Brachybothrus, Popov †, George B., Fishpool, Lincoln D. C. & Rowell, C. Hugh F., 2019

Popov †, George B., Fishpool, Lincoln D. C. & Rowell, C. Hugh F., 2019, A review of the Acridinae s. str. (Orthoptera: Acridoidea: Acrididae) of eastern Africa with taxonomic changes and description of new taxa, Journal of Orthoptera Research 28 (2), pp. 37-105 : 79

Brachybothrus gen. n.

Type species.

- Brachybothrus phyllopterus sp. n. here designated.

Description.

-Small, integument rugose and callose. Antennae as long as, or slightly shorter than, head and pronotum, weakly compressed basally and incrassate apically. Head somewhat inflated and rounded in profile; frontal ridge narrowly sulcate above ocellus, with margins below thick and divergent. Fastigium deeply concave, pentagonal, pointed apically, with sharp raised margins; transverse sulcus slightly behind middle. Foveolae elongate and shallow, concealed from above. Pronotum short, sellate and compressed in middle; dorsum traversed by three strong sulci, only typical sulcus interrupting median carina, but all three crossing lateral carinae. These consist of interrupted raised callosities, strong and convergent in front of 1st sulcus, obsolescent between 1st and 2nd and strongly divergent and progressively weaker thereafter; metazona much shorter than prozona, its hind angle broadly rounded. Lateral lobes of equal height and length, with a sinuous ascending lower margin and a rounded lower posterior angle. Mesosternal interspace transverse in both sexes. Tegmina and wings with more or less attenuate apices, abridged to half length of abdomen, or less. Hind femur moderately robust, knee lobes rounded; arolia much shorter than claw. External and internal genital structures unspecialized, typical of Gymnobothrus genus group.

Discussion.

-This new genus has affinities both with Gymnobothrus - notably Gymnobothrus rimulatus (Karsch) and also with Guichardippus somalicus Dirsh. Its rugose integument and reduced arolia testify to a terricolous mode of existence, separating it from members of Gymnobothrus with their much larger arolia and graminicole to terri-graminicole habits. It includes two species: Brachybothrus phyllopterus sp. n. from SOMALIA and B. hola sp. n. from KENYA, which can be diagnosed by means of the key below.

Distribution.

-SOMALIA, KENYA.

Key to species in the genus Brachybothrus