Gemeneta opilionoides, (Bolivar 1905) (Bolivar, 1905)

Oumarou-Ngoute, Charly, 2024, New records of Gemeneta opilionoides (Orthoptera, Catantopinae) in the world’s second largest rainforest, Zootaxa 5519 (2), pp. 269-278 : 273-275

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.11646/zootaxa.5519.2.6
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:A43A5DCA-393B-4B50-95E7-5C9C6D524054
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13936910
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03A087B0-F84C-C379-BD88-18FD4C8EFDF4
treatment provided by	Plazi
scientific name	Gemeneta opilionoides
status

Treatment

Distribution View in CoL

The present work increased the number of known localities of Gemeneta opilionoides ( Figure 2 View FIGURE 2 ) to five. Biafra, EQUATORIAL GUINEA by Bolívar (1905); Makak, CAMEROON, by Kevan (1956); Ngutadjap, CAMEROON, by Oumarou-Ngoute & Kekeunou (2017); Ngoyla, CAMEROON, new locality; Bioko Island, EQUATORIAL GUINEA, new locality ( Figure 1 View FIGURE 1 , Table 1 View TABLE 1 ). The number of examined specimens of G. opilionoides is increased to forty-two, seven from Cameroon and thirty-five from Equatorial Guinea ( Figure 3 View FIGURE 3 ).

Habitat

Gemeneta opilionoides lives in humid forest, particularly where it is swampy, with standing surface water ( Figure 4 View FIGURE 4 ). In the three studied localities, Ngoyla, Ngutadjap ( Cameroon) and Bioko Island ( Equatorial Guinea), the species shares its habitat with other Catantopines, such as Pteropera sp. , and with several Oxyinae grasshoppers such as Digentia fasciata Ramme, 1929 , and Pterotiltus spp. At Ngutadjap, the most abundant plant species were undergrowth taxa such as ferns and herbs ( Table 2 View TABLE 2 ). We usually collected G. opilionoides on ferns but didn't observe it feeding a particular plant species.

Threat

The threats to swamp forests observed in the Cameroon localities were wood logging, market gardening, bamboo exploitation and sand mining in swamps. At Bioko Island the species habitat was less degraded than in Cameroon, except for the use of the rivers around the G. opilionoides ’s habitat by local people to wash their bodies or clothes.

Conservation action

There is no special conservation action in place for G. opilionoides habitat, apart from the general promotion of forest conservation carried out by the eco-guards in the protected areas studied. We note especially the campaigns against deforestation performed by the Cameroon Ministry of Forest and Wildlife (MINEFOF) and by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in the Nki national park at Ngoyla in Cameroon. During our fieldwork at Ngoyla and Ngutadjap we further encouraged the villagers to conserve the target species habitat.