Troglophilus zorae, Karaman, I. & Pavicevic, 2011

Davranoglou, Leonidas-Romanos, Matsumoto, Keita, Soh, Zestin & Kempton, James, 2021, New records and ecological observations on Greek cave crickets (Orthoptera: Rhaphidophoridae), Journal of Natural History 55 (1 - 2), pp. 1-13 : 8-9

Troglophilus zorae Karaman & Pavićević, 2011

New record

Greece, Epirus, Konitsa Municipality, Pades, Stontzi geological formation, 40°2 ʹ 40.85”N, 20°54 ʹ 27.26”E, 1230 m, 21 .vii .2020, collectors James Kempton and Leonidas-Romanos Davranoglou, 4 larvae [2 m # (1 in NHM, 1 in ZMUA), 2 f# (1 in NHM, 1 in ZMUA)] .

Known distribution

Albania, North Macedonia ( Karaman et al. 2011).

Diagnosis

Although the collected individuals are represented by larvae, they possess a combination of characters that separate them from all known Greek species and are diagnostic for T. zorae as described in Karaman et al. (2011), namely: (1) the species-specific shape of tergum ten ( Figure 6 (b)) (2) colouration ( Figure 6 (a)) (3) short ovipositor ( Figure 6 (a)) and (4) mid tibia armed with spines on dorsal side (not imaged here).

These characters are in agreement with those mentioned by Karaman et al. (2011) and with larval material in the Ivo Karaman collection (University of Novi Sad, Serbia) [Karaman, personal communication (30/10/2020)] . We are therefore confident that our identification is correct . Karaman et al. (2011) speculated that a record of T. neglectus Krauss, 1879 from Naousa , Greece, may actually refer to T. zorae , although stressed that this remains unconfirmed. This makes our study the first confirmed record of this species in Greece .

Figures

Figure 6. Specimens of T. zorae from Pades, Epirus. a) Immature female specimen on a man-made stone wall, showing colouration characteristic of this species; b) Tergum ten of an immature male specimen.