Kefalia, Hemp & Heller, 2019

Hemp, Claudia & Heller, Klaus-Gerhard, 2019, Orthoptera (Tettigoniidae and Acridoidea) from Miombo woodlands of Central Tanzania with the description of new taxa, Zootaxa 4671 (2), pp. 151-194 : 172-174

Kefalia n. gen. Hemp C.

Type species: Kefalia omorfa n. sp.

Description. Male. Fastigium of vertex compressed, narrower than first antennal segment, sulcate above, sometimes concave in profile. Eyes oval, prominent. Pronotum without lateral carinae, surface smooth and matt. Pronotal lobes inflated. Fore coxal spine absent. Femora unarmed or with few small spinules. Fore tibiae with open tympanum on each side. Fore and mid tibiae with small dorsal spurs. Hind tibiae with three apical spurs on each side. Spurs of mid tibiae often hooked at tip. Fore wings well developed, elongated, surpassing hind knees and tip of abdomen; hind wings fully developed. Veins on tegmina in costal and medial area ladder-like arranged. Sc and R separate at base and connected by short crossveins, then contiguous, separated at their ends. Tenth abdominal tergite unmodified. Subgenital plate without styli.

Female. Flightless and more plumb than male. Tegmina reduced to scales not reaching posterior margin of second abdominal segment. Ovipositor well developed, up-curved, valves serrated.

Etymology. from Greek: -κεφάλι (kefáli), ladder, because of the ladder-like arrangement of the veins on the tegmina.

Diagnosis. Ivensia and Pronomapyga share with Kefalia n. gen. a similar fastigium of the vertex, oval and prominent eyes (in Pronomapyga being round) and a similar venation of the tegmina with densely set ladder-like arranged crossveins in the costal area. Also the veins Sc and R are separated at base and connected by crossveins while being contiguous along the remaining length except apically where they depart. All three genera also share a pronotum with the posterior part of the lateral lobes inflated and have a similar spination with femora unarmed or having few ventral spinules and the hind tibiae with three apical spurs at each side. Very similar is also the external morphology of the apex. The species of these three genera have an unmodified 10 th abdominal tergite and rather thick incurved cerci.

Differences of Kefalia n. gen and Ivensia are found in the shape of the tegmina, being much broader and shortened not surpassing the knees when flexed in Ivensia while they are narrow and elongated surpassing the tip of abdomen considerably in Kefalia n. gen. The mid tibiae of Ivensia and Pronomapyga have a much enlarged and modified subapical spur on the mid tibiae lacking in Kefalia n. gen. In Pronomapyga the 10 th abdominal tergite is enlarged in the male and produced posteriorly.

Kefalia n. gen also resembles in habitus the monotypic genus Meruterrana , endemic to Mt Kenya. The fastigium verticis is sulcate in Meruterrana and similar to Kefalia n. gen. and the pronotal lobes are inflated in both genera. However, Meruterrana has round eyes and as Pronomapyga and Ivensia a modified enlarged spur on the mid tibiae.

Kefalia n. gen. is morphologically also similar to Dioncomena Brunner von Wattenwyl, 1878 . Males of both genera share a similar habitus, a conspicuous colour pattern and are fully winged. The spurs of the mid tibiae in Dioncomena also show the tendency to be hooked. Some Dioncomena species also have the lateral lobes of the pronotum inflated, similar to Kefalia n. gen. Differences between the two genera are found in the venation of the tegmina. R and Sc are separated at base but then contiguous in Dioncomena while they are broadly separated and connected by crossveins in Kefalia n. sp. Also the ladder-like arrangement of the crossveins in the costal and medial area of the tegmen is lacking in Dioncomena . Kefalia n. gen. males are also more stout in their appearance having not as long and slender tegmina as Dioncomena males. Further the females of both genera differ considerably in their habitus. Dioncomena females are very similar to the males and fully winged while Kefalia n. gen. females are plump with much reduced wings.

The females of all described Ivensia species are unknown. Ragge (1980) stated that he examined two females, one from Mbala, Zambia and one from Dodoma, Tanzania possibly belonging to Ivensia but not being conspecific with any male he had examined. The latter from Dodoma belongs to Kefalia omorfa n. sp. probably from the area of the East Chenene Forest Reserve (label reads 44 mls north of Dodoma), the type locality of this new species.

The female is known only for Pronomapyga graueri Rehn, 1914 . In difference to females of Kefalia ssp., P. graueri females have slightly shortened but otherwise fully developed wings and are able to fly. The tegmina and alae are of approximately the same length in Pronomapyga while Kefalia females have scale-like, strongly reduced tegmina.Also Meruterrana elegans females have long, fully developed wings and are thus easily distinguished from Kefalia ssp. females .

On base of characters like general habitus, wing-shape and venation, shape of the tibial thorns and a lacking modified spur on the mid tibiae the new genus is placed within the tribe Phaneropterini of Phaneropterinae .