotum can range from light green to green in a black backdrop, yellowish punctation usually present. In some few specimens these punctations are lacking. Face coloration can range from yellowish green (usual in the examined specimens), to a rarer beige. The apical spine of the median femora varies in its length and extent of acuteness; the female subgenital plate is variable in the depth of apical emargination and in the expression of the median lobe which is very low in some specimens.

Measurements: CFP: 12,6-11,2; PL: 12,1-10,5; PLB: 2-1,7; FF: 2,9-2,1; FL: 2,8-2,6; MFL: 3-2,6; MTL: 3,1- 2,7; HL: 6,6-6,4; HW: 3,1-1,7; HL: 5,8-5,2.

Distribution. Widely distributed in Amazonian Brazil, Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia.

Comments. This species is often mentioned in literature, but there were always some misgivings regarding ID, as there was no detailed, precise description. This is because in the brief description available until now ( De Geer, 1773; Bolívar, 1887), several species of the genus with a greenish color pattern could be keyed out as S. producta and some newly, herein described species.

Another factor making an objective identification difficult was the absence of the type specimen, for which it became necessary to propose a neotype specimen serving as name bearer of the species, supported by the following reasons (Art. 75 ICZN): 1. The status of the only type specimen is lost, it being deposited in NHRS, but as per visit of Josef Tumbrinck to such collection, it could not be found either by him or by the curators; this specimen was tracked through literature to 1962 in Grant’s specimens, but from then on its deposit location is unknown, because it was not found in the visits made by Daniela Santos or Marcelo Ribero to ANSP (Arts. 75.3.1., 75.3.4.). 2. The type locations of the original type (female) was Surinam, but as specimens of that location were not available, an available male from the nearest possible location with a similar geological horizon was designated (Arts. 75.3.5, 75.3.6). A male is proposed as the name bearer of the species, as this sex holds most of the characters necessary for reliable identification, unlike the female (Recommendation 75A ICZN). 3. A detailed description of the neotype, according to the general idea of the species identity, different from other taxa, ensuring the acknowledgement of the designated specimen, and with a consensus in identifications and wide distribution that characterizes the species, procuring that most identifications of the past are correct (Arts. 75.3.2, 75.3.3, 75.3.5; recommendation 75B). 4. The neotype is deposited in INPA, a collection from a renowned scientific institution, which has appropriate facilities to store and preserve the types and makes them accessible for study (Art. 75.3.7).

In Grant’s thesis (1962), the author proposes S. maculata as a synonym under S. hamata , a nomenclatural act proposal (also not deemed as valid as the thesis was never officially published), with which we disagree, as characteristics that wholly differentiate both species as separate specific identities exist and have been noted. In fact, S. maculata is more closely related with S. producta than with S. hamata and similar species of the Hamata Group.