Meroncidius flavolimbatus Brunner von Wattenwyl, 1895

Fianco, Marcos, Szinwelski, Neucir & Faria, Luiz R. R., 2022, Katydids (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae) from the Iguaçu National Park, Brazil, Zootaxa 5136 (1), pp. 1-72 : 55-56

Meroncidius flavolimbatus Brunner von Wattenwyl, 1895

Fig. 28A, B ; 30D

Distribution: Argentina: Misiones; Brazil: Espírito Santo, Paraná; Paraguai.

New record for the Paraná State.

Comments: It is outstanding that a species that were recorded for the first time for the Paraná State is very common in the studied sites in the ParNa Iguaçu. The individuals are easily found at night, always around tree barks or associated with bromeliad leaves.

Bioacoustics ( Fig. 30A–C ): Males produce very peculiar sequences of sounds only at night. Initially, before the stridulation itself, males produce a series of sounds with their bodies, when they beat the substrate with the abdomen, producing ca. 10–15 sequences of beats, each one composed by three to five beats on the substrate. The stridulation is formed by one echeme where nine to twelve syllables appear in a crescendo of intensity.

Dominant frequency: Stridulation: 14 ± 1.4 kHz; Beats:187.5 ± 54 Hz.

Bandwidth: 6.4 ± 0.9 kHz (stridulation).

Duration: Syllable: 0.43 ± 0.07 s; Beat: 0.13 ± 0.04 s; one beat sequence: 0.95 ± 0.02 s; sum of beat sequences: 12 ± 2 s.

Mute interval: Syllable: 0.5 ± 0.08 s; Echeme: 89 ± 47 s; Beat: 0.1 ± 0.04 s; beat sequence: 0.2 ± 0.003 s.

Figures

FIGURE 28. Live specimens of Scudderiini, Steirodontini and Entephippion olivaceum (Phaneropterinae) from the ParNa Iguaçu. A: Ceraia cornutoides; B: Theudoria melanocnemis; C: Vellea cruenta; D: Steirodon dentiferum; E: Stilpnochlora marginoides; F: E. olivaceum; A: photo by Leanna C. Macarini; B–F: photos by Marcos Fianco.

FIGURE 30. Calling songs of the species of Pseudophyllinae from the ParNa Iguaçu. A–C: Meroncidius flavolimbatus; D–F: Dasyscelus normalis; G–I: Brachyteleutias flavolimbatus. A: sonogram of one echeme (the “noise” before the echeme corresponds to drumming behaviour); B: sonogram of one echeme; C: spectrogram of one syllable; D: sonogram of three echemes; E: sonogram of one echeme; F: sonogram of two syllables, (note the change of dominant frequency along time); G: sonogram of one echeme; H and I: sonogram and spectrogram of two syllables, respectively.