Sentia, 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 : 184-186

Sentia n. gen. Hemp C.

Type species. L. communa n. sp.

Description. Head. Fastigium narrower than first antennal segment, elongated conical and sulcate above, leaving large gap to fastigium of the face. Margins around scapi elevated, bowl-like. Eyes slightly oval, prominent. Thorax. Surface matt, slightly uneven, without lateral or median carinae. Fore coxae without spine. Fore tibiae with oval and open tympana. Fore and mid femora with small outer and inner spinules. Hind femora with few pairs of tiny spinules near joints with tibiae. Fore tibiae without spurs, mid tibiae with one ventral pair of small spurs, dorsally unarmed. Hind tibiae with a pair of dorsal and a double pair of ventral spurs. Wings. Wings fully developed, hind wings protruding some mm beyond fore wings ( Fig. 41 ). Veins Sc and R separated at base, connected by several crossveins, then contiguous over most of their length except at their very distal end. Genitalia. 10 th abdominal tergite forming pair of strong fork-like processes ( Fig. 42 A–C); Male subgenital plate without styles, elongated ( Fig. 42 D ).

Female. General habitus as male with same spination. Ovipositor long and stout and slightly up-curved.

Diagnosis. Sentia n. gen. resembles from its habitus the genera Melidia and Eulioptera , though being generally larger than species of these two genera. With Melidia it shares a similar fastigium of the vertex being markedly concave since the margins of the scapi form a bowl-like structure around the scapi. Eurycorypha , Monteiroa , Oxygonatium , Corycomima and Plangia have contiguous R and Sc veins and are thus separated from Sentia n. gen. Also the fastigium verticis is much broader than the scapus while Sentia n. gen. has a narrow fastigium verticis being narrower than the width of the scapus. Also Symmetropleura , Trigonocorypha , Gelatopoia , Terpnistrioides , Tropidophrys , Terpnistria and Diogena have almost contiguous R and Sc veins and a totally different shape of the fore wings and generally the overall body shape and may thus easily be distinguished from Sentia n. gen. Most conspicuous character not found in any African Phaneropterinae genus so far is the 10 th abdominal tergite forming two strong fork-like and serrated processes. Females may be distinguished by its strong and long ovipositor. A similar ovipositor is present in Poecilogramma Karsch, 1887 which has a completely different colour pattern of contrasting green, black and yellow stripes and patches and a general different habitus. A similar ovipositor is also found in Materuana Hemp, 2017 which is however, much larger in body size and also has a different shaped pronotum and general habitus.

Etymology. From Latin: - sentus, rough, because of the fork-like and serrated processes of the 10 th tergite in males.

Figures

FIGURE 41. Male of Sentia communa n. gen. n. sp. at its type locality on a hill covered by Miombo woodlands near Gulwe, Mpwapwa District.

FIGURE 42. Morphological details of male Sentia communa n. gen. n. sp. Lateral (A), semilateral (B) and dorsal (C) view on male apex D. Subgenital plate E. Stridulatory area of left wing and mirror area of right wing F. Stridulatory file.