Squamiana bressani Fontana et Massa

Massa, Bruno & Fontana, Paolo, 2011, Supraspecific taxonomy of Palaearctic Platycleidini with unarmed prosternum: a morphological approach (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae, Tettigoniinae), Zootaxa 2837, pp. 1-47 : 13-14

Squamiana bressani Fontana et Massa n. sp. ( Figs. 19 , 63 , 100 , 123, 133–140)

Examined material and type depository: 3 holotype, Ƥ paratype: Uzbekistan, Chimgand Peak in Chatkal Range on border of Kirghiz, c. 90 km. NE Tashkent, c. 2000 m., 16.VIII.1968, leg. T. H. Hubbell ( PFCV).

Diagnosis. Squamiana bressani n. sp. is a medium sized species clearly different from all other species of the genus by the following characters: male digitiform cerci, male X th tergite not incised in the middle, female subgenital plate with a median wide rectangular incision.

Male description. Ground coloured, light brown-grey with black markings over eyes, lateral lobes of pronotum brown, blackish near the wide whitish margin; tegmina ivory with dark longitudinal veins and few dark elongated spots between veins; transversal veins not dark; hind femora with two rows of small dark marking at basal half. Abdomen clear brown. Head stout, eyes scarcely prominent. Fastigium as wide as the maximum eye diameter. Pronotum with dorsal surface flat, laterally compressed in the prozona, keeled on metazona; humeral excision on hind margin of lateral lobes barely detectable and placed almost at 3/4 of total pronotum length. Brachypterous, tegmina as long as pronotum, suboval, with rounded apex, with few dark longitudinal veins, and thin, barely detectable transversal veins. X th tergite produced backwards in a subtriangular process longitudinally grooved in the middle, but not divided. Cerci digitiform, more or less cylindrical, tapering to the rounded apex after inner tooth. The inner tooth is situated slightly behind the end of second third. Subgenital plate subtrapezoidal with hind margin v-incised between styli and bearing two keels on posterior half in correspondence of styli that are cylindrical and elongated. Titillators small, symmetrical, basal portion rounded and curved upwards, distal portion swelling at the base and decidely tapering toward apex, ventrally armed with a toothed keel and apically hooked.

Female description. Ground coloured, light brown-grey with black markings over eyes, dorsal surface of pronotum green, lateral lobes brown, blackish near the wide whitish margin; tegmina ivory with dark longitudinal veins and dark spots between veins; transversal veins not dark; hind femora with two rows of dark marking at basal half. Abdomen clear brown with dark vanishing bands on sides of first tergites. Head stout, eyes scarcely prominent. Fastigium as wide as the maximum eye diameter. Brachypterous, tegmina shorter than pronotum, suboval, with rounded apex, few dark longitudinal veins, and thin, barely detectable transversal veins. Last abdominal tergite deeply and widely incised in the middle. Cerci conical, pointed. VI th sternite gently swollen on apical third, VII th with a low smooth transversal keel in the middle and transversally wrinkled before and behind. Subgenital plate short, subtrapezoidal, with a median wide rectangular incision forming two small lateral lobes apically rounded. Ovipositor as long as pronotum and tegmina together, gently upcurved, light coloured on basal fifth and black in the distal half; apex not crenulated at all.

Measurements (in mm). Male. Total length from the head to the apex of abdomen: 19.42; from the head to the apex of hind femur: 30.4; pronotum length: 6.72; pronotum height: 4.16; length of tegmina: 5.6; length of hind femora: 19.36; height of hind femora: 4.0; cercus length: 2.23; hind femora/pronotum length: 2.88. Female. Total length from the head to the apex of abdomen: 22.4; from the head to the apex of hind femur: 32; pronotum length: 6.72; pronotum height: 4.0; length of tegmina: 5.28; length of hind femora: 19.52; height of hind femora: 4.0; length of ovipositor: 10.56; hind femora/pronotum length: 2.90.

Derivatio nominis: we are glad to name this new species after our Italian friend, the musician Paolo Bressan from Isola Vicentina, lover of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern music.

Affinities. S. bressani n. sp. is clearly different from all yet described Squamiana . It differs from S. squamiptera by the structure of X th tergite and cerci of the male, of the VI-VII th sternites and the peculiar shape of subgenital plate of female, from S. irritans by the shape of male cerci, while shows a similar shape of the X th tergite of male; in addition it may easily be distinguished from S. ankarensis , S. melendisensis , S. salmani , S. sinuata , S. kurmana and S. weidneri (according to Çiplak et al. (2002) a possible synonym of S. sinuata ) by the shape of cerci, titillators and X th tergite of male (cf. also Çiplak et al. 2002, Ünal 2006).

Figures

FIGURES 17 – 24. Lateral view of the pronotum of 8 species of Platycleidini (Uludaghia, Squamiana, Pravdiniana, Sepiana, Sporadiana, Chizuella, Eumetrioptera).

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 94 – 101. Subgenital plate of the female of other 8 species of Platycleidini (Sepiana, Parnassiana, Amedegnatiana, Modestana, Sphagniana, Squamiana, Uludaghia).