Metriogryllacris (Metriogryllacris) permodesta ( Griffini, 1914b )

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 : 219-220

Metriogryllacris (Metriogryllacris) permodesta ( Griffini, 1914b)

Figs. 76 F–G, 77D–H

Material examined. Holotype (female): Vietnam: Tonkin [North Vietnam], Montes Mauson , elev. 610–915 m (21°49'N, 106°57'E), 1.iv.–31.v.1892, leg. H. Fruhstorfer—(Wien NHMW).

Other specimens studied. China: Guangdong, "North-Kuangtung", about 1910, leg. R. Mell— 1 male (Berlin ZMB); Canton [= Guangzhou], (23°6'N, 113°16'E), 25.vii.1910, leg. R. Mell— 1 female (Berlin ZMB) ; China: Chekiang , 8,4,1939— 1 male (Wien NHMW) .

Description. Small species. Head: Face ovoid; forehead nearly smooth with scattered impressed dots; fastigium verticis distinctly wider than scapus, separated by a transverse furrow from fastigium frontis; ocelli indistinct; subocular furrow short and shallow ( Fig. 76F ). Wings in female not reaching tip of abdomen; in male little surpassing tip of abdomen and hind knees ( Fig. 76G ). Tegmen: ♀ + ♂: Radius releases RS before apical quarter of tegmen, both without apical branches; ♀ + ♂: Media free at base but fused with R in subbasal area for about one (or ♀ less than one) cell length, otherwise free, undivided; ♂: MP absent or fully fused with CuA— ♀: MP arises at about end of basal third with a dividing vein from both MA and CuA; ♂: Cubitus anterior and cubitus posterior both single branched, free throughout—in ♀: CuA with division branch to MP; CuP free; with ♂ 3; ♀ 4 anal veins.

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

Male. Eighth abdominal tergite prolonged, black. Ninth abdominal tergite globular, black; hind margin yellowish, with two small short lobes on both sides of middle, in between concavely excised and provided with a pair of hook-like spines ( Figs. 77 D–E). Subgenital plate little wider than long, with basal transverse groove and upcurved, distinctly convex lateral margin; at insertion of short, subapical styli constricted, and in middle with a short apical lobe with wide truncate tip ( Fig. 77F ). See also description and images in Karny (1926b).

Female. Seventh abdominal sternite and subgenital plate together forming a unit of largely membranous surface; in middle of more than basal half with a sclerotised area with convexly converging lateral margins increasingly rising over surrounding surface posteriorly (seventh sternite), at tip divided into a pair of triangular extensions, excised in between; it follows a membranous zone into which at apex a pair of weakly sclerotised transverse plates (subgenital plate) are included that are separated by a narrow membranous zone and form together a convex apical margin ( Figs. 77 G–H). Ovipositor short, straight; tip rounded.

Measurements after Griffini (1914b) (1 female).—body w/o wings: 19; pronotum: 4; tegmen: 12; hind femur: 9.4; ovipositor: female 4.9 mm.

Discussion. Seventh abdominal sternite plus subgenital plate of the female holotype agree with the drawings in Gorochov (2003) although the recurved hook is somewhat more delicate in the holotype than in Gorochov's (2003) drawing. The species was originally described by Griffini (1914b) on a single female from Montes Mauson near the northeastern border to China. Males were later described by Karny (1925b, 1926b) from South China (Kwangtung). These males and another male from Chekiang in the former Karny collection in NHMW have the projections of the ninth tergite very similar to the situation in M. tamdao Gorochov, 2003 , especially the male from Chekiang. The latter species was recently reported from South China by Di et al. (2014). However, the subgenital plate of the female from Guangzhou identified by Karny is more similar to that of the type of M. permodesta ( Figs. 77 G–H) than to that of M. tamdao illustrated in Gorochov (2003), although they are not fully identical. The differences between both taxa thus need to become more specifically worked-out before a clear differentiation becomes possible.

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).