Typophyllum vignoni, Braun, Holger, 2015

Braun, Holger, 2015, Little walking leaves from southeast Ecuador: biology and taxonomy of Typophyllum species (Orthoptera, Tettigoniidae, Pterochrozinae), Zootaxa 4012 (1), pp. 1-32 : 19-21

Typophyllum vignoni sp. nov.

( Fig. 16 )

http://lsid.speciesfile.org/urn:lsid: Orthoptera .speciesfile.org:TaxonName:470367

Etymology. Dedicated to the French biologist Paul Vignon (1865–1943), specialist of “sauterelles-feuilles” and author of 50 species and varieties of “Ptérochrozées”. He is also renowned for his investigations on the Shroud of Turin.

Examined specimen. Male holotype cbt007s02, Alto Nangaritza, 1300–1350 m, 7 April 2009, leg. Elicio Tapia, deposited in the Museo de La Plata, Argentina [erroneous species code cbt007 refers to T. erosifolium ].

Notes on two similar species: The male specimen resembles to a certain degree the unique male holotypes of the two remaining species in the third group (aside from the preceding T. erosifolium ), T. curtum Vignon 1926 and T. mutilatum Walker 1870 , which are mutually very similar (photos in OSF). In the T. curtum specimen the emargination of the costal margin of the tegmina is fairly narrow, U-shaped, with the contour distally almost parallel. In the T. mutilatum specimen this diagnostic emargination is much broader, with distally diverging contour. In addition, the costal margin of the tegmina is almost parallel to the main veins (Subcosta+Radius), whereas in the T. curtum male costal margin and radial vein are diverging (this is true despite that the costal area is basally slightly bent in the expanded left tegmen). So the two males described as T. curtum from “Cumbasi”, probably Distrito San Roque de Cumbaza in northern Peru, and T. mutilatum from Tefé (in description under old name Ega), some 1300 km to the east in northwestern Brazil, could in fact belong to two different species.

Description. The internal tympanal chamber walls are conspicuously expanded ( Fig. 16 B,C), as is diagnostic for the third group according to Vignon (1925a), a character shared with the usually somewhat bigger species of Mimetica . In tegmina of Typophyllum the first big cubital cell at the base of the anal area borders on the big cell located at the Rs origin, while in Mimetic a these cells are separated ( Vignon 1931, Beier 1960), or touch in a single point in males. In the male found in the Alto Nangaritza valley these cells share a common border along 2.5 mm. It is considerably bigger than the T. curtum and T. mutilatum specimens: tegmen length 26 mm vs. 14.5–17 mm ( Vignon 1925a, Beier 1960 —the “17 lines” in the original description of mutilatum must be wrong according to detailed measurements by Vignon, who apparently inspected this specimen). The most obvious difference to these two species and all other Typophyllum males are the two emarginations in the distal half of the anal margin of the tegmina ( Fig. 16 C). Only the male of the otherwise very different T. bolivarí has there also deep emarginations (photos of holotype and additional males in OSF). But the contour of this part of the tegmina as well as the development of its tip (pointed in contrast to curtum and mutilatum ) could be variable, as is shown here for females of T. egregium , T. morrisi sp. nov. and T. erosifolium . However, no such variation was found in males. The legs are considerably longer and more slender as in other species, and the spines on fore and middle femora are much more separated. The speculum on the base of the right tegmen is fully transparent. Spines on prosternum are very small, much shorter than the width of the tip of the maxillary palp, meso- and metasternum bear spines that are slightly longer than this comparative measure.

Coloration. The only specimen is dark brown with light brown legs and antennae, a light spot behind each eye continues into a thin light anterio-ventral margin of the lateral lobe of the pronotum. The palps are light greenish.

Measurements. Tegmen length in male 26 mm, hind femora 18.5 mm.

Distribution. Only known from type locality on the Cordillera del Condor near the border with Peru, Alto Nangaritza, above Las Orquídeas.

Figures

FIGURE 16. Typophyllum vignoni sp. nov.: male holotype (tegmen length 26 mm).