Paora Gorochov, 1986

Desutter-Grandcolas, Laure, Anso, Jérémy & Jourdan, Hervé, 2016, Crickets of New Caledonia (Insecta, Orthoptera, Grylloidea): a key to genera, with diagnoses of extant genera and descriptions of new taxa, Zoosystema 38 (4), pp. 405-452 : 422-423

Genus Paora Gorochov, 1986 n. stat.

Paora Gorochov, 1986a: 692 .

Synonymized with Apteronemobius Chopard, 1929 by Otte et al. (1987). Restored from synonymy in the present paper.

TYPE SPECIES. — Paora gusevae Gorochov, 1986a by original designation.

ILLUSTRATIONS. — Habitus: Fig. 4E . Male genitalia: Gorochov 1986a: figs 2-4.

EMENDED DIAGNOSIS. — Very large nemobiines. Eyes large but not protruding; distance between epistemal suture and lower margin of eye less than eye mid width, but greater than in other nemobiines such as Bullita or Koghiella . Maxillary palpi moderately long; joint 5 the longest, regularly widened toward apex. TI with a small outer tympanum; with two apical spurs, ventral. TII with three, long apical spurs. TIII with four pairs of subapical spurs; inner apical and subapical spurs longer than the outers; three pairs of apical spurs, inners longer than outers; dorsal spur the longest on inner side, longer than half basitarsomere III and only slightly longer than median spur; median spur the longest on outer side.

Males. TIII inner subapical spurs widened. FWs present, sometimes reduced; stridulatory apparatus with a well-developed harp in P. gusevae Gorochov, 1986 , hardly visible in species with reduced FWs. Male genitalia: short; pseudepiphallic parameres extending beyond short pseudepiphallic apical lobes.

Females. Apterous.

DISTRIBUTION. — Endemic to New Caledonia. Paora gusevae is known from New Caledonia without precise locality, but material not yet described attests the presence of the genus in Mont Mou, in Aoupinié massif and close to the Dzumac (MNHN material).

HABITAT. — Unknown.

REMARK

Otte et al. (1987) synonymized Paora with Apteronemobius Chopard, 1929 , because of similarities in male genitalia between the drawings of Gorochov (1986a) for Paora gusevae and the genitalia of Apteronemobius darwini Otte & Alexan- der, 1983 from Australia. However, Gorochov’s description of Paora and the type species of Apteronemobius ( Apteronemobius longipes Chopard, 1929 , type specimen deposited in the MNHN), present huge differences in FW development (fully developed, with a stridulum in Paora , lacking in Apteronemobius ), TIII subapical spurs (four pairs versus two pairs, respectively) and male genitalia. In Apteronemobius , male genitalia are convex, the rami almost as long as pseudepiphallic sclerite; the pseudepiphallic sclerite is longer than wide, well-narrowed toward apex at mid length; the apical lobes are long and squared, separated from each other by a regular space and well-sclerotized over their whole length; the pseudepiphallic parameres are short, and the dorsal cavity is well-developed and sclerotized by endophallic sclerite. In Paora , the pseudepiphallic sclerite is wider than long, the apical lobes very short, the pseudepiphallic parameres very long and thick. For these reasons, we restore Paora from its synonymy with Apteronemobius , but it will be necessary to compare it with other winged Nemobiinae from New Caledonia to confirm its status.

Figures

FIG. 4. — New Caledonian Nemobiinae (Trigonidiidae):A, Bullita transversa Desutter-Grandcolas, 1997,Col d’Amieu, by day (Photo PG); B, Bobilla sp., specimen from Parc Provincial de la Rivière Bleue; C, Koghiella flammea Anso & Desutter-Grandcolas, 2016, from Bois du Sud, by day (Photo JA); D, Paniella bipunctatus Desutter-Grandcolas, 2016, female, from Grand Kaori; E, Paora sp., specimen from Dzumac; F, Thetella sp., from Lifou (Loyalty Islands), by day (Photo PG); G, uplifted calcareous substrate where Thetella sp lives, Loyalty Islands (Photo PG). Scales bar: 1 mm.