Teleogryllus occipitalis ( Serville, 1838 )

Jaiswara, Ranjana, Desutter-Grandcolas, Laure & Jain, Manjari, 2021, Taxonomic revision of Teleogryllus mitratus (Burmeister, 1838) and T. occipitalis (Serville, 1838) in India, withthe description of Teleogryllus rohinae Jaiswara & Jain sp. nov. and a key for Teleogryllus species from India (Orthoptera: Gryllidae), Zootaxa 5016 (1), pp. 81-106 : 89-91

Teleogryllus occipitalis ( Serville, 1838)

Figures 1 , 3A–H , 5D , 6C , 7D , 8B , 9C , 10E–H & 11C–D ; Table 2

Gryllus occipitalis Serville, 1838: 339 .

Teleogryllus occipitalis — Chopard 1967: 98 — Townsend 1980: 154.

Teleogryllus (Brachyteleogryllus) occipitalis — Gorochov 1985: 13.

= Gryllus perspicillatus Serville, 1838 . Neotype male: same specimen designated by Townsend (1980) as neotype of G. occipitalis Serville (NHM) . Synonymy in Townsend (1980).

= Gryllus consimilis Walker, 1869 . Holotype female, Philippines (Cuming) (NHM). Removed from it synonymy with Gryllus testaceus Walker and synonymized with G. occipitalis Serville by Townsend (1980).

= Gryllulus taiwanemma Ohmachi & Matsuura, 1951 . Holotype male, Taiwan (EIHU). Synonymy in Ichikawa et al. (2000).

Not synonymized with Teleogryllus meghalayanus Lahiri and Ghosh, 1975 . See Townsend (1980), contra Cigliano et al. (2021).

Type locality: Asia-Tropical , Malaysia, Sumatra, Fort de Kock .

Type material: Neotype —Sumatra, Fort de Kock , 1 ♂, 1924 (Jacobson), NHM. Designated in Townsend (1980).

Materials examined: 5 ♂, 5 ♀, India: Uttar Pradesh, Bansinagar, 6km from Palia Kalan , 157m asl, 28° 28′ 16.6′′ N 80° 37′ 36.1′′ E, 21.iii.2015. collected and identified by R. Jaiswara & M. Jain, IISERM .

[ China], Yunnan-Fou, San-non-Kai [= Shain-nan Ka?], 1 ♂ (10691), identified T. occipitalis by J.T. Yang; dissected and identified T. occipitalis by L. Desutter-Grandcolas ( MNHN).

Népal oriental, Exp. Jannu, 9 ♂, 13 ♀, P. Dreux, iv–v.1959 /1962 ( MNHN) .

Diagnosis: Emended characters. Distinct thick yellow bands on inner margins of eyes, underlining median ocellus ( Fig. 10H ). Male. FW always covering epiproct completely, sometimes extending slightly beyond; stridulatory file with 216 to 243 teeth (mean 229, n=3); harp with usually 4–5 veins (occasionally 3) ( Fig. 7D ). Mirror on male FW longer than wide. HW always very long beyond the abdomen ( Fig. 5D ). Male genitalia pseudepiphallic sclerite wide and somewhat square-shaped posteriorly ( Fig. 10E ). Dominant frequency of male call = 4.4±0.2 kHz (n=5). Female. Ovipositor smaller than BL. Female genitalia: copulatory papilla mostly membranous as in Fig. 11C–D , sharply tapering antero-posteriorly, sclerotization on the posterior end.

Description: In addition to the characters of the genus: Medium sized species. 5 th article of maxillary palpi wider and truncated from 1/3 rd of its length ( Fig. 3C ). Legs. TI with a pair of ventral apical spurs, outer spur smaller than inner; one inner dorsal apical spur. TII with a pair of ventral and dorsal apical spurs, inner spurs smaller. FIII distally tapering; TIII inner ventral spur slightly more extended than outer; sub-apical spurs on inner margin 4–6 and most often 6 on outer. Basitarsomeres III with 3–5 spines on inner and 5–7 spines on outer margin.

Color. Head, pronotum and body black to dark brown. Occiput with feebly to distinctly visible vertical yellow strips ( Fig. 3A ); wide yellow band on inner margin of eyes, underlining the median ocellus and extended high up almost up to the level of superior margins of eyes ( Fig. 3B , 10H ). Cheeks yellow to brown; face and clypeus-labrum brownish; mandible dark brown. Pronotum DD distinctly black ( Fig. 3A ). Legs mostly dark brown, sometimes yellowish with brown setae; abdomen with 6–9 th sternite darker in colouration.

Male. FW reaching almost up to the posterior margin of epiproct, HW always very long, extended beyond abdomen. FW with 3–6 oblique harp veins, diagonal vein almost straight, mirror longer than wide; apical field with 4–5 cell alignments; lateral field with 11–13 veins ( Fig. 7D ). Stridulatory file with 216 to 243 teeth (mean 229, n=3); teeth on the file vein longer than wide and usually curled on either ends lengthwise ( Fig. 8B ).

Male genitalia. Pseudepiphallus in dorsal view, wide and tri-lobate on posterior margin, in lateral view, median lobe projected like small hump; lateral lobes like short projections and at a much lower level as compared to median lobe, the whole thing making an arrow shape structure; posterior and lateral margins of pseudepiphallus conspicuously concave ( Fig. 10E ). In lateral view, pseudepiphallus flat, apical part with a short hump and raised high dorsally; lateral margin straight; pseudepiphallic apodeme long ( Fig. 10F ); pseudepiphallic parameres wider than T. mitratus ( Fig. 10G ); ectophallic fold sclerotized, mostly extended to the posterior margin of pseudepiphallus and sometimes extended beyond. Rami deeply bifurcated. In lateral view: dorsal cavity mostly rounded in shape.

Female. Body slightly longer than males. FW length restricted to epiproct, almost overlapping with each other. Ovipositor shorter than BL, longer than hind femora and hind tibiae.

Female genitalia. Copulatory papilla mostly membranous as in Fig. 7C–D , sharply tapering antero-posteriorly; posterior end with sclerotization.

Acoustic signal: Lu et al. (2018) observed a lower dominant frequency for the specimens of T. occipitalis (around 3.6 kHz, against 4.4 kHz for the specimens we recorded). Each chirp is composed of 4–5 syllables. The specimens observed by Lu et al. (2018) are broadly similar in size and morphology to the specimens observed here, which could mean that the song of this widely distributed species may vary along with its distribution.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Map showing 12 Teleogryllus species present in India with their type localities. No specific type locality available for T. gracilipes and longipennis, indicated in the centre of India. Sampling sites of T. mitratus (Burmeister, 1838) and occipitalis (Serville, 1838) in India are shown in abbreviations. T. bicoloripes has been described from Burma by Chopard (1969), but recorded in India by Biswas et al. (1975) (see Vasanth 1993). Map downloaded from Natural Earth website and designed using QGIS Version 3.18.1 with GRASS 7.8.5.

FIGURE 3. External morphological features of Teleogryllus occipitalis (Serville, 1838): (A–B) dorsal and lateral view of head and pronotum, (C) articles of maxillary palpi, (D–E) dorsal and lateral view of male sub-genital plate, (F) male supra-anal plate, (G) female sub-genital plate and (H) apex of ovipositor. Scale 2mm.

FIGURE 5. Males of Teleogryllus mitratus collected from (A) IISERM, Punjab (B) Chandan Chauki, Uttar Pradesh and (C) Kadari, Karanatka; T. occipitalis (D) from Bansinagar, Uttar Pradesh and T. rohinae Jaiswara & Jain, sp. nov. (E) from Kasargod, Kerala. Scale 2cm.

FIGURE 6. Females of Teleogryllus mitratus collected from (A) IISERM, Punjab and (B) Kadari, Karnataka; T. occipitalis from (C) Bansinagar, Uttar Pradesh and T. rohinae Jaiswara & Jain, sp. nov. (D) from Kasargod, Kerala. Scale 2cm.

FIGURE 7. Forewings of Teleogryllus mitratus males collected from (A) IISERM, Punjab, (B) Kadari, Karnataka, (C) Chandan Chauki, Uttar Pradesh; T.occipitalis (D) from Bansinagar, Uttar Pradesh and T. rohinae Jaiswara & Jain, sp. nov. (E) from Kasargod, Kerala. Scale 2mm.

FIGURE 8. Scanning Electron Microscope images of stridulatory teeth present on ventral side of 1st anal vein of (A) Teleogryllus mitratus, (B) T. occipitalis and (C) T. rohinae Jaiswara & Jain, sp. nov.

FIGURE 9. Forewings of Teleogryllus mitratus females collected from (A) IISERM, Punjab, (B) Kadari, Karnataka; T. occipitalis (C) from Bansinagar, Uttar Pradesh and T. rohinae Jaiswara & Jain, sp. nov. (D) from Kasargod, Kerala. Scale 2mm.

FIGURE 10. Teleogryllus male genitalia in dorsal, lateral and ventral views and front face image: (A–D) T. mitratus, (E–H) T. occipitalis and (I–L) T. rohinae Jaiswara & Jain, sp. nov. Scale 500 μm.

FIGURE 11. Teleogryllus female genitalia in dorsal (A, C, E) and ventral (B, D, F) views: (A–B) T. mitratus, (C–D) T. occipitalis and (E–F) T. rohinae Jaiswara & Jain, sp. nov. Scale 200 μm.