Ruspolia, Schultess, 1898

Naskrecki, Piotr & Guta, Ricardo, 2019, Katydids (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae) of Gorongosa National Park and Central Mozambique, Zootaxa 4682 (1), pp. 1-119 : 28

Ruspolia sp. “G1

( Figs. 11C, D , 47 A–C)

Diagnostic remarks. The smallest Ruspolia in Gorongosa, with wings that barely surpass the tips of the hind knees ( Figs. 11D ). The stridulatory file is long and uniform in thickness, with 148 teeth; the mirror is angular, slightly longer than wide. In general appearance this species resembles R. lemairei (Griffini, 1909) from Zaire but differs in the shape of the mirror, the length and structure of the stridulatory file ( Fig. 11C ), and the length of the tegmina. The combination of this species’ morphological and acoustic characteristics is unique and does not match any known species, but the formal description of this and the following new species will be presented elsewhere once more data on Mozambican Ruspolia have been collected.

Bioacoustics. This species starts calling early in the evening and for the first 15–30 minutes of its acoustic activity produces short of echemes of 3–5 syllables separated by long periods of silence. Later at night the song changes to a more typical for Ruspolia continuous trill of uninterrupted syllables. The syllable rate is only 4.4/sec, the slowest of all Gorongosa Ruspolia species; mean syllable duration 0.105 s (SD=0.00926, n=22), with the frequency peak at 10.5–12.3 kHz ( Figs. 47 A–C).

Measurements (2 males, 1 female). — body w/wings: male 28–30 (291.4), female 35; body w/o wings: male 35–42 (38.54.9), female 42; pronotum: male 8–9 (8.5.7), female 8.5; tegmen: male 24–26 (251.4), female 31; hind femur: male 11; ovipositor: 35 mm.

Material examined (8 specimens). Mozambique: Sofala, Gorongosa , GNP, Chitengo, E.O. Wilson Laboratory, elev. 48 m (-18.977722, 34.351333), 9.ii.–4.iii.2015, coll. P. Naskrecki and R. Guta— 2 males ( MCZ) ; Gorongosa Dist., Center for Environmental Conservation, elev. 119 m (-18.95472, 34.1775), 19–21.ii.2014, coll. R. Guta & T. Castigo— 1 female, 2 males ( EOWL) ; GNP, Chitengo, elev. 29 m (-18.98194, 34.35122), 30.i.–13.ii.2014, coll. P. Naskrecki— 1 male ; GNP, Explore Gorongosa camp, elev. 23 m (-18.92092, 34.36575), 14.v.2012, coll. P.

Naskrecki— 1 female, 1 male ( MCZ).

Figures

FIGURE 11. Mozambican Ruspolia spp.: A. Ruspolia ampla, stridulatory apparatus and file; B. ditto, male habitus; C. Ruspolia sp. “G1, stridulatory apparatus and file; D. ditto female and male habitus; E. Ruspolia sp. “G2, stridulatory apparatus and file; F. ditto, male habitus; G. Ruspolia sp. “G3, stridulatory apparatus and file; H. ditto, male habitus; I. Ruspolia sp. “G4, stridulatory apparatus and file; J. ditto, male habitus;

FIGURE 47. Oscillograms and power spectra of Mozambican Ruspolia spp.: A–C. Ruspolia sp. “G1; D–F. Ruspolia sp. “G2; G–I. Ruspolia sp. “G3; J–L. Ruspolia sp. “G4.