Valiatrella persicifolius Ma and Zhang

Libin, Ma & Yalin, Zhang, 2013, Taxonomic study of the cricket genus Valiatrella Gorochov (Gryllidae, Podoscirtinae) from China, Zootaxa 3669 (4), pp. 522-530 : 528-529

Valiatrella persicifolius Ma and Zhang sp. nov.

(Fig. I. 1, 2; Fig. II. 1 a, 1b; Fig. III. 1 a, 1b, 1c)

Type materials. Holotype. male, China: Hubei, Wufeng, Houhe, 4 Oct. 2002, coll. Hu Daochun ( NWAFU). Paratypes. China: 33, Hubei, Wufeng, Houhe, 3 Oct. 2002, coll. Hu Daochun ( NWAFU); Hubei, Wufeng, Houhe, 4 Oct. 2002, coll. Ji Taiyun ( NWAFU); Hubei, Wufeng, Houhe, 3 Oct. 2002, coll. Yang Yazhen (YTU); 2Ƥ, Hubei, Wufeng, Houhe, 1 Oct. 2002, coll. Ji Taiyun (YTU); Hubei, Wufeng, Houhe, 1 Oct. 2002, coll. Wang Wenkai ( NWAFU).

Coloration. Male. Body yellow to dark brown. Dorsum of head and eyes brownish. Antenna and antennal scape dark brown. Cheek and venter of head yellowish-brown. Yellow stripes behind eyes. Pronotum brown with yellow margins; lateral lobes yellowish-brown. Forewings mainly brown, but apical field and other parts slightly ornamented with red-brown. Basical field, chord field and outer side of forewing ornamented with yellow spots. Hind wings dark brown. Femur yellowish-brown. Tibiae darker with its outside brown to dark brown.

Female. Similar to male but pronotum lighter with a pair of dark brown spots laterally in posterior.

Measurements. 3 BL 14.4; HW 2.5; PL 2.5; PW 2–3.3; FWL 17.5; HWL 3.8; MLL 3.5; HLL 10; Ƥ BL 13; HW 2.4; PL 2.4; PW 2–3.6; FWL 17; HWL 2.8; CL 6.5; OL 6

Etymology. The specific epithet “ persicifolius ” refers to its lateral lobe (horizontal one) of epiphallus being shaped similar to a peach leaf.

Diagnosis. Male. Occiput elongate, flat, plump, as flat surface with vertex and rostrum. Vertex lower and flattened, slightly concave and provided with finer punctation. Frons shortened and shaped ladder-like. Face plump, wide and flat, but slightly concave above the middle of clypeofrontal suture. Cheek elongate, flattened. Clypeofrontal suture longitudinally broad, its top margin almost straight and only slightly curved upward. The distal section of maxillary palpus shaped as fan, widened and flattened and longer than the third section. The end section of labrum triangular, also wide and flat, and equal to the total length of remaining two sections. Middle ocellus depressed, large and longitudinally oval-shaped; lateral ocelli small, positioned above the antennal socket. Eyes enlarged and slightly triangular in shape. Antennal scape nearly quadrate, widened and flattened, twice as long as rostrum. Upper part of clypeus shaped as wide and flat stripe. Labrum small and widened, shield-shaped and convex centrally.

Pronotum edged laterally, almost ladder-shaped in dorsal view, narrowed anteriorly with straight margin and widened in posterior with slightly convex margin. Pronotal tergite almost flat, lateral lobes depressed medially.

Hind wings short and pubescent, the uncovered parts slightly shorter than apical field of the forewings. Lateral margins of forewings straight, but contracting beyond the middle of mirror and are covered with sparse pubescence. Oblique veins five or six. Mirror somewhat square-shaped but bottom margin arc-shaped. Dividing vein straightened and inclined inward, almost equally dividing the mirror. Apical field equal to one third length of the forewing. Lateral field expanded at posterior tip, Sc vein with nine to ten branches. Mirror armed with false veins basically. 1A and 2A veins merged at chord field basically and divided afterward. Cross-vein of cell C1 linked to the cross point of CuA1 and CuA2.

Fore and middle legs short. Fore tibia expanded, inner tympanum slit-like and covered by skeleton, outer tympanum open and squarely round-shaped. Inner and outer subapical spurs of hind tibiae numbered 4:5 or 5:4. Outer apical spurs very short and almost equal to each other; inner apical spurs long, shortest of bottom one and the remaining ones almost equal to each other. Inner margin of hind claws smooth.

Cercus thin and long, but thick basically, densely covered with long cilia. Subgenital plate with margins obtuse.

Epiphallus: The upper acute hooks slightly forward curved. Lateral lobe (horizontal one) short, shaped as peach leaf (from the body’s left view), slightly bent and apart from the other lobe (vertical one). The vertical lateral lobe subacute distally, slightly upward curved, then somewhat hindward bent apically.

Female. Head larger than that of male. Veins of forewings inclined inward and subparallel to each other, their cross-veins irregularly distributed. CuA vein with five or seven branches (veins distributed simply if branch number five; if seven branched, the first one dividing into two branches medially and the second and third ones merged as one medially). Ovipositor short and straight, colored yellowish-brown with brown lines laterally and dark brown apically. Dorsal valves expanded apically and with intensive wrinkles; ventral valves long and acute distally.

Remarks. Valiatrella species can be separated into two groups, the Pulchra- and Bimaculata Groups, based on the male supra-anal plate (the former conspicuously bifurcated and the Bimaculata Group are not). Valiatrella persicifolius belongs to the Pulchra Group. In this group, the lobes of the anal plate of Valiatrella laminaria are laminate shaped and they diverge from each other. This is a distinguishing character serving to identify the species from others in the group (including the new one). The two species Valiatrella pulchra and Valiatrella sororia are very similar, especially in shape of their genitalia ( Gorochov, 2002). But the genitalia of the new species are distinct with them. The horizontal lateral lobe of the epiphallus, in Valiatrella pulchra and Valiatrella sororia , are conspicuously long and bent inward, so that it extends to the lower part of the other lobe. But that lobe in new species is short and slightly bent, so that it is much separated from the other lobe and clearly visible from the body’s left side.