Sumba I. Bolivar , 1909

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 : 48-49

Sumba I. Bolivar, 1909

Sumba I. Bolívar, 1909: 288, 289.

Type species.

- Sumba roseipennis I. Bolívar, 1912: 78, by subsequent designation (I. Bolívar 1912).

Description.

-Diagnosis in key to genera above.

Discussion.

-While Rhabdoplea and Panzia can be defined on a suite of narrowly variable characters, Sumba is defined on characters subject to a wider range of variation. These include sculpturing of the integument which, in Sumba , varies from relatively fine (but always distinct) to very coarse and rugulose, although never showing the distinctive regular parallel ribbing of Rhabdoplea . Likewise, wing shape and venation show a wide range of variation from narrow with sparse reticulation (as in S. roseipennis , which is similar to Rhabdoplea ), to broad with sparse reticulation (as in S. granulifera , which is similar to Panzia ). Table 3 summarizes geographical variation in selected morphometric ratios.

The genus was first described by I. Bolívar (1909) in a key without any species included. In 1912 he described the first species, Sumba roseipennis . The present study reduces S. longicornis Ramme to a synonym of S. roseipennis and describes Sumba exilis sp. n. from the Ngaoundéré area of north central CAMEROON and western UGANDA.

Sumba species fall into two distinct clusters: first, the widespread S. roseipennis species group consisting of closely related taxa, which are also similar in appearance to Rhabdoplea (includes S. rubripes and S. exilis sp. n.), and second, three species in the S. semicarinata species group, also including S. punctata and S. granulifera , together with the fourth, S. callosa (transferred from Rhabdoplea ), which are local, rather distinctive endemics, of which S. granulifera shows some similarity to Panzia uvarovi .