Paragryllus Guérin-Méneville, 1844

Cadena-Castañeda, Oscar J., Páez, Geraldine, Buitrago, Oscar, Quintana-Arias, Ronald Fernando & Tavares, Gustavo Costa, 2021, Studies of Neotropical crickets: New Paragryllina taxa (Orthoptera: Phalangopsidae) with comments on several previously described species, Zootaxa 5081 (1), pp. 60-76 : 63-64

Paragryllus Guérin-Méneville, 1844

Comments. The species of this genus are distinguished by their well-developed wings, males with numerous arched veins; female tegmina with a vein separating the dorsal area from the lateral one; in the dorsal area, the veins are irregular. The males have the third internal apical spur of the hind tibia widened, possibly of a glandular type; epiproctus with ornamentations. Regarding the male genitalia, the endophallic sclerite has an inverted “V” shape, accompanied by two terminal apodemes, the endophallic cavity is membranous and more or less compressed; the ectophallic apodemes, rami, pseudepiphallus, and its parameres are well developed. The copulatory papilla of the female is compressed, subrectangular, curved at the apex, which can be straight or divided ( Desutter-Grandcolas, 1992; Gorochov, 2007; 2014).

Three recently described species from Trinidad and Tobago have taxonomic conflicts. Paragryllus cocos Otte & Perez-Gelabert, 2009 nomen nudum: there is no valid original description that meets the minimum requirements of the zoological nomenclature code. Only the repository collection and a couple of photographs were cited for this species, without morphological information.

Paragryllus arima Otte & Perez-Gelabert, 2009 n. syn. is proposed as a synonym under Ectecous insolitus ( Otte & Perez-Gelabert, 2009) n. comb. (originally described as Paragryllus ). Both species have the same male genital structure and wing venation. The two species fit the diagnostic characters of Ectecous Saussure, 1878 ( Paragryllini : Neoaclina), such as the presence of the elongated tympanum on the outer margin of fore tibia, and male genitalia with pseudepiphallic sclerite regressed, without a median process; dorsal valves more or less hypertelic (Desutter- Grandcolas, 1992). E. insolitus n. comb. is the first species of the genus known for Trinidad and Tobago, Caribbean region. The species currently known are distributed from French Guyana (Cayena) to Brazil (Espirito Santo), and with this new record, their distribution should be even wider in northern South America.

Paragryllus is the most widely distributed of the tribe, occurring from Mexico to Brazil, including islands from the Caribbean region, and two species of doubtful affiliation from Africa, which must be studied to clarify their status. Based on the differences found in the species with neotropical distribution, they are grouped into three subgenera. African species are kept as incertae sedis ( Paragryllus simplex Chopard, 1948 and Paragryllus tricaudatus (Fairmaire, 1858)) , and possibly should be included in a different genus.