Dellia insulana Stål, 1878

Yong, Sheyla, 2018, Revision of the genus Dellia Stål, 1878 (Orthoptera: Acrididae). Part 1. Two redescriptions and seven new species from Cuba, Ecologica Montenegrina 16, pp. 58-107 : 60-61

Dellia insulana Stål, 1878

Figs. 1 , 2 , 4a , 16–24 . Dellia insulana Stål, 1878: 83–84 . Bolívar, 1888: 146. Bruner, 1908: 272. Rehn, 1909: 207. Rehn & Hebard,

1938: 223, 225. Kirby, 1910: 423. Sjöstedt, 1933: 36. Zayas, 1976: 100, fig. 101. Amédégnato et al.,

1995: 694. Yong & Perez-Gelabert, 2014a: 409. Yong & Perez-Gelabert, 2014b: 133.

Type. CUBA ; Staudinger; 1♂ holotype ( NHRS, dry pinned). Notes. The holotype bears seven labels (see fig. 4a herein), which textually read: 1) " Cuba ." [aged white card, printed in black ink]; 2) "Staudinger." [aged white card, italics, printed in black ink]; 3) " Dellia insulana Stål. " [aged white card, handwritten in black ink]; 4) "Typus" [red card with text box, printed in black ink]; 5) "120 H" [red card, number printed in black ink, letter handwritten in blue ink]; 6) "NRM-ORTH 0003513" [white card, printed in black ink]; 7) "CSC · 1346" [white card, handwritten by Carlos S. Carbonell in black ink]. The holotype is accompanied by a small glass vial with cork stopper, which houses the dissected genitalia and a small white card label, handwritten in black ink by Carlos S. Carbonell and which textually reads "1346.". See in Remarks section below a detailed discussion on a second NHRS specimen erroneously labeled as a type .

Diagnosis (emended, based on a single male). Size medium for the genus (18 mm). 1) Coloration predominantly pale olivaceous green, pronotum pale olivaceous green, with single lateromedian stripe on each side which is dark olivaceous brown and extends continuously through basal segments of abdomen below tegmina, epimera I and II each with conspicuous bright red spot, hind knees entirely black. 2) Tegmina short and lanceolate, reaching posterior margin of abdominal segment I and base of the metafemur. 3) Supra-anal plate medium-sized, subpentagonal, essentially as long as wide and apparently sparsely setose (most setae missing); anterior margin shallowly convex and medially moderately lobed, lateral margins almost straight and slightly convergent distally, posterior margin narrowly paraboloid; median sulcus present only in basal half, moderately deep and narrow, flanked by a pair of raised, coarse, parallel ridges. 4) Furcula triangular, small and poorly developed.

Redescription (adult male holotype). Size medium for the genus (total length 18.00 mm, according to according to Stål “18 mill.” and according to Carbonell's photo about 17.5 mm). General coloration (according to Stål, 1878) pale olivaceous green, antennae blackish with pale tips, scapus and pedicel pale olivaceous green (concolor with head); pronotum pale olivaceous green, with single lateromedian stripe on each side which is dark olivaceous brown and extends continuously through basal segments of abdomen below tegmina, epimera I and II each with conspicuous bright red spot; metafemur pale olivaceous green, with transversal ridges apparently not sharply contrasting, hind knees entirely black; metatibia bluish, progressively darker apically. See figure 2.

Head (figs. 16–18). Moderately large, wider than long (ratio = 1.2). Tegument shiny, rugose, sparsely and moderately punctate, with thin and short setae scattered all over. Vertex moderately convex in lateral view, subtriangular in dorsal view and moderately depressed between eyes in frontal view; fastigium prominent, wide in dorsal view, slightly convex in lateral view and strongly compressed in frontal view. Eyes very large, rounded and prominent; ocelli minute. Costa frontalis very well-marked, with lateral branches almost parallel and shallowly sinuose, i.e. upper portion wider and M-shaped, lower portion narrower and U-shaped. Genae almost straight in frontal view, but not flat. Frons coarsely and sparsely punctate. Antennae (broken both at the level of seventh flagellomere) standard for Acrididae in shape and structure; scapus subcylindrical, longer than wide, oval in cross-section, essentially glabrous; pedicel clearly more than half the length of scapus.

Thorax (figs. 19–20). Tegument shiny, but densely and coarsely punctate and with thin, short setae scattered all over. Pronotum subrectangular in dorsal view, longer than wide (ratio = 1.1); anterior and posterior margins clearly bilobed, the former moderately notched medially, the latter deeply notched medially, lateral margins convex; median keel strong, lateral keels irregularly crenulate and deeply incised by the three transverse grooves. Metanotum wider than long (ratio = 2.5) and shorter than abdominal segment I (ratio = 0.8), rectangular in dorsal view, with tegument coarsely punctate and shiny. Tegmina short (reaching posterior margin of abdominal segment I and base of the metafemur), narrow and lanceolate, i.e., costal margin slightly convex, anal margin almost straight and tip angulose.

Legs (fig. 1). Covered all over by thin setae. Profemur slender, cylindrical and unarmed; protibia essentially as long as profemur, very slender and straight. Mid legs very similar to forelegs, but mesotibia slightly longer than mesofemur. Metafemur robust, longer than metatibia (ratio = 1.1), oval in cross-section; metatibia with 6:6 / 8:8 subapical spines and five inward-curved apical spurs: two small-sized laterodorsals, two medium-sized laterals, and one large ventral.

Abdomen. Moderately large and slender (conspicuously narrower than pronotum), subcylindrical and evenly tapering posteriorly. Tegument shiny but coarsely and densely punctate, with long setae scattered mainly in the ventral surface and abdominal segments, and with median carina very well marked. Furcula normally sclerotized, minute and triangular. Supra-anal plate (fig. 21) medium-sized, subpentagonal, about as long as wide (ratio = 1.0) and apparently sparsely setose (most setae missing in holotype); anterior margin shallowly convex and medially moderately lobed, lateral margins almost straight and slightly convergent backwards, posterior margin narrowly paraboloid; median sulcus present only in basal half, moderately deep and narrow, flanked by a pair of raised, coarse, parallel ridges. Shape of cerci unknown (in holotype not visible, apparently detached and subsequently lost. Subgenital plate (fig. 23) suboval, slightly longer than wide (length/width ratio = 1.1) and covered all over by thin and long setae; anterior margin almost straight, lateral margins shallowly convex, posterior margin strongly convex. See figures 1, 21–23.

Female: Unknown.

Comparisons. D. insulana is very easy to separate from the other 17 members of the genus by its unique color pattern, i.e., largely plain green, with no sharply contrasting patterns except for a single blurred dark lateral stripe along each side of the body (figs. 1–2).

Distribution (fig. 24). This species is known only from the holotype, whose label does not bear any precision on locality but " Cuba " ( Stål, 1878).

Ecological notes. Nothing is known about the ecology of D. insulana . This requires its rediscovery and/or elucidation of its geographical occurrence.

Remarks. An adult female deposited at NHRS (see fig. 4b herein), is wrongly labeled as another type of D. insulana . It bears five labels (fig. 4b), that textually read: 1) " Cuba ." [aged white card, printed in black ink]; 2) "Staudinger." [aged white card, italics, printed in black ink]; 3) "Cotypus" [red card with text box, printed in black ink]; 4) " 114 ♀ " [aged white card, handwritten in black ink]; 5) "NRM-ORTH 0003514" [white card, printed in black ink].

Despite its type labels and code number from NHRS collection, this female is not an actual type of D. insulana . The original description was explicitly stated by Stål (1878: 83–84) to be based upon a single male specimen, which fulfils completely the Article 73.1.2 of the Code about holotype fixed by monotypy (ICZN, 1999: 65). This holotype is the same specimen examined here, as confirmed by its absolute coincidence with the characters and measurements given by Stål (1878: 83–84). Moreover, the female specimen is not even conspecific with D. insulana but can be referred to D. multicolor stat. resurr. instead, as it is evident from its very different color pattern (compare figs. 1–2 to 3 herein).

Figures

Fig. 1. Adult male holotype of Dellia insulana, full-body views: a) dorsal; b) lateral; c) ventral. Scale bar in millimeters. Photos courtesy G. Lindberg.

Fig. 2. Adult male holotype of Dellia insulana, full-body lateral view, with coloration reconstructed by the author from the original description of Stål (1878) upon a photo courtesy G. Lindberg. Scale bar in millimeters.

Fig. 4. Original labels of: a) adult male holotype of Dellia insulana; b) adult female of Dellia aff. multicolor stat. resurr., wrongly labeled as paratype of Dellia insulana (see detailed discussion in the text); c) adult female lectotype of Dellia multicolor stat. resurr. Photos courtesy G. Lindberg (a–b) and J. Hollier (c).

Fig. 16. Dorsal close-up of head and anterior margin of pronotum of all Cuban Dellia recognized in the present revision.

Fig. 17. Lateral close-up of head and anterior margin of pronotum of all Cuban Dellia recognized in the present revision.

Fig. 18. Frontal close-up of head of all Cuban Dellia recognized in the present revision.

Fig. 19. Dorsal close-up of thorax and abdominal segment I of all Cuban Dellia recognized in the present revision.

Fig. 20. Lateral close-up of thorax and abdominal segment I of all Cuban Dellia recognized in the present revision.

Fig. 21. Dorsal close-up of abdominal apex of all Cuban Dellia recognized in the present revision.

Fig. 22. Lateral close-up of abdominal apex of all Cuban Dellia recognized in the present revision.

Fig. 23. Ventral close-up of abdominal apex of all Cuban Dellia recognized in the present revision.

Fig. 24. Geographical distribution of all Cuban Dellia recognized in the present revision. Note three nearby localities for D. atrostriata n. sp. and precise occurrence still wanting for D. insulana. The upper left inset (frame equals to 150 x 75 km) depicts the single precise locality known for D. multicolor stat. resurr. (red symbol), superimposed to all sites visited by Saussure in 1855 (yellow symbols), from left to right: Havana, Guanabacoa, Santa María del Rosario, Matanzas and Limonar.