Griffiniana Karny, 1910

Naskrecki, Piotr & Bazelet, Corinna S., 2012, A revision of the southern African katydid genus Griffiniana Karny (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae: Mecopodinae), Zootaxa 3218, pp. 47-58 : 48-52

Griffiniana Karny, 1910

Karny, 1910: 10 >>original description; type species: Griffiniana pedestris Karny , by original monotypy Naskrecki. 1994: 294 >> redescription, placed in Aprosphylini

Naskrecki, 1994: 291 >> Ewanella Naskrecki syn. n.

Description (male, except where specified)

General. Body small (11–16 mm), slender, cylindrical; legs extremely elongate; squamipterous to macropterous ( Figs. 1 A–C.)

Head. Antennae about 2.5 times longer than body; antennal scapus unarmed. Eyes oval, distinctly protruding; lateral ocelli present, elongate; median ocellus present, oval ( Fig. 2 H); fastigium of vertex not reaching apex of antennal sockets, lamelliform, in its apical part about 6 times narrower than scapus ( Fig. 3 E.) Fastigium of frons poorly developed, separated from fastigium of vertex by shallow gap; frons vertical, flat.

Thorax. Pronotum wider than long when seen from above ( Figs. 2 G, 3A, B, D), its surface smooth, marginal fold of pronotum smooth. Anterior margin of pronotum flat; metazona slightly raised when seen laterally ( Figs. 2 I, 3C); posterior edge of metazona straight when seen dorsally; humeral sinus of pronotum absent, lateral lobe slightly wider than high. Prosternum unarmed, sternum flat. Thoracic auditory spiracle very large, fully exposed, with long hair on inner margin.

Legs. Legs extremely long and slender. Front coxa armed with long spine; front femur in cross section round dorsally, grooved ventrally, armed with 0–6 spines on anterior and 0–1 spines on posterior ventral margin; genicular lobes of front femur armed with two small spines on both sides; front tibia with anterior dorsal margin with 4– 11, posterior one with 8–12 minute spines; spines on front tibia short, about half as long as tibia diameter; tympanum bilaterally open, oval, about twice as long as wide. Mid femur with 1–7 spines on anterior and unarmed on posterior ventral margin; genicular lobes of mid femur armed with two small spines on both sides; mid tibia very slightly to noticeably thickened in basal part, with 14–17 small spines on anterior dorsal and 11–12 on posterior dorsal margin. Hind femur extremely elongate, distinctly thickened in basal half ( Fig. 2 L), armed with 4–10 spines on anterior and 4–6 spines on posterior ventral margin; genicular lobes of hind femur armed with two small spines on both sides; dorsal spines of hind tibia of equal size on both edges; apex of hind tibia with 1 pair of ventral spurs. Tarsomeres 1 and 2 of all tarsi cylindrical, with poorly developed lateral grooves.

Wings. Tegmen fully developed to strongly reduced; non-stridulatory area of tegmen from 3.3 times as long as mirror to shorter than mirror ( Figs. 2 A, C, E); tegmen fully exposed, not covered by pronotum; distinctly narrowed towards apex; anterior margin rounded. Left stridulatory area coriaceous, without mirror, costal field well-developed; vein Rs branching out in apical half in macropterous species, closer to apex in species with reduced tegmen; veins Sc and R close together, parallel along their entire length, sometimes joining close to apex of tegmen; mirror large, shape as in Figs. 2 A, C, E. Stridulatory file flat, nearly straight, with 37–91 teeth, teeth on anterior end of file minute and poorly sclerotized. Hind wing fully developed to strongly reduced.

Abdomen. Tenth tergite unmodified; epiproct unmodified, small, triangular. Cercus cylindrical, straight, narrowing towards apex; with small, subapical, inner tooth; paraprocts weakly sclerotized, with small but distinct apical hook; sclerotized epiphallus absent. Subgenital plate approximately trapezoidal, distinctly narrowed apically, with rounded apical incision about as deep as wide; styli cylindrical, about 3 times as long as wide, parallel, horizontal ( Figs. 3 K–M.) Female subgenital plate broadly trapezoidal, with shallow, broadly angular apical incision, posterior lobes rounded ( Figs. 3 G–J.)

Ovipositor. Ovipositor slender, as long as 0.56–0.70 of hind femur; slightly curved in apical half, dorsal edge of upper valvula parallel to lower valvula; apex pointed, with minute dentitions on both lower and upper valvulae in apical third ( Fig. 2 J.)

Egg. Egg elongate; cylindrical in cross-section; straight ( Fig. 2 K.)

Coloration. Coloration pale brown, with numerous dark brown and red-brown markings; eyes uniformly colored, antennae with indistinct dark annulation; occiput without markings; pronotum with distinct brown markings. Tegmen with indistinct dark brown and light bands, venation light brown; hind wing hyaline. Legs banded, with alternating, wide dark and light brown bands; hind femur with distinct reticulate pattern basally and wide dark brown bands in apical half. Ovipositor uniformly light brown ( Figs. 1 A–C.)

Diagnostic remarks. The genus Griffiniana can be distinguished from other African Mecopodinae by the lack of processes or tubercles on the prosternum and simple meso- and metasternum, lacking lateral lobes. Within Aprosphylini Griffiniana is unique in its short, wider than long pronotum (pronotum longer than wide when seen from above in other Aprosphylini ) ( Figs. 2 G, 3A, B, D) as well as the unique combination of bilaterally open tympana (tympana closed, conchiform in Pseudosaga ), lamelliform, very narrow fastigium of vertex (at least 6 times narrower than scapus in Griffiniana , at most about 3 times narrower in other Aprosphylini ) ( Figs. 3 E–F), large, fully exposed thoracic auditory spiracle (spiracle minute in Zitsikama Peringuey ), and the lack of dorsal apical spurs on hind tibia (dorsal spurs developed to various degrees in all Aprosphylini except Aprosphylus .) All species of Griffiniana are fairly uniform in their appearance and differ primarily in the degree of reduction of their wings, and the characteristics of their advertisement calls. It is likely that more species of this genus occur in the xeric habitats of the western part of southern Africa, and we hope that this revision will facilitate their recognition.

The monotypic genus Ewanella was described by Naskrecki (1994) and was distinguished from Griffiniana solely on the basis of the degree of the development of wings. The discovery of a species of Griffiniana with an intermediate development of wings, as well as the lack of any other identifiable characters to separate the two genera, have lead us to a decision to consider Ewanella a junior synonym of Griffiniana .

Species Wings Male styli Song

pedestris Squamiform , tegmina shorter than pro- Unknown Unknown notum, not overlapping on dorsum (in

female)

capensis Brachypterous , tegmina slightly longer Stout, about 3.6 times Echemes at most 0.6– 1.2 s long, inter-

than pronotum longer than wide spersed by gaps of similar length

duplessisae Mesopterous , tegmina more than twice Stout, about 3.4 times Echemes at least 3–5 s long, interspersed

as long as pronotum but not reaching longer than wide by gaps of similar length apex of abdomen

longipes Macropterous , tegmina at least 5 times Slender, at least 5 times Echemes at least 12–18 s long and consistlonger than pronotum, distinctly sur- longer than wide ing of audible diplosyllables, interspersed passing apex of abdomen by short gaps of at most 1–2 s

Figures

FIGURE 1. Habitus of South African species of Griffiniana: A. G. c a p e n s i s, male; B. G. longipes, male; C. G. duplessisae, female.

FIGURE 2. Diagnostic characters of Griffiniana spp.: A. G. longipes, male right tegmen; B. ditto, stridulatory file; C. G. c a p e n - sis, male right tegmen; D. ditto, stridulatory file; E – L, G. duplessisae: E. male right tegmen; F. stridulatory file; G. male head an pronotum, dorsal view; H. male face; I. male head and pronotum, lateral view; J. ovipositor; K. egg; L. male hind femur.

FIGURE 3. Diagnostic characters of Aprosphylini: A. G. duplessisae, female, dorsal view; B. G. c a p e n s i s, ditto; C. G. p e d e s - tris, female head and pronotum, lateral view; D. ditto, dorsal view; E. ditto, fastigium of vertex; F. Aprosphylus olszanowskii, fastigium of vertex; G. G. pedestris, female subgenital plate; H. G. longipes, ditto; I. G. duplessisae, ditto; J. G. c a p e n s i s, ditto; K. G. longipes, male cerci and subgenital plate; L. G. duplessisae, ditto; M. G. capensis, ditto.