Metriogryllacris (Xiphilarnaca) xiphiura ( Karny, 1928a )

Ingrisch, Sigfrid, 2018, New taxa and records of Gryllacrididae (Orthoptera, Stenopelmatoidea) from South East Asia and New Guinea with a key to the genera, Zootaxa 4510 (1), pp. 1-278 : 220-221

Metriogryllacris (Xiphilarnaca) xiphiura ( Karny, 1928a)

Figs. 76 H–J, 77I–L

Material examined. Syntypes (2 females): Indonesia: East Java, Tengger Mountains , 1.i.1890 – 31.xii.1894, leg. H. Fruhstorfer—Wien ( NHMW) .

Other specimens studied: Same data as syntypes— 1 male labeled " allotype " (Berlin ZMB).

Discussion. This species was originally described by Karny (1928a) at hand of a female in Hungarian National Museum Budapest. But he explicitly mentions: "I will come back to xiphiura when discussing the Gryllacrididae of the Brunner collection and I do not consider the female from here [Budapest] as the type because in the Brunner collection I have more abundant and better conserved material [specimens] available" (translated from German). The two females in NHMW labeled by Karny as types and described in Karny (1930a) should thus be regarded as syntypes of M. xiphiura . One male in ZMB was labeled by Karny as " allotype ". But he obviously did not describe it since his planned study of the Gryllacrididae of ZMB has not been published.

Description. Small to medium sized species. Head: Face ovoid; forehead nearly smooth with scattered impressed dots; fastigium verticis wider than scapus, indistinctly separated from fastigium frontis by a shallow transverse furrow; ocelli visible but inconspicuous; subocular furrow hardly expressed ( Fig. 76H ). Wings not reaching tip of abdomen ( Fig. 76I ). Tegmen: Radius with two branches R and RS, one of them forked in apical area; MA free from base, single-branched, either free throughout or sub-fused in subbasal area with R; MP absent; cubitus anterior dividing behind basal quarter or in apical half of tegmen into two veins; cubitus posterior undivided, free throughout; with three and an indistinct fourth anal veins.

Coloration. General color yellowish brown. Face uniformly yellowish brown. Tegmen yellowish; hind wing semi-transparent white.

Male. Eighth abdominal tergite prolonged but of normal shape. Ninth abdominal tergite in anterior half subglobular, in posterior half descending with markedly approaching lateral margins and deeply furrowed in midline; at tip on both sides of furrow with a thin, upcurved and faintly sinuate projection with acute tip ( Figs. 77 I–K). Subgenital plate with slightly convex, sub-parallel margins, suddenly constricted at bases of styli, and with a short bilobate apex in middle.

Female. Seventh abdominal sternite with a short and thin medial carina from hind margin and before marginated hind margin with a small pit on both sides of medial carina. Subgenital plate (in basal area somewhat deformed) with a narrow medial carina and a distinct tubercle in sub-apical area on both sides of that carina; apical margin obtuse-angular with rounded tip; on both sides of apical area of subgenital plate with a large, sclerotised, conical projection with widening lateral base, between those projections extends a large membranous zone covering apical area of subgenital plate; giving that area a hood-shaped appearance ( Fig. 77L ). Ovipositor very long; apart from subbasal curvature straight; tip subobtuse ( Fig. 76J ).

Figures

FIGURE 76. A–J, Genus Metriogryllacris: A–E, M. (M.) amitarum (Griffini, 1914) female syntype (A–C), male syntype (D), and male from Tam Dao (E); F–G, M. (M.) permodesta (Griffini, 1914) female holotype; H–J, M. (Xiphilarnaca) xiphiura (Karny, 1928) syntype.—K–N, Melanogryllacris atrata (Walker, 1869) female from Kinabalu.—Face (A, F, H, N), habitus dorsal view (C, E, I, K), habitus lateral view (B, D, G, J), stridulatory pegs on second and third abdominal tergites, front is left (L), female abdominal apex with ovipositor and subgenital plate (M).

FIGURE 77. Genus Metriogryllacris: A–C, M. (M.) amitarum (Griffini, 1914) male (A–B) and syntype female (C); D–F, M. (M.) permodesta? (Griffini, 1914) det. Karny from Guangdong (D–E) and M. permodesta det. Ebener from Chekiang (F); G– H, M. (M.) permodesta (Griffini, 1914) holotype from Montes Mauson (G) and from Guangzhou det. Karny (H); I–L, M. (X.) xiphiura (Karny, 1928) male (I–K) and female (L).—Male abdominal apex in about apical (A, D, J), oblique ventral (B, F, I), oblique lateral view (E, K); female abdominal apex with seventh abdominal sternite, subgenital plate and base of ovipositor in ventral view (C, G, H, L).