Anacaona, Yong, 2019

Yong, Sheyla, 2019, Three new genera and four new species of katydids (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae) from Cuba and Hispaniola, Greater Antilles, Ecologica Montenegrina 20 (2019), pp. 222-256 : 245-247

Genus Anacaona new genus

Figures 11–14 , 18 , 20a, b , 25 . Table IV Type species: Anacaona bellatrix n. sp., by present designation.

Diagnosis. Body medium-sized (26–27 mm) and relatively slender for the tribe. Both sexes macropterous; tegmina lanceolate, sexually dimorphic (shorter in male), surpassing tip of abdomen (male), but not reaching tip of ovipositor (female); hind wings fully developed. Head with tegument coarsely and densely punctate, lacking any keels. Fastigium short (slightly shorter than scapus) and blunt-conical. Eyes moderately small and spherical. Pronotum slightly longer than wide; dorsal disk moderately projected, truncate; tegument dorsally smooth, laterally feebly punctate; longitudinal, anterior and typical transverse sulci shallow and narrow. Prosternum armed with two conical spines. Legs moderately slender for the tribe. Male penultimate abdominal tergite (10 th) not especially modified. Supra-anal plate in male widely triangular and with a deep longitudinal sulcus, in female rhomboidal and not sulcate. Subgenital plate very wide, symmetrical and with posterior margin deeply U-notched; in male much larger and with a pair of lateral sulci converging backwards. Male cerci curved inwards and armed apically with two sclerotized and strongly incurved spines; female cerci unmodified, broadly conical. Ovipositor very long, slender, with parallel edges, distally curved upwards and mostly smooth (except for a dorsobasal tooth).

Etymology. This genus is named after Anacaona (born in 1474, murdered by hanging in 1503), the well-known Taino woman that ruled the Jaragua chiefdom in Hispaniola and was also said to be the greatest Caribbean beauty. The generic epithet is declared here feminine in gender.

Comparisons. Anacaona n. gen. most closely resembles two other Neotropical genera: Nesonotus Beier, 1960 and Sphaeropyga Beier, 1960 .

The new genus can be separated from Nesonotus as follows: 1) Face coarsely punctate and lacking lateral edges. 2) Pronotum dorsally smooth and laterally feebly punctate, with anterior and typical transverse sulci narrow and shallow. 3) Tegmina apically round and narrower, with venation not conspicuously raised. 4) Male cerci with two apical teeth. 5) Female subgenital plate sub-trapezoidal. 6) Ovipositor longer, wider and with edges essentially parallel. In Nesonotus , the face is closely wrinkled and has strong lateral edges, the pronotum is coarsely granulose and has deep anterior and typical transverse sulci, the tegmina are apically truncate and wider, with venation conspicuously raised, the male cerci have a single apical tooth, the female subgenital plate is pentagonal, the ovipositor is shorter, narrower and distally tapering.

Last, Anacaona n. gen. can be separated from Sphaeropyga by: 1) Size smaller. 2) Face coarsely and densely punctate, lacking lateral edges. 3) Fastigium tip surpassing the antennal sockets. 4) Pronotum dorsally smooth and laterally feebly punctate. 5) Tegmina apically narrower. 6) Male penultimate abdominal tergite (10 th) flattened and not covering the cerci or tip of abdomen. 7) Male cerci with two apical teeth but otherwise unmodified. 8) Ovipositor (in Sphaeropyga the ovipositor is robust and almost straight). In Sphaeropyga, Beier (1960) recorded sizes of 34–42 mm in males and 37–43 in females, the face is feebly punctate and has lateral edges, the tip of fastigium just reaches the antennal sockets, the pronotum is densely granulose, the tegmina are apically wider, the male penultimate abdominal tergite (10 th) is greatly bi-inflate (buttock-like) and covers completely the cerci and tip of abdomen like a helmet, the male cerci lack apical teeth but are highly modified (spatulate and basally with an internal tooth and two conspicuous blunt processes).

Distribution. Monotypic genus, known only from southern Hispaniola ( Dominican Republic, see fig. 25).

Figures

Figure 11. Adult male holotype of Anacaona bellatrix n. gen., n. sp., full-body views: a) dorsal; b) lateral; c) ventral. Scale bar in millimeters.

Figure 12. Adult female paratype of Anacaona bellatrix n. gen., n. sp., full-body views: a) dorsal; b) lateral; c) ventral. Scale bar in millimeters.

Figure 13. Adult male holotype (a–c, g–h) and adult female paratype (d–f) of Anacaona bellatrix n. gen., n. sp., closeup views: a) head and pronotum, dorsal; b) head and pronotum, lateral; c) head, frontal; d) head and pronotum, dorsal; e) head and pronotum, lateral; f) head, frontal; g) stridulatory area, dorsal; h) stridulatory areas, left and right sides, dorsal.

Figure 14. Adult male holotype (a–c) and adult female paratype (d–f) of Anacaona bellatrix n. gen., n. sp., respectively, close-up views: a) apex of abdomen, dorsal; b) apex of abdomen, ventral; c) apex of abdomen, posterior; d) apex of abdomen, dorsal; e) apex of abdomen, ventral; f) ovipositor, lateral.

Figure 18. Live habitus of female paratype Anacaona bellatrix n. gen., n. sp., in captivity.

Figure 20. Habitat of Anacaona bellatrix n. gen., n. sp. (a–b) and Rombophora sierramaestrae n. gen., n. sp. (c–d): a) Los Tres Charcos; b) road from Cabral to Polo; c) Aguada de Joaquín; d) La Gran Piedra. Photos a–c courtesy of Rolando Teruel.

Figure 25. Geographical distribution of the genus Anacaona n. gen. and its single species Anacaona bellatrix n. gen., n. sp.: type locality (red symbol), additional locality (yellow symbol). Image frame = 500 x 220 km, inset = 20 x 13 km.