Amyttopsis Beier 1965

Naskrecki, Piotr, 2008, New species of arboreal predatory katydids from West Africa (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae: Meconematinae), Zootaxa 1732, pp. 1-28 : 5

Amyttopsis Beier 1965

Type species: Amyttopsis vinculata Beier 1965: 227 .

Members of this genus are known only from West and Central Africa. They are diagnosed by the combination of the unique development of the 10th abdominal tergite of the male, the latero-ventral lobes of which form a pair of distinct, often twisted projections, and the shape of the cercus, which is always unarmed and strongly dorso-ventrally flattened. The character not mentioned by Beier (1965) in the generic diagnosis, but most likely present in all species of the genus is the presence of a partially sclerotized epiphallus. Unfortunately, although I had the opportunity to examine types of all described species of Amyttopsis , I did not dissect their gentalic structures, and thus cannot describe them here. The presence of a sclerotized epiphallus may indicate a close relationship of this genus to Anepitacta Br. -Watt. and Proamytta Beier , which are the only other genera of West African Meconematinae known to possess such structures.