Duronia Stal , 1876

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 : 56-57

Duronia Stal, 1876

Duronia Stål, 1876: 21.

Type species.

- Phlaeoba (Duronia) chloronota Stål, 1876: 48 by original designation. Rodunia I. Bolívar, 1908a: 99 (syn. Uvarov 1953). Type species: Phlaeoba chloronota Stål, 1876, by original designation I. Bolívar 1908a: 100, footnote.

Description.

-See genus group diagnosis and key.

Discussion.

- Uvarov (1953) clarified much of the hitherto existing confusion and established the generic synonymy as above. He then listed eight currently valid species attributed to the genus. Of these, D. sanguinolenta (I. Bolívar, 1889) was dubious since the original type is lost. Six African species were keyed; one of them, D. curta Uvarov, 1953, was described as new. A later revision by Dirsh (1962) reduced the eight species to two (the type for the genus Duronia chloronota Stål, 1876, and D. curta Uvarov, 1953). The rest, including the Madagascan D. faeta (I. Bolívar, 1890), were reduced to synonyms of D. chloronota .

A study of genitalia of both the sexes in a large number of specimens broadly confirms Dirsh’s conclusion that Duronia is represented throughout its vast distribution area (including much of Africa south of the Sahara, Madagascar, and S.W. Arabia), by one variable species, D. chloronota Stål. Even the Madagascan populations do not differ markedly. Only in southern Africa is there sufficient differentiation to suggest subspecific status (hitherto described as D. curta Uvarov). Likewise, specimens from Kasewe Forest Reserve in Sierra Leone comprise individuals of very large size, with expanded, somewhat inflated pronota and basally yellow hind wings with infumate apices. These are described here as Duronia c. curta and D. c. phippsi subsp. n., respectively (the latter dedicated to its collector, the well-known entomologist-acridologist, the late John Phipps).