Duronia chloronota chloronota ( Stal , 1876)

Popov †, George B., Fishpool, Lincoln D. C. & Rowell, C. Hugh F., 2019, A review of the Acridinae s. str. (Orthoptera: Acridoidea: Acrididae) of eastern Africa with taxonomic changes and description of new taxa, Journal of Orthoptera Research 28 (2), pp. 37-105 : 57

Duronia chloronota chloronota ( Stal, 1876)

Material.

-Syntype and long series of material lodged at NHMUK, London.

Description.

-Diagnosis as for genus group. Size (in mm): total length, male 20-30, female 28-44. Integument finely rugose. Antenna ensiform, somewhat shorter than combined length of head and pronotum. Head conical, face oblique, straight, or broadly convex; variable even in same locality. Fastigium parabolic with fine medial and lateral carinulae. Frontal ridge sulcate with high carinulae diverging downwards. Dorsum of pronotum flat, wide, with sharp strong carinae; lateral carinae straight, parallel, or slightly divergent backwards; only posterior sulcus crossing dorsum, metazona slightly shorter than prozona, its posterior margin obtuse-angular. Male genital structures as in Fig. 97 ( D. c. phippsi ). Coloration extremely variable in shades of dark to light-brown and stramineous, often with admixture of shades of green and presence of dark lateral fascia. Dorsum predominantly in shades of brown, but occasionally in other colors, including a vivid deep pink pigmentation; sides are frequently green.

Discussion.

-There is no marked constancy in color patterns; sometimes a local population may exhibit a fairly homogeneous picture, while another elsewhere presents a wide range of variation. This could be a reflection of the ecological conditions of the habitat, but precise observations are lacking.

Distribution.

-The typical subspecies is by far the most widespread and variable of the three. Occurs in whole Ethiopian region except for deserts; all East African countries including SOMALIA (omitted from COPR (1982) but cited in Johnsen and Schmidt (1982) and Baccetti and Abukar (1987)); in much of southern Africa replaced by Duronia chloronota curta ( Uvarov 1953).