Duroniella acuta Uvarov, 1952

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 : 57-59

Duroniella acuta Uvarov, 1952 Figs 108-113

Duroniella acuta Uvarov, 1952: 42, 180.

Material.

-ERITREA: Archico, X; Wakhiro, XI; Ghibdo valley 30 mi. W. of Assab. ETHIOPIA: Paradisso, IX. SOMALIA: Bihendulah, 25 mi. N.W. Berbera, X; Tug Hodna E. of Karin, III; Las Dureh plain, XII. (Also, Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia and Yemen south of 20˚N).

Description.

-Slightly below medium size. Size (in mm): males 17.5-19.5, females 25.0-26.5. Head and pronotum as in Figs 108, 109. Integument matt to finely rugulose. Antennae narrowly ensiform; in male longer than, in female shorter than, head and pronotum. Frontal ridge moderately sulcate (Fig. 110), with thick, somewhat wavy margins, weakly divergent downwards. Fastigium of vertex moderately prominent, longer than broad; apex acutely parabolic. Pronotal disc weakly tectiform, smooth, carinae low, but distinct throughout; lateral carinae weakly inflexed in prozona, divergent in metazona. Pronotal metazona 0.8x length of prozona, its hind angle obtusely angulate. Tegmina extend beyond hind knees, membrane semitransparent; intercalary vein in medial area present. Hind femur slender; arolia very small (Fig. 113). External genital structures as illustrated in Figs 111-112. Coloration in buff and pale green variants; a faint dark fascia extends from antennal socket through genae and upper side of lateral pronotal lobes to medial area of tegmina, where it is bordered by a contrasting pale green stripe along costal area; hind wings hyaline; hind femur, including knee, a darker shade of brown than dorsum; hind tibiae pinkish brown. Green forms with pastel green sides are found predominantly among females.

Discussion.

-Comparison of the East African material with the types of D. acuta from Saudi Arabia, the types of D. cooperi Uvarov, 1943 from Egypt, and D. lucasii (I. Bolívar, 1881) from North Afri ca, shows East African material to be conspecific with the Arabian D. acuta (only differing in minor details such as smaller size and paler coloration). This species is closely related to the Egyptian D. cooperi , but both are quite distinct from the North African D. lucasii on the basis of phallic morphology. Records of D. lucasii from Somalia (cited in Johnsen and Schmidt 1982) should be considered a misidentification.

Distribution.

-ERITREA, ETHIOPIA, SOMALIA, SAUDI ARABIA, YEMEN.