Gavialidium Saussure, 1862

Muhammad, Amira Aqilah, Tan, Ming Kai, Abdullah, Nurul Ashikin, Azirun, Mohammad Sofian, Bhaskar, Dhaneesh & Skejo, Josip, 2018, An annotated catalogue of the pygmy grasshoppers of the tribe Scelimenini Bolívar, 1887 (Orthoptera: Tetrigidae) with two new Scelimena species from the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra, Zootaxa 4485 (1), pp. 1-70 : 30

Genus Gavialidium Saussure, 1862

Gavialidium: Saussure 1862 , Bolívar 1887, Hancock 1907a, Kirby 1910, Kirby 1914, Günther 1938a, Yin et al. 1996, Otte 1997, Mahmood et al. 2007, Buzzetti & Devriese 2008, Storozhenko & Paik 2011, Tumbrinck 2014.

Type species: Scelymena (Gavialidium) crocodilus Saussure, 1862

Composition and distribution. Two species, inhabiting Sri Lanka ( G. crocodilus ) and India ( G. carli comb. resurr.)

Notes. The genus is restricted to India (Tamil Nadu) and Sri Lanka. Members of the genus are characterized by a wrinkled pronotum with evident pronotal projections (short frontomedial, somewhat larger promedial, metamedial, mediolateral, and wart-like metalateral), lateral and transversal carinae of the vertex elevated as horns, dentated pronotal carinae, and strongly toothed femora. Members of this genus have high horns of the vertex, and not lamellated hind tibiae and tarsi. A lot of the species were subsequently assigned to the genus, but the authors did not examine type specimens of G. crocodilum ( Fig. 10 ). After examination of the type specimen, it is clear that only G. carli comb. resurr. together with the type species belong to this genus. Gavialidium becvari is transferred to Falconius (see Falconius becvari comb. nov.); G. novaeguineae and G. eremitum were transferred back to Scelimena by Tumbrinck (2018), G. phangensum is synonymized with Eufalconius pendleburyi (see Eufalconius pendleburyi ), G. bufocrocodil is transferred to Tegotettix (see Tegotettix bufocrocodil comb. nov.). Two species from the Philippines were previously also assigned to the genus Gavialidium—G. philippinum Bolívar, 1887 and G. productum ( Walker, 1871) . These species do not belong to this genus neither and are transferred to Platygavialidium (see Platygavialidium philippinum comb. nov. and P. productum comb. nov.). Lastly, G. alligator (Serville, 1862) , described on nymphs, was synonymized with G. crocodilum by Blackith (1992) without discussion, so future research should test if G. alligator , cited by Hancock (1904) to be smaller and with higher projections, is really a distinct species or not.

Figures

FIGURE 10. Gavialidium crocodilum (Saussure, 1862) male head in frontal (A) and dorsal (B) view, from Bolívar's Tetrigidae collection in MNCN. Photographs by Josip Skejo.