Eremippus persicus Uvarov, 1929

Massa, Bruno, 2021, Chorthippus bornhalmi new to Lebanon and Jordan, and Eremippus persicus new to Jordan (Orthoptera: Acrididae), Fragmenta entomologica 53 (2), pp. 411-412 : 412

Eremippus persicus Uvarov, 1929

Material examined. Jordan, Schaubak 27.V.1999, B. Massa (1♂); Jordan, Ajlun, Ba’un 29.X.1999, B. Massa (7♂, 1♀) .

The genus Eremippus is characterized by small size, male head in profile usually slightly higher than pronotum, lateral carinae of pronotum slightly displaced outwards at level of posterior transverse groove ( Bey-Bienko & Mistshenko 1964). About 40 species are known in the genus Eremippus from Middle East to China, most of them live in Iran, but no species has been hitherto report- ed from the area of Jordan, Israel, Syria and Lebanon. The identification of species belonging to the genus Eremippus is difficult; following the key to species by Bey-Bienko & Mistshenko (1964), which includes most of those living in the Middle East, the Jordan specimens result to belong to E. persicus , characterized by pronotum with a short anterior part, the length of the anterior part signifi- cantly less than the length of the posterior part, with the posterior groove extending far before the middle of the pronotum (Fig. 4), hind tarsus of the female with a short first segment (Fig. 5), equal in length to the third segment without claw. The inner surface of the male hind femora has about 60 pegs (Fig. 6).

E. persicus was described from Iran, and it is presently widely distributed in central Asia. The presence in Jordan was previously unrecorded.