Discotettix belzebuth ( Serville, 1838 )

Kočárek, Petr, Kuřavová, Kateřina, Musiolek, David, Wahab, Rodzay Abdul & Kahar, Siti Rafhiah Abdul, 2015, Synonymy of Discotettix adenanii Mahmood, Idris & Salmah, 2007 with D. belzebuth (Serville, 1838) (Orthoptera: Tetrigidae), Zootaxa 4057 (2), pp. 288-294 : 289-290

Discotettix belzebuth ( Serville, 1838)

Tetrix belzebuth Serville, 1838 ( Serville, 1838)

Tettix belzebuth Stål, 1873 . Synonymized by Kirby (1910) Discotettix belzebuth Hancock, 1907 ( Hancock, 1907a)

Discotettix armatus Costa, 1862 . Synonymized by Blackith (1992)

Published records. Discotettix belzebuth : INDONESIA, EAST KALIMANTAN: Marah, 0°57'N, 116°34'E, 7.X.1925, 12.XI.1925, Siebers leg., 2 ♀♀— Günther (1938); MALAYSIA, SARAWAK: Gunung Mulu NP, 3°56'59"N, 114°47'00"E, 25.II.2007, B. Dupont leg., 1♀— Dupont (2007); MALAYSIA, SARAWAK: Kuching, 1°34'N, 110°21'E, Dyak leg., 5 specimens—Hancock (1907); MALAYSIA, SABAH: Kota Kinabalu, Kionsom, 5°58'25"N, 116°12'22"E, 21.V. 2000, 21. VIII. 2000, Gen and Maryati leg., 6 specimens—Gen & Maryati (2001); MALAYSIA, SABAH: Kina Balu , 6°14'N, 116°36'E, Hebard leg., 1 ♂, 2 ♀♀— Rehn (1904); MALAYSIA, SABAH: Island of Labuan, 5°18'N, 115°12'E, Hebard leg., 1 ♂ — Rehn (1904); MALAYSIA, 1935, Waterdstadt leg., 2 ♂♂, 1 ♀ (ZFMAK).

Type material examined. Discotettix adenanii : MALAYSIA, SARAWAK “Adenan Bukra coll., 3. VI. 1988, Gunung Serapi, Kuching, Sarawak ”, ♂ paratype ( UKCO). The rest of type series including holotype female were not available in this collection and had probably been destroyed (Idris A.B., pers. comm.). Discotettix belzebuth : type material of D. belzebuth is considered to be lost ( Eades et al. 2015)

Additional material examined. Discotettix belzebuth : BRUNEI DARUSSALAM: Kuala Belalong Field Studies Centre, 4°32'49"N, 115° 9'25"E, Ulu Temburong National Park, 130 m a.s.l., 8.-15.II.2013, 10.-20.II.2015, K. Kuřavová, D. Musiolek leg., 49♂♂, 55 ♀♀ ( UOCO); MALAYSIA, SARAWAK: Niah NP, Great Cave, 3°52'34.11"N, 113°42'47.02"E, 17.-18.I.2008, P. Kočárek leg., 4♂♂, 2 ♀♀ ( UOCO).

Description and morphometry of D. belzebuth . Measurements: Males (five specimens): pronotum length 20.0 ± 1.4 mm, pronotum lobe width 8.7 ± 0.3 mm, hind femur length 7.4 ± 0.2 mm, hind femur width 1.9 ± 0.3 mm, vertex width 1.1 ± 0.0 mm. Females (five specimens): pronotum length 22.0 ± 0.5 mm, pronotum lobe width 9.1 ± 0.4 mm, hind femur length 8.4 ± 0.3 mm, hind femur width 2.5 ± 0.3 mm, vertex width 1.4 ± 0.1 mm.

Description: Stout and winged species with pronotal spines ( Fig 1 , 2 ). Head: lower than the pronotum; fastigium not projecting before the eyes; vertex convex with one concave part near the eyes and a second near the medial carina, medial carina slightly elevated; frontal costa, in lateral view, not ventral projected before the eyes; fascial carinae in lateral view, not arched before the antenna; scutellum in frontal view very narrow; eyes suboval, their dorsal margin higher than the fastigium; ocelli present between eyes on the level its bottom margin; antennae filamentous with 11 segments, 7th and 8th segment widespread. Pronotum: rugose, rough with several spines ( Fig 3 ) and covered with impressed dots and some small carinulae; anterior spine of the pronotum extending over the head; median carina on anterior margin produced into a long raised spine which crosses the head anteriorly ( Fig 4); lateral pronotal spines trigonal ( Fig 5 ). Pronotal process long, reaching beyond the knees of the hind femora.

Tegmen: short, lamellar and covered with impressed dots similar as on pronotum. Wing: long, reaching the apex pronotum. Legs: Anterior and middle femora narrow with undulating borders and two short spines on the upper and bottom edge; hind femora stout, long and the dorso- and ventro-external carina without tubercles. The ventroexternal carina in dorsal view with an arch. Genicular teeth small sized. Antegenicular teeth inconspicuous. Tibia straight, hind tibia with row of small, fine spines on dorsal outer and dorsal inner margins. Pulvilli with small notches on the bottom margin. Colour brownish and pronotum, head and legs sometimes covered with algae, mosses and brownish organic material.

Sexual dimorphism: The male differs by the smaller size and by form of genitals. Male subgenital plate pointed upwardly directed. Female ovipositor valves intermediate dorsal and ventral almost of equal length.

Distribution: Found on the Borneo island ( Fig. 6 ) and Sumatra.

Morphological variability of D. belzebuth and taxonomic status of D. adenanii . The adult male paratype of D. adenanii ( Fig. 2 ) shows characteristics of D. belzebuth ( Fig. 1 ), i.e., it has long spines on the dorsal part of the pronotum along the medial carina line and anteriorly produced into a long spine that crosses the head. The number, size and position of the spines on the pronotum vary considerably ( Fig. 3 ). The number of spines varies from 7 – 11, with the majority of specimens (35 %) bearing eight spines. The spines are present in two forms – they are fully developed (1.40 ± 0.15 mm) or they are presented as only minor spines (0.59 ± 0.24 mm) (see Fig. 3 ). Angle of the anterior spine of the pronotum, extending over the head, varies from 14° to 45° (see Fig. 4). Shape variability of the pronotal lateral spines is illustrated on Fig. 5 .

Mahmood et al. (2007) differentiated and described D. adenanii based only on the number of spines being seven. This diagnostic character of D. adenanii , as well as other characteristics mentioned in the original description, falls into the morphological variability of D. belzebuth . For these reasons, Discotettix adenanii is here recognized as a junior synonym of Discotettix belzebuth .

Figures

FIGURE 1. Groundhopper Discotettix belzebuth (Serville, 1838); male from Ulu Temburong National Park, Brunei Darussalam photographed in different views (lateral, dorsal, slant).

FIGURE 2. Groundhopper Discotettix adenanii Mahmood, Idris & Salmah, 2007 (syn. nov. to Discotettix belzebuth); paratype male deposited at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur photographed in different views (lateral, dorsal, slant).

FIGURE 3. Number and position of spines on the pronotum (dorsal view) in D. belzebuth from different localities throughout Borneo. Prepared according to our records and additional material examined from Borneo (see text). The positions of spines in the D. adenanii (syn. nov. to Discotettix belzebuth) paratype male correspond to pattern a).

FIGURE 5. Shape and variability of lateral pronotal spines (right spine, dorsal view) in specimens of D. belzebuth from Ulu Temburong, Brunei Darussalam.

FIGURE 6. Map of Borneo showing collection sites of D. belzebuth (solid points) and D. adenanii syn. nov. to Discotettix belzebuth (empty point) according to newly collected material, type material and the following literature sources: Hancock (1907), Rehn (1904), Günther (1938), Gen & Maryati (2001), Mahmood (2007) and Dupont (2007).