Gryllacris (Pardogryllacris), 2018

Ingrisch, Sigfrid, 2018, New taxa and records of Gryllacrididae (Orthoptera, Stenopelmatoidea) from South East Asia and New Guinea with a key to the genera, Zootaxa 4510 (1), pp. 1-278 : 51

Gryllacris subgenus Pardogryllacris Karny, 1937 stat. nov.

Pardogryllacris Karny, 1937 : 169

Type species: Gryllacris pardalina Gerstaecker, 1860

Discussion. The genus was only based on coloration, the striking black cross-veins on the fore wings. The only sentence in Karny's (1937) diagnosis of the genus that does not apply to the majority of the other species of the genus Gryllacris is "Elytra with ferruginous longitudinal veins and conspicuous blackish cross veins" ( Karny 1937, p. 169, translated from German). As coloration is usually a weak character for separation of genera, one might regard Pardogryllacris to be a synonym of Gryllacris . However, the species that I was able to study had a more strongly modified ninth male abdominal tergite compared to the signifera group insofar as the lateral areas of the ninth tergite were largely reduced or absent ( Fig. 14E ) and the tergite as a whole or a large apical process of it is moveable against a basal plate on the underside of the eight tergite. In G. lineolata Serville, 1838 there is still a free dorsal area of the ninth tergite but a large apical area bent proximad. In G. pardalina Gerstaecker, 1860 only a short moveable apical area of the ninth tergite is visible from outside that is fixed at base to a large basal plate that sticks to the underside of the eight tergite and its surface is structured by ridges and furrows ( Figs. 14 I–J). A similar situation was found in G. longiloba Gorochov & Dawwrueng, 2015 , but the apical process is prolonged and flipped in situ to the underside of the basal plate. No free epiproct was found in the males of the latter species, but there are narrow but elongate and somewhat curved sclerites from the bases of cerci to midline where they overlap each other and cover the exit of the anus; below those sclerites there is a transparent lamella covering the membranous phallus ( Fig. 14 B–C).

Thus there are differences in the shapes of the ninth tergite to other species of the genus Gryllacris that character is however variable between species and there are transitional forms to the shapes in the signifera group. As the current study is incomplete it seems appropriate to keep Pardogryllacris as a subgenus of Gryllacris until a full revision of the genus will reveal a better solution.

Figures

FIGURE 14. Genus Gryllacris subgenus Pardogryllacris: A–E, G. (P.) longiloba Gorochov & Dawwrueng, 2015; F–H, G. (P.) l. lineolata Serville, 1838, I–J, G. (P.) pardalina (Gerst.) holotype; K–L, Gryllacris iunior Griffini, 1913 (nec Brunner, 1888) probably identical with G. (P.) longiloba Gor. & Daww.—Male abdominal apex in about lateral (A, D–E, L), apical (B, F–G, H), dorsal (J), and ventral view (C, I, K).—Abbreviations: 8th abdominal tergite, 9th ninth tergite, bp basal plate of ninth tergite, ce cercus, e epiproct, pr process of ninth tergite, sg subgenital plate, r ridge of basal plate, st stylus, ti tip of basal plate, tp tenth tergite–paraproct complex.