Roeseliana Zeuner, 1941

Massa, Bruno & Fontana, Paolo, 2011, Supraspecific taxonomy of Palaearctic Platycleidini with unarmed prosternum: a morphological approach (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae, Tettigoniinae), Zootaxa 2837, pp. 1-47 : 16-17

19) Roeseliana Zeuner, 1941 ( Figs. 30 , 52 , 86, 88 , 113)

Characters. Head just larger than long, ratio maximum width/length of head (from vertex to clipeus): 1.2-1.3. Micropterous, pronotum flat, just depressed, borders rounded, humeral excision just evident, keel present in the metazona; Ƥ subgenital plate large, bilobate, at the sides not touching the ovipositor; ovipositor short and clearly curved, somewhat angular at 1/3 from the base; Ƥ VII th sternite modified or not; hind femora/pronotum length 3: 2.7-3.5, Ƥ: 2.7-3.6; 3 X th tergite with very broad processes separated by an incision, long cylindrical cerci. Colour of lateral lobes of the pronotum is greyish bordered with a whitish stripe.

Remarks. X th tergite of male with very broad anal segment, rounded cerci and short ovipositor are good characters to separate it from Metrioptera and Bicolorana ; with the latter Roeseliana shares the female subgenital plate not touching the ovipositor.

Distribution. Central and S Europe to central Asia; R. roeselii has been introduced in N America ( Capinera et al. 2004).

Note. This genus was named after the Austrian entomologist August Johann Rösel von Rosenhof.

Number of species known (after Eades et al. 2010, modified): 7 (in parentheses specimens examined): 1) ambitiosa ( Uvarov, 1924) ; 2) azami (Finot, 1892) (35 males and 30 females from NW Italy and France); 3) bispina (Bolivar, 1899) ; 4) brunneri Ramme, 1951 (18 males and 20 females from NE Italy); 5) fedtschenkoi (Saussure, 1874) (4 males and 4 females from Armenia); 6) pylnovi ( Uvarov, 1924) ; 7) roeselii (Hagenbach, 1822) (type species) (35 males and 30 females from Italy, Poland, Germany, Croatia, Romania and Vermont, USA).

Taxonomical note. Some authors (e.g. Heller 1988, Ragge & Reynolds 1998, Eades et al. 2010) consider R. azami as subspecies of R. roeselii or R. fedtschenkoi or the latter as conspecific taxa; while R. fedtschenkoi is related to R. roeselii (they differ by titillators and female subgenital plate shape), R. azami is a valid species, different from congeneric ones for the following characters: 3 X th tergite with very long, broad and triangular processes (in R. roeselii they are shorter, less pointed and adjacent, in R. brunneri they are very large and separated by a wide incision), tooth of cerci short, rounded and placed in the last fourth (as in R. brunneri , while in R. roeselii and in R. fedtschenkoi they are longer, placed in the last third and are more pointed); titillators of R. azami are similar to those of R. brunneri (folded as a hook), while those of R. roeselii show a very different shape (straight with apical spines); in addition, the Ƥ subgenital plate of R. azami is as large as long, incised for half the length and its lobes are rounded (similarly to that of R. brunneri ), while that of R. roeselii is laterally enlarged and its lobes are pointed (cf. also Ramme 1951, Fontana 2001, and Figs. 86, 88 , 113).

Figures

FIGURES 25 – 32. Lateral view of the pronotum of other 8 species of Platycleidini (Sphagniana, Eobiana, Vichetia, Metrioptera, Bicolorana, Roeseliana, Zeuneriana, Broughtonia).

FIGURES 48 – 63. Lateral view of the ovipositor of 16 species of Platycleidini (Platycleis, Sardoplatycleis, Sepiana, Metrioptera, Roeseliana, Bicolorana, Chizuella, Eobiana, Modestana, Sphagniana, Amedegnatiana, Alticolana, Parnassiana, Squamiana, Eumetrioptera).

FIGURES 86 – 93. Subgenital plate of the female of other 8 species of Platycleidini (Roeseliana, Metrioptera, Broughtonia, Zeuneriana, Eobiana, Vichetia, Bicolorana).