Phryganomelus phalangidus Jago, 1983

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 : 85

Phryganomelus phalangidus Jago, 1983 Figs 360-362

Phryganomelus phalangidus Jago, 1983a: 157.

Material.

-N.E. D.R. CONGO: Bas-Uélé, valley of the Semliki river. UGANDA: Budongo Forest, Bugoma Forest, Mabira Forest, Mpanga Forest (ml. 21 Kampala-Masaka road), and Bwamba Forest, L. Albert (Butiaba), and Kigezi.

Description.

-Of medium size for genus. Male: Antennae longer than combined length of head and pronotum; flattened basal part shorter than rounded apical part (Fig. 360). Head more elongate than pronotum, apex very prominent (Fig. 360). Tegminal apices not surpassing back edge of abdominal tergite 1. Tip of abdomen as in Fig. 361; epiphallus as in Fig. 362. Coloration distinctive, underside of thorax and base of abdomen orange-red. Fore and mid-legs light red-brown. Hind femora orange-red below, shading to dark-brown apically; outer and dorsal areas brown. Hind tibiae dark-brown, black near knee. Female: spermathecal duct as in Fig. 363 ( P. romi ). Vertex and tegmina structurally similar to male. Underside of body orange-red. Hind femora shortest in genus and distinctly more stocky than in P. auriventer .

Discussion.

-Its range of distribution broadly overlaps with Odontomelus kwidschwianus to which it bears a slight superficial resemblance. While both species occur in the same forests (from Bas Uélé in N.E. D.R. CONGO, the valley of the Semliki river and forests from the western rift of UGANDA east to the Nile (fig. 15 in Jago (1983a): Budongo, Bugoma, Mpanga, and Bwamba Forest Reserves), P. phalangidus favors the sunlit forest floor and litter along forest paths, while O. kwidschwianus inhabits the leaves and stems of forest grasses above ground level.

Distribution.

-N.E. D.R. CONGO; W. and C. UGANDA.