Mecopoda angusta Gorochov, 2020

Recordings: MALAYSIA: CH3697, Negeri Sembilan, Pasoh Forest Reserve (near Simbang Pertang north of Kuala Pilah) (2°57’N, 102°15’E), 29–31 iii 1992, leg. K.-G. Heller & M. Volleth (song and stridulatory organs), in ethanol, IZCAS . CH 3674, Selangor, Templer Park near Kuala Lumpur (3°17’N, 101°39’E), 19 iii 1984, leg. K.-G. Heller (song and stridulatory organs), in ethanol. Male CH 3758+CHX071, Selangor, Ulu Gombak Field Study Centre (20 km nno Kuala Lumpur) (3°20’N, 101°45’E), 200 m, 28 ii–24 iv 1984, leg. K.-G. Heller & M. Volleth (stridulatory organs). Song CHX071, same data, animal not collected .

Other material: Females. MALAYSIA: CH3744, Selangor, Ulu Gombak Field Study Centre (20 km nno Kuala Lumpur) (3°20’N, 101°45’E), 260 m, 8–28 iii 1981, leg. K.-G. Heller & M. Volleth. CH 3790, same locality, 4 iii–5 iv 1992, leg. K.-G. Heller & M. Volleth.

Material used for comparison. Mecopoda dilatata Redtenbacher, 1892 . Type series with three males under M. dilatata Redtb., 13846, Borneo, all NMW. Holotype male, labels: (1) type, (2) Mecopoda dilatata Redt, det. Redtenbacher, (3) Coll. Br. v. W. Borneo Grabovsky, (4) 13846, (5) II 13846. Second male from type series without labels. Third male with label Borneo. Male, labels (1) Mecopoda dilatata Redtenbacher, 1892 det. S. Ingrisch 1994, (2) SABAH Poring 15 IV 1991, leg K. Riede, (3) DORSA ORTmecdilS01 (4) Museum Koenig ORT 2005/413.

Mecopoda divergens Redtenbacher, 1892 . Holotype female, NMW, labels: (1) Mecopoda divergens det. Redtenbacher, (2) Coll. Br. v. W. Indien Türk, (3) 2635, (4) 12 2635. Male, NMW, labels: (1) Mecopoda divergens det. Redtenbacher, (2) Coll. Br. v. W., (3) Java occident. Pengalengan, 4000’ 1893 H. Fruhstorfer, (4) 20 286.

Within Mecopoda, M. angusta does not belong to the elongata group s.l. because the apex of the vertex is not rounded as in the elongata -related forms, but transversely and bluntly carinate. The fastigium verticis is met from below by a broad fastigium frontis, leaving a distinct gap in between (Fig. 16). These characteristics are shown by M. dilatata, M. divergens and M. platyphoea Walker, 1870 and probably also by M. kerinci (no information given in Gorochov 2020). From M. dilatata, M. angusta can be easily discriminated by its special subgenital plate. M. divergens, however, was known only by the female holotype with unknown origin. Fortunately it turned out that Redtenbacher obtained and identified also a male collected one year (1893) after his description of the female. It has the typical mecopodine fork-like subgenital plate (Fig. 17). Finally, E. platyphoea (see under Eumecopoda) from Sri Lanka, known only from the brown female type and, after Kirby (1891), a green male, has broader tegmina and a shorter, thicker ovipositor than M. angusta (Fig. 18). It also has spines on the fore femora („Fore femora with three spines in one row towards the tips“ Walker 1870) missing in M. angusta . The females from Pakistan, described under M. platyphoea by Panhwar et al. (2016), differ widely in the species-specific characteristics (see their figures 1a,c,e) and do not belong to this species. For other morphological details see Fig. 20.

Stridulatory vein with 59–73 teeth (Fig. 11 M; inter-tooth distances see Fig. 12).

Song. The calling song of M. angusta consists of series of 7–18 echemes (trill segments), each series (trill) lasting about 10 –15 s. The echemes had durations of 0.7– 1.3 s with SRRs between 30 and 40 Hz (Fig. 10; Tab. 7). In the echeme structure the song is similar to that of Eumecopoda c. cyrtoscelis (Helfert & Sänger 2007; see below), but not to any known in Mecopoda .

M. angusta was known from two localities in peninsular Malaysia and from one locality in Sumatra, but is obviously more widespread.