Phaneroptera abdita, Massa, 2021

Massa, Bruno, 2021, Some new species of Phaneroptera, Eulioptera and Scolocerca (Orthoptera Tettigoniidae: Phaneropterinae) from West Tropical Africa, Zootaxa 4948 (1), pp. 123-135 : 126-128

Phaneroptera abdita n. sp.

( Figs. 17-20 )

Material examined. Togo, Fazao-Malfakassa NP, Mare aux crocodiles campsite (Sudanian Savannah /dry Forest) 8°44’58.8”N, 0°48’51.8”E (505m) 26.VIII-7.IX.2018 (Actinic Light Trap), M. Aristophanous, M. Geiser, P. Moretto, B. Sanbena (1 ³ holotype, 3 ³ paratypes) ; Togo, Fazao-Malfakassa NP, Mare aux crocodiles campsite (Sudanian Savannah /dry Forest) 26.VIII-7.IX.2018 (MV Light Trap), M. Aristophanous, M. Geiser, P. Moretto, B. Sanbena (1 ³ paratype) ; Togo, Fazao-Malfakassa NP, Mare aux crocodiles campsite (Gallery For.) 27-31.VIII.2018 (Lepiled Light Trap), M. Aristophanous, M. Geiser, P. Moretto, B. Sanbena (1 ³ paratype) ; Togo, Fazao-Malfakassa NP, Mare aux crocodiles campsite next to lake (Sudanian Savannah) 5-7.IX.2018 (Lepiled Light Trap), M. Aristophanous, M. Geiser, P. Moretto, B. Sanbena (1♀ paratype) ( ANHRT) ; Togo, Fazao-Malfakassa NP, Mare aux crocodiles campsite (Gallery For.) 27-31.VIII.2018 (Lepiled Light Trap), M. Aristophanous, M. Geiser, P. Moretto, B. Sanbena (1 ³ paratype) ; Côte d’Ivoire, Touba , Biémasso (141m) 8°04’05”N, 7°32’59”W, 10-11.VII.2013 (UV light), P. Moretto (1 ³ paratype) ; Côte d’Ivoire, Touba , Biémasso 7-11.VII.2014 (UV light), P. Moretto (2³ para- types) ; Côte d’Ivoire, Korhogo , Kogo (dry forest) 21.VII.2014 (UV light), P. Moretto (1 ³ paratype) ( BMPC) .

Measurements (mm). Males (N = 11). Body length: 10.6-11.3; Length of pronotum: 3.1-3.2; Height of pronotum: 2.2-2.3; Length of hind femora: 15.2-15.7; Length of tegmina: 16.0-16.4; Width of tegmina: 2.8-2.9. Female (N = 1). Body length: 12.0; Length of pronotum: 2.8; Height of pronotum: 2.3; Length of hind femora: 16.0; Length of tegmina: 18.4; Width of tegmina: 2.8; Length of ovipositor: 3.7.

Diagnosis. A small Phaneroptera , characterized by only 2 apical spurs on the hind tibiae, and a very peculiar subgenital plate of the male, apically divided into two lobes. Also the stridulatory file is very peculiar.

Male description. Color. Green or yellow-green, with brown spots on pronotum, legs and abdominal tergites. Antennal scapus brown, remaining part yellow. Cerci dark tipped. Stridulatory area brown.

Small species. Head typical of the genus, eyes round prominent, fastigium of vertex compressed, raised at the apex, narrower than scapus, not contiguous with fastigium of frons. Antennae long, scapus and remaining portion yellow. Pronotum without lateral carinae, anteriorly just incurved, posteriorly rounded, longer than high. Both pairs of wings well-developed. Tegmina about 5.5-5.8 times longer than broad, rounded at tips. Veins and veinlets not much contrasting to remaining parts of tegmina. Hind wings with green archedictyon, extending beyond tegmina by about one third of latter. Stridulatory area on the left tegmen reticulate, mirror on the right tegmen quite triangular ( Fig. 17 ). Stridulatory file under the left tegmen about 0.25 mm long, consisting of many small teeth very close, and a posterior perpendicular very small file of a few teeth ( Fig. 18 ). Legs. Fore coxae armed, fore femora unarmed, fore tibiae sulcate dorsally, with 1 apical inner spur on ventral margin, open tympana on both sides. Mid femora unarmed, mid tibiae with 3-4 spines on both ventral margins + 1 spur on each ventral side. Hind femora unarmed, hind tibiae with sparse hairs and 4-5 rows of spines on ventral margins, many spines on dorsal margins + 2 spurs on each apical side. Abdomen. Supra-anal plate transverse with a little rounded posterior margin. Cerci longer than the subgenital plate, apically incurved with a pointed brown tip ( Fig. 19 ). Subgenital plate triangular, basally larger than apically, narrowing about in the middle, and apically deeply divided into two pointed lobes; in lateral view upcurved and ventrally with a median longitudinal carina; styli absent ( Fig. 20 ).

Female. Same characters as the male, but bigger in size. Ovipositor gently up-curved, entirely toothed on upper margin, and with about 20 apical teeth on ventral margin. Subgenital plate triangular, pointed.

Etymology. P. abdita n. sp. is derived from the Latin abditus (= hidden) and refers to the difficulty to find a small series of this undescribed taxon among hundreds of other African Phaneroptera , mainly belonging to P. sparsa .

Distribution. Presently known only from Côte d’Ivoire and Togo.

Discussion. Only two species have the male subgenital plate apically divided into two lobes: P. acaciae Chopard, 1954 , and P. fragilis Ragge, 1980 . They have 3 apical spurs on the hind tibiae, but the number of apical spurs in some cases may be variable (e.g. in P. cleomis Ayal, Broza et Pener, 1974 may be 2 or 3: Ayal et al. 1974); in addition, in P. acaciae the fore coxal spine is absent or very small, while in P. fragilis and in P. abdita n. sp. it is welldeveloped, and the stridulatory organ of P. acaciae is broad, while in the other two species is normally developed. Differences between P. fragilis and P. abdita n. sp. lie mainly in the bigger size, in the supra-anal plate with distinct posterior angle on each side, hind wings extending beyond fore wings by about half length of latter, and cerci with a minute subapical spine in P. fragilis ( Ragge 1960) . P. abdita n. sp. has a particular stridulatory file, with a posterior perpendicular very small file of a few teeth; in other Phaneroptera species, the small file of a few teeth is anterior to the stridulatory file, and is parallel placed respect to the main file.

Figures

FIGS. 17-20. Phaneroptera abdita n. sp. Fig. 17. Stridulatory area and mirror of one male; Fig. 18. Stridulatory file of one male (the arrow indicates the small file arranged perpendicularly to the main file); Fig. 19. Cerci and subgenital plate from above of the same; Fig. 20. Ventral view of the subgenital plate of the same.