Dithela longicaudata, Massa, 2017

Massa, Bruno, 2017, New genera, species and records of Afrotropical Phaneropterinae (Orthoptera, Tettigoniidae) preserved at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Bruxelles, Zootaxa 4358 (3), pp. 401-429 : 403-405

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.11646/zootaxa.4358.3.1

publication LSID

lsid:zoobank.org:pub:25796F05-AAAB-4D1E-B09E-9138635F1D56

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6025200

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/039CF14D-FFB4-FFF7-FF30-CF08BD2EFC74

treatment provided by

Plazi

scientific name

Dithela longicaudata
status

sp. nov.

Dithela longicaudata n. sp.

Figs 2A–2H View FIGURE 2

Material examined and depository. Democratic Republic of Congo, Kalulu 6.V.1939, H.J. Brédo (♂ holotype, 1♂ paratype, without hind legs) ( RBINS).

Other material examined. Dithela rectiloba Karsch, 1890 . Cameroon, Barombi Station, Preuss (♂ holotype) ( MfN); Equatorial Guinea, Fernando Poo (1♂, 1♀) ( MNCN); Dithela acuticercus Sjöstedt, 1912 . Cameroon, Victoria (1♂) ( MfN).

Measurements. Males. Body length: 15.2–15.7; length of pronotum: 2.7–2.9; height of pronotum: 2.1–2.3; length hind femur: 19.2; length of hind tibia: 20.0; length of tegmina: 19.7–21.0; width of tegmina: 3.7–4.2.

Diagnosis. It is an atypical Dithela , characterized by the presence of 1 spur on the dorsal fore tibiae, 2 spurs on dorsal mid tibiae, tegmina clearly shorter than hind wings, cerci pointed and up-curved, subgenital plate long, narrow with two parallel lobes, apically divergent.

Description of the male ( Fig. 2A View FIGURE 2 ). Colour. Green with yellowish-green legs, antennae brown, stridulatory area of the left tegmen a little darkened. Head. Fastigium of vertex very narrow, sulcate above, separated from the fastigium of frons, which is tuberculated. Eyes rounded, well projecting, 2 times as smaller than subocular groove. Pronotum. Lobes very low and humeral sinus barely marked, anterior margin of pronotum straight, posterior rounded. Legs. Fore coxae unarmed. Fore tibiae furrowed superiorly, distinctly widening above tympanum. Tympanum open on inner and outer sides. Fore femora armed with 4–7 spines on ventral inner and 3–6 on ventral outer margins, fore tibiae with 6 spines + 1 spur on ventral inner and outer margins, and 2 spines + 1 spur on dorsal outer margin. Mid femora with 6–9 spines on ventral outer margin, mid tibiae with 8 spines + 1 spur on ventral inner and outer margins and 5–6 spines + 1 spur on dorsal inner and outer margins. Hind femora unarmed, hind tibiae with 5–6 spines on ventral inner margin and ca. 40 spines on dorsal inner and outer margins + 3 spurs on each side. Wings. Tegmina narrow. Stridulatory area of the left tegmen stout and long, mirror of the right tegmen wide. Stridulatory file short, ca. 1.2 mm long, consisting of less than 40 unevenly distributed teeth ( Fig. 2B View FIGURE 2 ). Abdomen. 10th tergite unmodified, with a straight hind margin. Cerci long, pointed and up-curved ( Fig. 2D View FIGURE 2 ), shorter than the subgenital plate. Subgenital plate long and narrow with two parallel lobes, apically divergent, styli absent ( Figs 2F, 2G View FIGURE 2 ).

Female: unknown.

Affinities. D. longicaudata n. sp. differs clearly from the two known species of Dithela by the characters reported in the discussion of the genus. Only D. acuticercus ( Fig. 2C View FIGURE 2 ) is vaguely similar to D. longicaudata n. sp., but it differs by the shape of wings and of the subgenital plate and cerci ( Figs 2E, 2H View FIGURE 2 ).

Etymology. From Latin = with long tail.

Distribution. Actually known only from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

RBINS

Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences

MfN

Museum f�r Naturkunde

MNCN

Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Arthropoda

Class

Insecta

Order

Orthoptera

Family

Phaneropteridae

Genus

Dithela

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