Tenuihippus Willemse, 1994

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 : 80

Tenuihippus Willemse, 1994

Tenuihippus Willemse, 1994: 454-456, figs 31-32, 36, 40-43.

Type species.

- Tenuihippus parvus Willemse, 1994: 454, by original designation.

Description.

-Very small and slender with smooth integument and fully developed wings. Head acutely conical, somewhat ascending and about as long as pronotum. Antenna narrowly ensiform, slightly longer than length of head and pronotum (Fig. 316). Fastigium as in Figs 316, 317; fastigial foveolae absent. Frons strongly oblique, frontal ridge as in Fig. 318. Pronotum weakly tectiform; carinae sharp over entire length (Fig. 316), metazona longer than prozona, posterior margin obtuse-angular. Lateral lobes higher than long, their lower hind angle broadly rounded. Hind femur slender (Fig. 319), surpassing tip of abdomen. Hind tibia slightly shorter than femur; arolium large. Abdominal appendages unspecialized; internal genital structures as in Fig. 322, typical of Gymnobothrus genus group, with epiphallic lobes relatively short and bent inwards.

Discussion.

-A monotypic genus and a distinctive member of the Gymnobothrus genus group. Known only from the male holotype and paratype from the type locality on the banks of the Zambezi in ZAMBIA. Phallic characters clearly indicate that Tenuihippus belongs to the Gymnobothrus group of genera. Willemse (1994) states that it most closely resembles Roduniella , Coryphosima , and Chirista , but differs from them and the other genera principally in its very small size, slender build and elongate metazona of pronotum.