Ciglianacris, Cadena-Castañeda, Oscar J. & Granda, Juan Manuel Cardona, 2017

Cadena-Castañeda, Oscar J. & Granda, Juan Manuel Cardona, 2017, Studies in Colombian Caelifera and adjacent territories: Ciglianacris, a new genus of Andean Melanoplinae (Orthoptera: Acrididae), Zootaxa 4286 (2), pp. 267-276 : 268-271

Ciglianacris n. gen.

http://lsid.speciesfile.org/urn:lsid: Orthoptera .speciesfile.org:TaxonName:478603

Type species.— Ciglianacris submontana n. gen. et n. sp.

Etymology. We dedicated this new genus to Dr. María Marta Cigliano, as an acknowledgement to her scientific work and her continued and interesting contributions to the knowledge of the subfamily Melanoplinae.

Diagnosis. Slender insects, matte and slightly coarse body surface (particularly the pronotum) ( Figs. 1, 2 , 17, 18 ). Frons slightly convex in both sexes, eyes prominent but not noticeably surpassing the vertex level ( Figs. 3 , 12 ). Metazona a little longer than the prozona, males with the hind margin of pronotum rounded ( Fig. 2 ), females with hind margin of pronotum straight ( Fig. 13 ); pronotum mid-line present along all the pronotal disc. Both sexes brachypterous ( Figs. 17, 18 ). Male: Cerci slender, upwardly curving from mesal portion to tip, reduced furculae ( Fig. 5 ). Phallic complex: Cingulum with the endophallic plates expanding ( Fig. 8 ), valves of the aedeagus slim and distally divergent ( Fig. 11 ), slightly sclerotized distally, sheath of aedeagus dorsally covering the valves of the aedeagus ( Fig. 10 ). Body color mostly brownish-gray with olive green extremities ( Fig. 17 ); in females, chevron femora filled with black ( Fig. 18 ); post-ocular stripe present, extending along the lateral margin of the pronotum until the fourth abdominal tergite.

Relationships. Ciglianacris n. gen., closely resembles the other Andean genera Bogotacris and Chibchacris , from which it differs by not having a completely shiny-smooth body surface. The head of the aforementioned two genera tends to be noticeably more slanted and shiny, with a more pronounced fastigium. This new genus seems to be closer to Bogotacris than to Chibchacris , as it does not have modified tips of the cerci (a common character in Chibchacris ). Also, the aedeagus valves of Ciglianacris are thin and not very sclerotized, and they are enveloped in a membrane-like fold (or sheath of aedeagus), in contrast with the other two genera, where they are well sclerotized and not covered in any fold whatsoever, or if the sheath of aedeagus is present in these genera not is so developed as the new genus.

The new genus hereby described, is also similar with the genera from the group Scotussae; because the aedeagus valves have a cylindrical cross-section, with no mid-longitudinal furrow, diverging caudally; the sheath of aedeagus has a mid-longitudinal cleft in its middle lobe, and the lateral lobes developed ( Ronderos 1985; Cigliano & Ronderos 1994; Dinghi et al., 2009). As for the wing development and general appearance, besides the white dots in the eyes in live specimens, Ciglianacris n. gen., resembles the genera Chlorus Giglio-Tos, 1898 , Dichromatos Cigliano, 2007 and Eurotettix Bruner, 1906 . This new genus differs from the Scotussae group genera mentioned above in that it lacks a strip that is usually located in the inner margin of the inter-chevron space; comparable genera, such as Chlorus , have an acutely angled, inwardly-arched, distally half lamelliform cerci. Eurotettix has slender cerci, curved inwards with the tips directed inwards tapering or weakly expanded at the tip and Dichromatos cerci taper in their distal end toward the tip, which is pointy-ended, and inwardly curved a mostly right angle; this contrasts with Ciglianacris n. gen., which has slender, upwardly curved cerci from the mesal portion towards the tip.

In comparing Ciglianacris n. gen., with some Andean genera and others of the Scotussae group, it is evident that the new genus is closer to the genera of the latter, which is why we suggest its inclusion in the Scotussae group. Ciglianacris n. gen., which inhabits middle and low elevations in the inter-Andean valleys of the Eastern Versant of the Central Colombian Cordillera and the Western Side of the Eastern Cordillera in Colombia, would be then the most northerly distributed member of the Scotusssae group, which is better represented in the Paraná basin and in the Argentinian Pampa region .

Distribution. The only species known so far has been found at mid-elevations in the Boyacá, Santander, Cundinamarca and Tolima departments (all specimens in the Eastern Cordillera except for a female photographed in Tolima in the Central Cordillera), between 1400 to 1900 m.

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 2. Ciglianacris submontana n. sp. (Male). Habitus lateral and dorsal respectively.

FIGURES 17 – 18. Ciglianacris submontana n. sp. (in live condition). 17. Male. 18. Female.

FIGURES 3 – 11. Ciglianacris submontana n. sp. (Male). 3. Frons. 4. Tegmina. 5 – 6. Terminalia in lateral and dorsal view. 7 – 11. Genitalia: 7. Epiphallus. 8 – 9. Genitalia without epiphallus in lateral and dorsal view. 10 – 11. Details of aedeagus in lateral and dorsal view.

FIGURES 12 – 16. Ciglianacris submontana n. sp. (Female). 12 – 13. Head, pronotum and tegmina in lateral and dorsal view. 14 – 16. Terminalia in dorsal, lateral and ventral view respectively.