Scapteriscus abbreviatus Scudder 1869

Frank, J. H. & McCoy, Earl D., 2014, Zoogeography of mole crickets (Orthoptera: Gryllotalpidae) in the West Indies, Insecta Mundi 2014 (331), pp. 1-14 : 6-7

Scapteriscus abbreviatus Scudder 1869

Adults and nymphs have very widely separated tibial dactyls ( Fig. 7 ). Adults are short-winged, and the apices of the tegmina are truncate ( Fig. 13 ). This species is a pest of highly managed turf (golf courses) in coastal southern Florida and St. Croix, and a minor pest (because of its restricted range) of crops elsewhere. The species’ distribution in the West Indies:

Guadeloupe – 1938 ( Nickle and Castner 1984).

Jamaica – 1926 ( Gowdey 1926, misidentified as S. didactylus !) – see Frank and Walker (2003), who identified specimens from the Institute of Jamaica as S. abbreviatus , for explanation.

US Virgin Islands: St. Croix – 1918 (Zwaluwenburg 1918 p. 6, misreported as “the changa”, the vernacular name bestowed on S. didactylus in Puerto Rico!) – year? ( Miskimen and Bond 1970 as probably S. abbreviatus ) – 1940 ( Nickle and Castner 1984 as S. abbreviatus ) – ( Ivie and Nickle 1986 discounted presence of any species other than S. abbreviatus ) – 1991 ( Frank and Keularts 1996: fresh specimens of S. abbreviatus collected and identified with explanation of history).

Puerto Rico – 1910 (one specimen in NHM labeled “Antilles P. Rico 1910-339” examined by J.H. Frank in September 2011 and identified as S. abbreviatus – 1917 Wolcott (1924) as S. abbreviatus – 1920 Nickle and Castner (1984) as S. abbreviatus ).

Haiti – 1929 ( Nickle and Castner 1984).

Cuba – 1906 ( Cook 1906, misidentified as S. didactylus ! and Rehn 1909 consequently listed as S. didactylus !) – ( Bruner 1940, with an unequivocal photograph, as S. abbreviatus ) – (Zayas 1974 as S. abbreviatus ) – (Ruíz Baliú and Fernández Iriana 1996, as S. abbreviatus ). Nickle (2003) stated that S. abbreviatus may have been present in Cuba “perhaps as early as 1750” but provided no evidence – the earliest reference he cited is Saussure 1874, but Saussure does not mention the presence of this species in Cuba).

Bahamas: New Providence Island, Nassau – 1922? ( Caudell 1922 as S. abbreviatus ; the specimen examined by Caudell, supposedly collected by W. M. Mann in Nassau sometime before 1922, and now in the US National Museum of Natural History) – this is curious because W.M. Wheeler is known to have collected on New Providence in May 1904, whereas his student W.M. Mann collected on other Bahamian islands (Andros and Mangrove Cay) in May-June 1917 – Nickle and Castner (1984) re-examined the specimen and confirmed its identity but added no details – it is even more curious because of a specimen in the University of Iowa collection mentioned by Caudell (1922) as being labeled as S. variegatus and B 1047.013 but identified by him (Caudell) as S. abbreviatus , collector and collection locality unknown (see below).

Figures

Figures 5-8. Gryllotalpid dactyls. 5) Neocurtilla hexadactyla. Four fixed tibial dactyls. 6) Scapteriscus didactylus. Two fixed tibial dactyls separated at the base. 7) Scapteriscus abbreviatus. Two fixed and widely separated dactyls (the trochantal blade is broken off). 8) Scapteriscus imitatus. Two fixed tibial dactyls separated at the base.

Figures 9-14. Gryllotalpid habitus. 9) Neocurtilla hexadactyla. Habitus of an adult (from Grenada) with long flight wings. The cerci are prominent. 10) Neocurtilla hexadactyla. Habitus of an adult (from Florida) with short flight wings, barely protruding behind the tegmina. 11) Scapteriscus didactylus. Habitus of an adult (from Puerto Rico). 12) Scapteriscus didactylus. Habitus of a large nymph (from Trinidad) with short flight wings, darkly colored at the base, and dorsal to the tegmina before wing reversal. 13) Scapteriscus abbreviatus. Habitus of an adult (from Florida) with truncate apices of the tegmina. 14) Scapteriscus imitatus. Habitus of an adult (from Puerto Rico).