Eupholidoptera kykladica Heller & Fer Willemse & Luc Willemse, 2009

Ciplak, Battal, Heller, Klaus-Gerhard & Willemse, Fer, 2009, 2156, Zootaxa 2156, pp. 1-75 : 63-64

Eupholidoptera kykladica Heller & Fer Willemse & Luc Willemse sp. n.

( Figures 44, 89, 135, 181, 221, 229, 232, 234, 240, Appendix)

Type information (=Material examined): Holotype M, allotype F, paratypes 3M and 3F: GREECE: Kikladhes: Andros, north of Vourkoti (37°52'N, 24°52'E), 30–31 vii 2003 (coll. K.-G. Heller, M. Volleth) [additional label: CH6151 (holotype: CW/ RMNH - collection of Fer Willemse, Eygelshoven, The Netherlands, in the future in National Museum of Natural History, Leiden, The Netherlands), (Allotype: CW/ RMNH); CH 6152-5, dry, CH6235-7, stored in alcohol; left tegmen of CH 6235 and CH6237 and and titillator of CH 6237 stored separately) (all in CH except CH 6153 (CW/ RMNH))] (sound record); additional paratypes: 19M, 10F, GREECE, Kikladhes , Andros Isl. , 1 km N of Vourkoti towards Achia (N 37º52’17. 7’’, E 24º53’30. 1’’, 600m), 28 & 30 vii 2004, (coll. D., F. & L. Willemse & T. Blauw); 3F, GREECE Kikladhes, Andros Isl., W of Amolochos (NO of Gavrio) (N 37º55’07. 4’’, E 24º45’55.7’’, 400m; 29 vii 2004 (coll. D., F. & L. Willemse & T. Blauw); 11M, 11F, GREECE, Kikladhes, Tinos Isl. above Kardiani (N 37º36’22.6’’, E 25º04’28.2’’, 300m), 01 viii 2004 (coll. D., F. & L. Willemse & T. Blauw); 2M, 1F, GREECE (N. Tzia) Profits Iliac (N 37º37’11.7’’, E 24º21’13.9’’, 550 m), 14 vi 2005 (coll. L. Willemse); 1M, GREECE (N. Tzia) Kastriani (village) - Ioulis at junction to Spathi, 315 m (N 37º39’46.5’’, E 24º22’57.4’’ 315m), 13 vi 2005 (coll. L. Willemse) (all in CW/ RMNH).

Description: Male. General appearance strikingly small for the genus; pronotum, legs and elytra as in genus. Ventral margins of mid femur unarmed, hind femur provided with 1–3 tiny spines along inner side. Stridulatory file on underside of left tegmen (paratype “ CH 6235”) ( Figure 229) with shortest distance between proximal and distal end 2.6 mm; about 95 teeth, including proximal and distal ones; spacing of teeth in mid two thirds of file from 35 teeth per mm.

Last abdominal tergite ( Figure 89) oriented in situ vertically, partly covered by subgenital plate; wider than long, greatest length around middle, in middle with a wide heart-shaped, lighter coloured wrinkled impression, edges somewhat irregular, in last fifth of its length divided by a short median incision with rounded edges; in alcohol preserved material it can be seen that the incision is distinctly broader than shown in Figure 89) (probably drying artefact), broad enough that the titillator could pass through. Cercus ( Figure 44) relatively short, slightly longer than greatest length of last abdominal tergite, simple, cylindrical, slightly curved inward, distally from middle at inner side with a protuberance, apical part straight, tip obtusely conical, in situ reaching or slightly surpassing tip of styli. Subgenital plate ( Figure 135) robust, slightly wider than long, almost completely divided by a deep median triangular incision, joined at very base, creating apical lobes, which partly slide along each other; apical lobe in ventral view triangular, with a distinct median keel, wide at base, narrowing towards base of stylus, depressed at either side, posterior margin somewhat swollen, covered with short erect hairs; in lateral view evenly convexly curved dorsad; styli short, ca. 2 times its maximal width, located apically, spherical without a protuberance or spine at base, covered with short erect hairs. Titillator ( Figure 181) with basal parts extending and curved laterad as usual; apical parts fused over entire length, as long as basal parts, relatively thick, wrinkled, incised in apical third, in lateral view straight, narrow at base, widening towards apex; tips of titillator reaching in situ median incision of last abdominal tergite.

Colouration: General colouration brown or green. Occiput anteriorly with a more or less extended blackish spot with a median yellow line; frons with few small blackish spots, some extended into a short stripe; head behind eyes black with a narrow yellowish stripe at dorsal edge. Pronotum with dorsal disc uniformly coloured brown or green, upper part of lateral lobe blackish, clearly separated from yellow or greenish yellow lower part of disc. Elytra solid black, along costal (lateral) edge somewhat lighter. Abdomen ventrally conspicuously reddish in life specimens, last abdominal tergite generally black, central part, however, light brown (stippled in Figure 89). Hind femur at base dorsally with a few distinct solid black spots, distal half dorsally dark colored, partly blackish. In general the black colouration is more pronounced in the Andros population than in the Tinos and Tzia populations e.g. in the latter the blackish spots at base of hind femur are fewer and smaller and sometimes completely missing.

Female: As male. Subgenital plate ( Figure 221): slightly wider than long, trapezoid, at base with a small, semicircular to semisquare lateral sclerite; hind margin with a median incision along one sixth of total length, apical lobes evenly rounded; 7 th sternite with a weakly developed protuberance. Ovipositor slightly curved upwards as typical for the genus.

Measurements (length in mm): body 16–19 (M), 17–20 (F); pronotum 6–7 (M); 6.5–7.5 (F); hind femur 15–16.5 (M), 16–18 (F); ovipositor 13–15.

Bioacoustics: The song is similar to that of other Eupholidoptera species. It consists of isolated syllables produced in long series with the opening hemisyllable much shorter and softer than the closing hemisyllable ( Figure 232; syllable duration ca. 50 ms, syllable repetition rate ca. 1.5 Hz at 25ºC; details see Figure 234 and Table 1). If two males are close together, they often alternate regularly.

Karyology: The specimens which were examined karyologically (2 M, 2 F, holo- and paratypes; in Warchalowska et al. 2005 as Eupholidoptera sp. (ex Andros)) had 31 acrocentric chromosomes (fundamental number 31) in the male (X0) and 32 in the female ( XX). The same number was found in all species of the genus studied so far (Warchalowska et al. 2005) .

Habitat: In Andros, the species was found in two different habitat, in lush bushes (e.g. Rubus ) near a small spring and on dry, treeless hill slopes with ferns, Thymus , Cistus and various thorny bushes (e.g. Genista ). In Tinos a population was found along the road with lush vegetation (e.g. Rubus spp. ) while on Tzia they were collected below a hill top with scattered oak trees with an undergrowth mainly consisting of two species of Cistus .

Distribution. Known from the Greek Kikladhes islands Andros, Tinos and Tzia (Kea).

Differential diagnosis: Eupholidoptera comprises some 46 species. Based on the shape of the male cercus, which lacks a basal tooth but does show an internal protuberance, E. kykladica can easily be separated from most other species of Eupholidoptera . However, the same type of cercus is shared with some 15 other species of Eupholidoptera , 9 of which ( E. prasina , E. anatolica , E. tahtalica , E. tauricola , E. mersinensis , E. tasheliensis , E. tucherti , E. karabagi , E. unimacula and E. femorata ) occur in Turkey, 6 of which are known to occur in Greece (Aegean islands): E. icariensis , E. spinigera , E. annamariae , E. cretica , E. forcipata and E. giuliae . In E. tahtalica , E. tauricola and E. unimacula the male subgenital plate lacks styli which are present in all the other species. In E. kykladica the male subgenital plate lacks a spine at the base of the styli. Male subgenital plates without a spine at the base of the styli are also found in E. anatolica , E. giuliae , E. annamariae , E. cretica , E. forcipata . Of these 5 species three differ from E. kykladica in having the apical arms of the male titillator not fused: E. anatolica , E. forcipata and E. giuliae . In E. annamariae (limited to Kriti), the apical arms of the titillator are long, slender and not widened apically, as against short, widened and wrinkled apically in E. kykladica . From E. cretica it can be separated by the shape of the titillator, the apical part of which diverges in E. cretica and the length of the styli, which in E. cretica are as long as the cerci.

Etymology: Named after the Kikladhes, the group of islands where the species has been collected.