Notosciobia Chopard, 1915

Desutter-Grandcolas, Laure, Anso, Jérémy & Jourdan, Hervé, 2016, Crickets of New Caledonia (Insecta, Orthoptera, Grylloidea): a key to genera, with diagnoses of extant genera and descriptions of new taxa, Zoosystema 38 (4), pp. 405-452 : 430

Genus Notosciobia Chopard, 1915

Notosciobia Chopard, 1915: 140 . — Otte et al. 1987: 385.

TYPE SPECIES. — Notosciobia rouxi Chopard, 1915 by original designation.

ILLUSTRATIONS. — Habitus: Fig. 10A . Male genitalia: Anso et al. 2016a: fig. 8. Calling songs: Otte et al. 1987: figs 4, 5; Anso et al. 2016a: figs 9-11.

EMENDED DIAGNOSIS.— After Chopard (1915) and Otte et al. (1987). Species small to large. Body highly pubescent. Head longer than wide in front view, somewhat narrow in lateral view (compared to other grylline genera below). Median ocellus reduced or lacking, subapical. Maxillary palpi with joints 3 and 4 subequal, distinctly shorter than joint 5; joint 5 regularly widened toward apex, dorsal margin slightly concave, ventral margin slightly convex. Pronotum wider than long, but not transverse; LL high, squared, with a distinctive vertical groove in posterior half; DD lateral sides roughly parallel, or pronotum wider anteriorly than posteriorly, especially in females.TI lacking inner tympanum; outer tympanum well-developed, elongate; with three apical spurs. TII with four apical spurs. TIII short; with four or five inner and outer subapical spurs; three apical spurs on each side, the median the longest on outer side, the dorsal on inner side. Basitarsomeres III with two rows of few, strong spines; inner and outer spines almost always in front of each other. FWs present most often in both sexes, although very reduced and not overlapping in females. HWs lacking. Coloration. Body and head brown to dark brown, with a silky aspect due to short and numerous setae. Suture between lateral ocelli yellowish. Legs lighter coloured, often yellowish.

Male. FWs most often short, not covering whole abdomen, but reaching supra anal plate in some of the biggest species. Stridulum complete, but mirror ill-defined from apical field and often partly filled with cells. Lateral field very high, with several parallel, longitudinal veins. Male genitalia: Pseudepiphallus very short, most often wider than long (except in N. farino Anso & Desutter-Grandcolas, 2016 ), with two distal lateral lobes and no median one, which gives the pseudepiphallic sclerite a wide H-shape; distal margin of pseudepiphallic sclerite between lateral lobes U- or V-shaped. Rami not fused anteriorly, but curved more or less strongly. Pseudepiphallic parameres elongate, sclerotized on both inner and outer margins. Ectophallic fold thin but not very elongate. Dorsal cavity present but short and low, not twisted.

Female. FWs very short when present, flap-like and not at all overlapping; venation lacking, or made of several longitudinal veins more or less anostomosed. Ovipositor very short, thin and straight; apex most often very short; apex of ventral valves with a deep, subapical transverse notch; the apex of dorsal valve triangular, deeply crenulated on lower margin.

CALLING SONG. — Documented for most species (see Otte et al. 1987: figs 4, 5, table 2; Anso et al. 2016a: figs 7, 9-11).

DISTRIBUTION. — Endemic to New Caledonia.

HABITAT. — Notosciobia species live in forested area, where they are encountered in leaf litter; they are often found in burrows; one juvenile has been found in a gallery under a small stone together with a scorpion (LDG and JA, pers. obs.).

Figures

FIG. 10. — New Caledonian Gryllinae (Gryllidae): A, Notosciobia sp., from Parc Provincial de la Rivière Bleue, by night (Photo PG); B, Teleogryllus oceanicus (Le Guillou,1841) from Vanuatu;C, Lepidogryllus comparatus (Walker,1869),specimen from Col d’Amieu,mé Areto;D, Lepidogryllus darthvaderi Desutter-Grandcolas & Anso, n. sp., male holotype from Grand Kaori; E, Gryllodes sigillatus (Walker, 1869), from Rodrigues (Photo SH). Scales bars: 2 mm.