Peronura wottae, Hemp & Heller, 2019

Hemp, Claudia & Heller, Klaus-Gerhard, 2019, Orthoptera (Tettigoniidae and Acridoidea) from Miombo woodlands of Central Tanzania with the description of new taxa, Zootaxa 4671 (2), pp. 151-194 : 165-167

Peronura wottae n. sp. Hemp C.

( Figs. 12 –14,18–20)

Holotype. Male. Tanzania, Mpwapwa Plateau, Mpwapwa District , Dodoma Region, in the herb layer along forest edge and on clearings, 1840 m, March 2017 . Paratypes 5 males, 6 females, same data as holotype. Depository: Collection C. Hemp .

Description. Male. Color dark green, dorsal part of pronotum with brown fascia. Behind eyes lateral yellow lines start running along lower margins of pronotal lobes ( Fig. 12 A, C ). Head and antennae. Antennae thick, more than three times the length of body. Cuticle of head smooth, fastigium of vertex a narrow sulcate ridge. Eyes small, almost round. Thorax. Pronotum without lateral carinae; surface a mix of small wrinkles and shallow warts. Tegmina and wings. Tegmina surpassing body, comparatively narrow with evenly curved apices. Conspicuous white line where tegmina meet when folded ( Fig. 12 B ). With reduced venation as typical for genus. Stridulatory file on underside of left tegmen with two parts: inner part with widely spaced teeth separated by gap. Outer part with few large teeth ( Fig. 13 D ). Alae reduced, hidden under tegmina, about 2,5 mm long. Legs. Tympanic auricles of fore tibiae conchate, not inflated. As typical for the genus, all femora with shining black wart-like spines; fore and mid femora with double row of 4–5 irregular set spines, hind femora with double row of 5–6 spines. Tibiae quadrangular in diameter, with four rows of small black spines of normal shape getting denser to the apex, especially on the hind tibiae. Abdomen. 10 th abdominal tergite enlarged and produced posteriorly, flap-like with sulcus in middle. In preserved specimens flap misshapen ( Fig. 13 B ), the sulcus only visible in living specimen ( Fig. 13 A ). Subgenital plate as in Fig. 13 B and C , elongated and up-curved forming two shallow lobes at posterior margin.

Female. Similar to male, more plump, sexual dimorphism small. Ovipositor as in Fig. 14 A . Subgenital plate with broad base, tri-angular, at posterior margin roundly incurved ( Fig. 14 B ).

Measurements, males (mm) (N=4). Total length of body 19.4–24.1; Median length of pronotum 5.3–5.9; Length of hind femur 23.4–24.6; Length of elytra 18.0–19.9.

Measurements, females (mm) (N=4). Total length of body 22.4–25.9; Median length of pronotum 5.7–6.0; Length of hind femur 22.7–23.9; Length of elytra 22.1–23.5. Length of ovipositor 11.8–13.0

Diagnosis. The genus Peronura currently contains 4 species all similar in habitus except for P. clavigera Karsch, 1889 which has lobe-like reduced tegmina while all other Peronura species including P. wottae n. sp. have tegmina at least reaching the tip of the abdomen in males while females usually have shorter tegmina not reaching the tip of the abdomen. Males of P. wottae n. sp. may easily be distinguished by their modified 10 th tergite being enlarged and posteriorly produced while all other Peronura species have unmodified 10 th tergites with an evenly incurved posterior margin. Females of Peronura morphologically resemble some Horatosphaga females but may be distinguished by the pitch-black shining wart-like spines on the ventral side of the femora. One generic character for Peronura are tubercles at the base of the ovipositor in females. However, these tubercles are only well-expressed in P. clavigera while their are very small to obsolete in the other species including P. wottae n. sp. and do not serve as good distinguishing character from females of other similar genera. The subgenital plates of species of Peronura females are broad with a conspicuous median ridge and more or less wide lateral “wings” while in P. wottae n. sp. females have a broad-based subgenital plate without a median ridge, at its posterior margin in-curved and can thus well distinguished from other female Peronura species. However, except for P. clavigera being a wide-spread species in East Africa (but at present not recorded for Central Tanzania), all other species are restricted to respective mountainous areas— P. hildebrandtiana Karsch, 1889 to the Taita Hills in southern Kenya, P. uguenoensis Hemp, 2002 to the North and South Pare Mountains in northern Tanzania and P. usambarica Hemp, 2018 to the East Usambara Mountains near the Tanzanian Coast while P. wottae n. sp. very likely is restricted to the Mpwapwa District of Tanzania.

Song. Peronura wottae n. sp. males produced echemes with durations of about 10–13 seconds (40–50 syllables; 3 specimens recorded). During the first half of an echeme the amplitude increased, at first slowly, than faster, and remained more or less constant in the second half ( Fig. 18 ). The syllable repetition rate varied a little bit within an echeme around a mean of 4.2 Hz (4.0–4.5 Hz; n=11; Fig 19 ). The echemes have about the same length as in Peronura clavigera (Hemp, in prep.) but are longer than in Peronura usambarica ( Hemp et al. 2018) and the syllables are produced at a lower rate than in these two species. The spectrum showed a peak between 10 and 15 kHz ( Fig. 20 ).

Habitat. In herb vegetation along forest edges and on clearings in montane forest.

Distribution. Central Tanzania, Dodoma Region.

Conservation status. Species restricted on the Mpwapwa plateau (Wotta and Lugunga Forest Reserves) are very likely Endangered or Critically Endangered since these forest reserves are heavily influenced by illegal cutting and especially lifestock grazing degrading and reducing forest cover constantly. P. wottae n. sp. must therefore regarded as Critically Endangered since only known from Wotta Forest Reserve at present.

Etymology. Named after Wotta Forest Reserve where this new Peronura species was collected.

Figures

FIGURE 12. Peronura wottae n. sp. A–C. Male D. Female.

FIGURE 13. Morphological details of male Peronura wottae n. sp. A. Rear view on apex of living individual B. Lateral view on apex of preserved specimen C. Rear view on subgenital plate of living specimen D. Stridulatory file.

FIGURE 14. Morphological details of female Peronura wottae n. sp. A. Ovipositor B. Subgenital plate.

FIGURE 18. Oscillograms of calling songs of Horatosphaga, Peronura and Tenerasphaga species, overview. 30-s-sections. Recording of H. leggei from Bukoba, 1–15 xi 2018, leg. Claudia Hemp.

FIGURE 19. Oscillograms of calling songs of Horatosphaga, Peronura and Tenerasphaga species, details. 4-s-sections.

FIGURE 20. Power spectra of the calling songs of the Acrometopini species studied here.