Laureopsis andinus Cadena-Castañeda, Quintana-Arias & Tavares, 2023

Cadena-Castañeda, Oscar J., Quintana-Arias, Ronald Fernando & Tavares, Gustavo Costa, 2023, Studies on Neotropical crickets: A new Perugryllae cricket (Orthoptera: Gryllidae: Gryllinae: Gryllini: Brachytrupina) from the foothills of the Colombian Andes, Zootaxa 5389 (1), pp. 108-118 : 110-114

Laureopsis andinus Cadena-Castañeda, Quintana-Arias & Tavares n. sp.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:7359A8F0-F3DE-45D9-9AC4-8E5C6B363CF6

Etymology. Named regarding its Andean distribution.

Type material. Holotype. Male. COLOMBIA, Meta, San Luis de Cubarral, Natural Reserve “Las Palmeras” 3°49′35.2″N 73°53′16.5″W. 1130 m. 8–15. January 2017, A. García, N. González cols., pitffall. ( CAUD).

Paratypes. A male and two females with the same data as the holotype ( CAUD) .

Description. Male. Small size (10–12.5 mm.) ( Figs. 1A–B ). Coloration. Body predominantly dark brown ( Figs. 1A–B ); cephalic capsule with the dorsal surface (from the vertex to the fastigium) and the upper area of frons also dark-brown, with four yellow-tan strips ( Fig. 2A ), the lateral ones reach the antennal pits ( Figs. 2B–C ); area surrounding the ocelli, mandibles, lower margin of genae and frons dark brown; ocelli yellow; eyes black; clypeus brown, mandible and last two segments of the palpi ochre ( Figs. 2A–C ); fore and mid femora yellowish with numerous dark brown spots; fore and mid tibiae dark brown with a diffuse yellowish dorsal spot close to apex ( Fig. 1A ); hind femora with conspicuous “chevrons” dark brown strips; hind tibiae brown with yellowish sections ( Figs. 1A–B ); tegmina brown with yellow venation ( Figs. 2A, D ); abdomen brown-ochre with several dark brown spots; cerci base yellowish brown, the rest dark brown ( Figs. 1B ). Head as wide as pronotum, rounded and smooth ( Fig. 2A ); almost wider than tall in frontal view, with epistomal suture straight ( Fig. 2B ); vertex rounded; eyes ovoid, not protruding; ocelli almost inconspicuous, lateral ones rounded, central one ovoid ( Figs. 2B–C ). Eyes and antennal pits located very low on the face, close to epistomal suture, almost at the same level; fastigium wide, almost three times as wide as scape ( Figs. 2A–B ). Maxillary palpi mid-sized, first and second subequal in size and cylindrical; third as long as the first and second together; fourth slightly smaller than the third, subconical; and fifth moderately dilated and subcylindrical ( Figs. 2B–C ). Thorax. Pronotal disc wider than long, covered by few and short bristles; anterior margin concave and broader than the posterior margin, with long bristles ( Fig. 2A ); lateral lobes squared, almost as wide as high and with a rounded lateral edge; ventral margin almost straight ( Fig. 2C ). Prosternum unarmed, triangular-shaped, with the posterior margin constricted; mesosternum quadrangular with posterior margin forming two wide and rounded-angled lobes; metasternum broader than mesosternum, slightly expanded and pentagonal, posterior margin convex; meso- and metanotum without glandular pits. Wings. Tegmina ovoid; harp crossed by two transverse veins; mirror subdivided into multiple cells, merged with apical field reticulation; lateral field with three longitudinal veins ( Figs. 2A, D ). Stridulatory file with 122–141 functional teeth ( Fig. 2E ). Hind wings absent. Legs. Femora without spines; fore tibia with tympana ovoid larger on inner side than outer side; fore tibia apex with two inner spurs (dorsal spur longer) and one outer spur; mid-tibia with two apical spurs similar in size on each side; hind tibia with three spurs on each dorsal margin; apex with three spurs on both sides (dorsal and ventral ones equal in size, middle one longer); first tarsomeres of hind leg with two rows of strong dorsal spines increasing in size toward the apex, with six spurs in each dorsal margin ( Figs. 1A–B ). Abdomen cylindrical; tergites with short bristles; epiproctus triangular, apex rounded ( Figs. 1B , 2A, F ); subgenital plate short, longer than wide, apex rounded. Cerci unmodified and covered by long bristles ( Figs. 1B ). Male genitalia. Lateral lophi (l.l.), long, cylindrical, little curved inward, covered by long hairs on inner margin ( Figs. 2G–H ); median lobe (m.l.) bifurcation shorth, as long as half of l.l., cylindrical and slim; notch between m.l. U-shaped ( Fig. 2G ); rami almost straight, mostly membranous ( Figs. 2G–I ); pseudepiphallic parameres (ps.p.) plate-like, curved inward, apex subdivided, dorsal division acute, ventral one rounded ( Figs. 2H–I ); ectophallic fold (ec. f.) short and membranous; ectophallic sclerites short and with denticulations on its entire length ( Fig. 2H ); pseudepiphallic apodeme (ps.a.) subtriangular, short and mostly membranous ( Fig. 2G ); ectophallic arc (arc.) with sinuose lateral apodeme ( Fig. 2I ); endophallic cavity (en. c.) small and membranous, ejaculatory vesicles (v.) rounded and mid-sized ( Fig. 2I ).

Female. Similar to the male in shape and size ( Figs. 3A–B ), differing by the following characteristics:subapterus, with small rudiments of tegmina mostly covered by pronotum, placed on each corner between of pronotum and mesonotum ( Figs. 3A , 4C ); coloration slightly lighter than male, mainly on pronotum and tergites ( Figs. 4A–F ); subgenital plate ovoid, apex rounded ( Fig. 4D ); posterior margin of epiproct rounded ( Fig. 4E ); ovipositor shorter than hind femur ( Figs. 4D–H ), flattened laterally and upcurved ( Figs. 3B , 4F ), dorsally with a groove between the valvae, apex dorsally lanceolated, and with small denticulation on inner margins ( Figs. 4E, G ); and laterally with dorsal valve little longer than ventral one, dorsal margin of dorsal valvae rounded, and ventral one straight ( Figs. 4F, H ).

Measurements (in mm.). Holotype: LB: 12.5; Pr: 2; Teg: 5.5; HF: 7.5; HT: 5. Paratype (male/females): LB: 10 / 10–11.5; Pr: 1.5 / 1.5–2; Teg: 5 / 0.2; HF: 7 / 8–8.5; HT: 4.5 / 5–5.5; Ov: 4.

Comparison. L. andinus n. sp. differs from L. nauta in the larger size and darker color( L. nauta males 8–9.2 mm., females 8.6–9.6). The new species has yellowish stripes on the head and the ocelli are diffuse, almost inconspicuous, in contrast to L. nauta without stripes and with well-defined ocelli. L. andinus n. sp. has the “chevrons” of the hind femur outlined in dark brown, which does not happen in the other species. The females of the new species have whitish-yellow tergites with dark brown spots; in contrast, L. nauta tergites are brown with yellow spots. Regarding the male genitalia, L. andinus n. sp. has the median lobe prolongations digitiform and the endophallic sclerites denticulated. L. nauta have median lobe prolongations cup-shaped and the endophallic sclerites smooth.

Comments. It is the second cricket and Orthoptera described for the “Las Palmeras” Natural Reserve ( Map 1 ). Crinklyalis gracilis Cadena-Castañeda et al., 2023 ( Orthoptera : Phalangopsidae ), a small phalangopsid with a curious dome-like morphology of the tegminae, was previously described for this locality ( Cadena-Castañeda et al. 2023).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Laureopsis andinus n. sp. male habitus. A. Lateral. B. Dorsal views.

MAP 1. Distribution of Perugryllae group species.

FIGURE 2. Laureopsis andinus n. sp. male. A. Body in dorsal view. B. Frons. C. Head and pronotum in lateral view. D. Tegmina. E. Stridulation file. F. Terminalia in dorsal view. G–H. Genitalia in G. Dorsal, H. Ventral and I. Lateral views respectively.

FIGURE 3. Laureopsis andinus n. sp. female habitus. A. Lateral. B. Dorsal views.

FIGURE 4. Laureopsis andinus n. sp. female. A. Body in dorsal view. B. Frons. C. Head and pronotum in lateral view. D–F. Terminalia in D. Ventral, E. Dorsal and F. Lateral views respectively. G–H. Ovipositor apex in G. Dorsal and H. Lateral views respectively.