Dellia atrostriata, Yong, 2018

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 : 75-78

Dellia atrostriata new species

Figs. 9 , 16–24 , 25b–c , 26b . Table I

Type. Cuba : Santiago de Cuba Province: Guamá Municipality: La Platica (20°00'42"N – 76°53'27"W, 870- 900 m a.s.l.); diurnal net-sweeping of the vegetation; October/2015; R. Núñez; one adult male holotype ( SY, dry pinned).

Diagnosis (based on a single male). Size medium for the genus (19 mm). 1) Coloration predominantly black, with irregular white longitudinal stripes, pronotum with seven bright white longitudinal stripes, epimera I–II each with a conspicuous bright greenish-white spot, hind femur vivid red, conspicuously darker on transversal ridges and upper margin, hind knees with upper half blackish and lower half reddish, tarsomeres pale blue. 2) Tegmina short and lanceolate, surpassing slightly posterior margin of abdominal tergite I. 3) Supra-anal plate relatively large, subpentagonal, longer than wide, shallowly concave and sparsely setose; anterior margin shallowly convex and medially weakly lobed, lateral margins straight and parallel, posterior margin angulose and narrowly paraboloid; median sulcus complete, deep and narrow, flanked by a pair of raised, coarse, undulate ridges. 4) Furcula strongly sclerotized, shortly triangular, with digitiform and inward-curved apex.

Etymology. The specific epithet is a Latinized compound adjective that literally means "striped in black" and refers to the striking color pattern of the body of this species.

Description (adult male holotype). Size medium for the genus (total length 19.2 mm). Coloration. Head basically greenish black, except as follows: frons dark greenish, clypeus, labrum, maxillae and maxillary palps pale yellowish, vertex with fastigium yellow continuing into a pair of thin, solid yellow longitudinal stripes just above the eyes, genae irregularly spotted with yellow; antennae blackish with whitish tips, scapus and pedicel vivid green; eyes bright blue, with small dark spots. Pronotum black, with seven bright white longitudinal stripes interrupted by black transversal grooves: a single dorsomedian (very thin, complete), paired dorsolaterals (thick, complete), paired lateromedians (thin, incomplete anteriorly and posteriorly), and paired laterals (thick, incomplete anteriorly), lateral margins dark greenish. Epimera I and II black, each with a conspicuous bright greenish-white spot. Tegmina with a conspicuous bicolor, longitudinally striped pattern: three black stripes (thin anterior, thick median and thin posterior), separated by two white stripes (upper one much thicker). Fore and mid legs of same color: coxa and trochanter vivid green, femur vivid yellowish green, tibia vivid green with a large pale blue median spot, tarsomeres yellowish green with irregular infuscation; hind legs with coxa and trochanter olivaceous green, femur vivid red, conspicuously darker on transversal ridges and upper margin, hind knees with upper half blackish and lower half reddish, tibia vivid blue with blackish spines, tarsomeres pale blue. Abdomen with striped pattern on tergites continued from that on thorax (see above): single dorsomedian (very thin and irregular, whitish) and on each side paired submedians (thin, black), paired dorsolaterals (thick, bright white), and paired lateromedians (thick, black); lateral areas vivid green with margins not infuscate; sternites immaculate vivid green. See figure 9 and table I.

Head (figs. 16–18). Moderately large, wider than long (ratio = 1.5). Tegument shiny, but rugose and coarsely punctate. Vertex moderately convex in lateral view, subtriangular in dorsal view; fastigium prominent, broad in dorsal view, semicircular in lateral view and strongly compressed in frontal view. Eyes very large, suboval and prominent; ocelli minute. Costa frontalis very well marked, narrow and large, reaching upper margin of clypeus, with lateral branches almost parallel and shallowly sinuose, i.e., upper portion inverted U-shaped and lower portion almost rounded. Genae moderately convex in frontal view. Frons coarsely punctate and rugose. Antennae standard for Acrididae in size and shape, with 18/18 flagellomeres; scapus subcylindrical, wider than long (ratio = 1.3), 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. Pronotum subrectangular in dorsal view and slightly longer than wide (ratio = 1.0), tapering anteriorly; anterior margin essentially convex, posterior margin shallowly convex and medially incised, lateral margins shallowly sinuose; median keel strong, lateral keels coarsely crenulate and deeply incised by the three transverse grooves. Metanotum wider than long (ratio = 2.4) and shorter than abdominal segment I (ratio = 0.7), subrectangular in dorsal view with tegument smooth and shiny. Tegmina short (surpassing slightly posterior margin of abdominal tergite I), narrow and lanceolate, i.e., costal and anal margins slightly convex, tip rounded.

Legs (fig. 9). Covered all over by thin setae. Profemur slender, cylindrical and unarmed; protibia almost as long as profemur (ratio = 0.9), very slender and straight, ventral surface with 5:4 / 4:4 subapical spines and two small apical spurs. Mid legs very similar to forelegs, but mesotibia with 3:7 / 7:3 subapical spines. Metafemur robust, 1.1 times larger than metatibia, oval in cross-section; metatibia with 6:8 / 8:6 subapical spines and five inward-curved apical spurs: two small-sized laterodorsals, two medium-sized laterals, and one large ventral.

Abdomen. Large and slender (conspicuously narrower than pronotum), subcylindrical and evenly tapering posteriorly. Tegument shiny and smooth, with small scattered setae and abdominal segments with median carina very well marked. Tympanic organ large, rounded, and located laterally on segment I. Furcula strongly sclerotized, short, curved inwards and with rounded tip. Supra-anal plate (fig. 21) relatively large, subpentagonal, longer than wide (ratio = 1.2), shallowly concave and sparsely setose; anterior margin shallowly convex and medially weakly lobed, lateral margins straight and parallel, posterior margin angulose and narrowly paraboloid; median sulcus complete, deep and narrow, flanked by a pair of raised, coarse, undulate ridges. Cerci very short, conical and densely covered by thin setae, almost reaching the posterior margin of the Supra-anal plate and not surpassing apex of abdomen. Subgenital plate (fig. 23) longer than wide (ratio = 1.2) and sparsely setose; anterior margin shallowly convex, lateral margins essentially straight, posterior margin convex. See figures 9, 21–23 and table I.

Female: Unknown.

Comparisons. D. atrostriata n. sp. is easy to distinguish from the 17 other members of the genus by the combination of its sharply contrasting coloration pattern, which is basically predominantly dark, pronotum with seven bright white longitudinal stripes, fore and mid legs same-colored and predominantly vivid green, hind femur vivid red and conspicuously darker on transversal ridges and upper margin, hind knees with upper half blackish and lower half reddish.

Distribution (fig. 24). This species is known from four nearby localities at the highest part of the Cordillera del Turquino, in Guamá Municipality, Santiago de Cuba Province. Besides the type locality, it has been found in El Cojo (20°01'29"N - 76°50'11"W, 1,400 m a.s.l.), Alto del Cardero (19°58'29"N - 75°51'16"W, 1,239 m a.s.l.) and Pico Turquino (19°59'21"N - 76°50'10"W, 1,972 m a.s.l.), see details below.

Ecological notes. According to the field notes of the collector (Rayner Núñez, pers. comm.), the holotype was captured while sweeping the grass with an entomological net. The primary vegetation around the site is montane rainforest and pine forest, both on volcanic terrain.

This species does not seem to be too rare, because it has been repeatedly found by different collectors from the early 1960's to date. The present author has seen at least five additional specimens of D. atrostriata sp. n. from Alto del Cardero and Pico Turquino, all deposited in the collections of IES and the late Fernando de Zayas. Moreover, on 29/November/2011, the collector of the holotype photographed another adult male at El Cojo (figs. 25b–c).

Figures

Fig. 9. Adult male holotype of Dellia atrostriata n. sp., full-body views: a) dorsal; b) lateral; c) ventral. Scale bar in millimeters.

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.

Fig. 25. Live habitus of: a) Dellia albida n. sp., adult male holotype, in captivity; b–c) Dellia atrostriata n. sp., adult male from El Cojo, in nature; d) Dellia brauni n. sp., adult male holotype, in nature; e–f) Dellia multicolor stat. resurr., adult male topotype, in nature; g–i) Dellia megalapida n. sp., adult male holotype (g), adult male and adult female paratypes while mating (h), subadult female paratype (i), all in nature; j–k) Dellia melici n. sp., adult female holotype, in nature; l) Dellia zephyra n. sp., adult female holotype, in nature. Photos courtesy Rayner Núñez (b, c), Rubén Marrero (d), and Tomás M. Rodríguez (j, k, l).

Fig. 26. Habitat at the exact collecting site of: a) Dellia albida n. sp; b) Dellia atrostriata n. sp.; c) Dellia brauni n. sp.; d) Dellia megalapida n. sp., with the author and her collaborator Rolando Teruel while photographing some of the type specimens; e) Dellia melici n. sp.; f) Dellia multicolor stat. resurr.; g) Dellia siboney n. sp.; h) Dellia zephyra n. sp., note the vegetated pits (micro-dolines or large skylights) all along Las Perlas cave, the holotype was found in the dark passage connecting two of these pits. Photos courtesy Rolando Teruel (b, f, h), Tomás M. Rodríguez (c, e), and Luis A. Casanella (d).