Acanthacara ortoni, Braun & Morris, 2022

Braun, Holger & Morris, Glenn K., 2022, New species of awl-head katydids, Cestrophorus and Acanthacara, from the Andes of Ecuador (Orthoptera, Conocephalinae, Cestrophorini), Journal of Orthoptera Research 31 (2), pp. 143-156 : 143

Acanthacara ortoni sp. nov.

Figs 4 , 5 , 9E , 10E , 16 , 17

Gymnacoustes isoharmonicus (' Gymnacoustes isoharmonicus ' - Morris 1987, field name: Baeza Blackface)

Material examined. -

Holotype: ECUADOR • ♂; Tungurahua, Pondoa ; 16 Jul. 1985; G.K. Morris leg.; 85-2; MLP . Paratypes: ECUADOR • 1 ♂; Tungurahua, Pondoa ; 16 Jul. 1985; G.K. Morris leg.; 85-1; ANSP • 1 ♂; Tungurahua, Pondoa ; 16 Jul. 1985; G.K. Morris leg.; 85-3; ANSP • 1 ♂; Tungurahua, Pondoa ; 16 Jul. 1985; G.K. Morris leg.; 85-4 [field recorded 1 of 3, 85-1, 85-2, 85-3]; ANSP .

Etymology. -

Dedicated to the aforementioned James Orton (1830-1877), Professor of Natural history at Vassar College in New York State, naturalist in South America ( Orton 1916, Miller 1982). On his first trip there in 1867 he crossed the continent west to east, starting in Ecuador, securing biological specimens along the way. Among them were 22 new species of orthopterans, including 9 species of katydids (described in Scudder 1869, 3 names of grasshoppers are now considered synonyms). On the way home from his third expedition, after a series of mishaps which affected his health, he unfortunately died during a passage across Lake Titicaca at only 47 years old.

Diagnosis. -

Similar to the next species. Tegmina slightly longer than pronotum; dark markings on pronotum indistinct. Last tergite terminally truncate or with broad and shallow emargination (perhaps shrinkage artifact). Cerci with obtuse dorsal tip; below that with curved and tapering inward-directed process, ending with sharp and recurved spine, and above this with small and inconspicuous obtuse tip. Styli about twice as long as wide.

Measurements. -

Pronotum 4.7 mm, tegmina 5.2 mm, hind tibiae 8.4 mm.

Figures

Fig. 4. Scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of male A. ortoni fastigium verticis.

Fig. 5. SEM of superficial tympanic membrane on proximal tibia of A. ortoni.

Fig. 9. Acanthacara spp. male genitalia compared.

Fig. 10. Acanthacara adult males compared in dorsal aspect.

Fig. 16. Song of A. ortoni. A. Four double-zip emissions; B. Higher resolution of first call of record above; C. Cusped waveform characteristic of the interplay of two nearly equal harmonics; time sample taken from the prolonged pulse that ends each zip. This wave feature is the basis of the stillborn name ' Gymnacoustes isoharmonicus ' as used by GKM in his 1987 ISV Poster in Denmark; see Fig. 17 below; D. Spectrum shows subequal first (13.5 kHz) and second (27 kHz) harmonic peaks and then lower intensity harmonic peaks that occur well into the ultrasonic. A broad peak around 31 kHz is not part of the harmonic series. The academic editor expressed concern that the A. ortoni signal shown here may be slightly overloaded; we think rather that trace C shows the effect of the sampling rate failing to characterize the wave train smoothly at high time resolution. The recording in Fig. 17 is not subject to any possible overload distortion and shows the same harmonic interplay giving a cusped waveform.

Fig. 17. Figure from 1987 ISV meeting abstract booklet showing a different A. ortoni specimen's song analysis; the waveform shown at high resolution is characteristic of subequal harmonics. There remains the possibility that this call is not properly associated with A. ortoni but is the call of A. incisa; see below.