Pineronemobius histrionicus ( Zayas, 1976 ) Yong, 2018

Yong, Sheyla, 2018, Rare or poorly known Caribbean orthopterans. Part 1. The true generic identity of Hygronemobius histrionicus Zayas, 1976 (Orthoptera: Trigonidiidae: Nemobiinae), Ecologica Montenegrina 19, pp. 89-101 : 94-100

Pineronemobius histrionicus ( Zayas, 1976) n. comb.

Figures 1–12 . Table I Hygronemobius histrionicus Zayas, 1976: 82 , 84; fig. 76. Ribeiro-Pereira et al., 2013: 1, 4, 17. Yong & Perez-Gelabert, 2014: 1, 416. Desutter-Grandcolas & Hugel, 2016: 323.

Types. CUBA: ISLA DE LA JUVENTUD SPECIAL MUNICIPALITY: Isla de Pinos: Sierra de Casas; June /1957; F. de Zayas; 1♂, 2♀♀ syntypes (FZ). Sierra de Caballos ; June/1974; L. R. Hernández; 1♀ syntype (FZ). Examined, all four in poor condition .

Additional material examined: CUBA: ISLA DE LA JUVENTUD SPECIAL MUNICIPALITY: Isla de Pinos: Sierra Chiquita (new record); 21°51'42"N - 82°46'26"W; 30 m a.s.l.; 10/July/2018; T. M. Rodríguez-Cabrera; 6♂♂, 5♀♀, 1♀ juvenile (SY) .

Diagnosis. See genus diagnosis above.

Redescription (adult male from Sierra Chiquita).

Size medium for the subfamily (total length 5.75 mm). Tegument smooth and coriaceous, whole surface of body and appendages covered by two types of rigid, dark setae: some are minute and thin, and others are long and thick. Coloration with base beige and a very conspicuous pattern of stripes and spots in black and yellow. Head entirely beige; eyes dark (brown in life, fades to darker after preservation); vertex with five parallel black stripes: a single median (very short, extending only from eyes midpoint forwards), a pair of submedian stripes (longest, complete and prolonged frontally to almost reach the clypeus base) and a pair of lateral stripes (very short, extending only from eyes midpoint backwards); mouthparts in frontal view with three black vertical stripes. Antennae annulated, with segments dark brown and joints beige; scapus beige, with a dark brown, longitudinal, Y-shaped spot. Pronotum beige, decorated with a very conspicuous, irregular, symmetric black design. Legs mostly beige, with large black spots; hind legs gradually turning orange distally, with a pair of oblique black stripes basally and black knees. Abdomen with a very conspicuous pattern of transverse black stripes on tergites and sternites, on the former broader and enclosing sharply contrasting vivid yellow spots (arranged in three rows along the abdomen: a median row of rhomboidal spots, paired submedian rows of oval spots and paired lateral rows of elongate transverse spots). Cerci broadly annulated in black and beige. See figures 3–8, 10 and table I.

Head (figs. 3, 5, 10b). Large, wider than long (ratio = 1.7). Tegument smooth and coriaceous, with large, dark, rigid setae scattered all over. Vertex slightly convex in lateral view. Eyes very large (almost occupying the whole genal surface), prominent and suboval. Ocelli small, inconspicuous. Genae smooth, convex in frontal view. Maxillary palps very long and slender. Antennae filiform, much longer than body and covered with minute setae all over; scapus longer than wide (ratio = 1.6), apically swollen, oval in crosssection, densely covered with minute dark setae; pedicellus much smaller than scapus.

Thorax. Smooth and coriaceous, with large, dark, rigid setae scattered all over. Pronotum (figs. 3, 5a–b, 10b) wider than long (ratio = 1.7); anterior margin essentially convex, posterior margin almost straight, lateral margins subquadrate; with setae scattered all over (longer and stronger mainly along anterior and posterior margins). Tegmina and alae completely absent.

Legs (figs. 3, 5, 10b). Covered all over by two very distinct types of setae: minute and rigid ones and others longer and stronger, both being more abundant on fore and mid legs. Profemur stout, longer than protibia, subrectangular, unarmed, oval in cross section; protibia very slender, straight, without tympana, with two medium-sized apical spurs; probasitarsus long, slightly shorter than protibia, second tarsomere very short, both the probasitarsus and the second tarsomere armed ventrally with a few minute and very thin spines, third tarsomere longer than second but shorter than first; tarsal claws very short. Mid legs similar to fore legs in structure. Metafemur very robust, unarmed, as long as metatibia (ratio = 1.0), oval in crosssection; metatibia with 3:3/3:3 dorsal subapical spines and five apical spurs: two inner (the dorsal one almost as long as metabasitarsus, the ventral one shorter) and three outer (the dorsal one shortest, the ventral one longer, the one in between longest); metabasitarsus long, shorter than metatibia (ratio = 2.8), armed distally with a pair of conical apical spurs (the inner one longer, both slightly longer than second tarsomere); second tarsomere very short, third tarsomere longer than second but shorter than first; tarsal claws very short.

Abdomen (figs. 3, 7, 10b). Longer than head + pronotum (ratio = 1.3) and slightly wider than pronotum, swollen, gibbose in lateral view. Tegument smooth and coriaceous, covered all over by two very distinct types of setae: one minute and rigid and other longer and stronger. Supra-anal plate wider than long (ratio = 1.2), paraboloid, with base subrectangular and apex strongly convex. Subgenital plate wider than long (ratio = 1.5), pentagonal, with anterior margin convex, lateral margins basically straight and posterior margin acutely convex. Cerci shorter than abdomen (ratio = 0.8), conical and densely covered by the three very distinct types of setae standard for all Grylloidea: small clavate setae in basalmost portion only, plus two types of filiform setae all over (one type very short and rigid, another type very long and silky).

Genitalia (fig. 9). Very small, subtriangular in shape, remarkably concave in dorsal view and convex in ventral view, without any apical lobes. Ephiphallic sclerite minutely setose (visible in dorsal view), sclerotized, completely divided medially and slightly folded inwards. Ectoparameres wide, completely divided medially and slightly folded inwards. Dorsal cavity short. Ectophallic fold very simple and poorly sclerotized, visible in dorsal and ventral views. Ectophallic apodeme not crossing or surpassing the rami. Endophallus subdivided into three sclerites (wider lateral ones and a narrower in the middle). Ventral valves very well developed, sclerotized, densely covered by spinules.

Adult female. Very similar to male in coloration and structure except as follows. Body larger (total length 6.50 mm) and more robust. Legs slightly longer. Supra-anal plate slightly longer than wide (ratio = 1.1); subgenital plate wider than long (ratio = 1.5), trapezoidal, with posterior margin very shallowly bilobed. Ovipositor shorter than abdomen (ratio = 0.7) and strongly sclerotized; upper margin slightly concave and lower margin almost straight; dorsal and ventral pair of valves separated by a deep notch, all four with tips shallowly curved upwards and armed dorsally and ventrally with minute denticles. See figures 4, 6, 8, 10a and table I.

Variation. Coloration is essentially identical in all 12 fresh specimens; the few minor inconsistences are attributable to differences in preservation.

Distribution (fig. 12). As for the genus (see above).

Ecological notes. According to the data kindly supplied by its collector (Tomás M. Rodríguez-Cabrera, personal communication), the specimens from Sierra Chiquita were active on a limestone cliff at the base of a hill, inside semideciduous forest.

Remarks. The original description of this species ( Zayas, 1976), suffers from considerable omissions that made this redescription necessary; also, the precise locality and composition of the type series was not disclosed.

In September 2013, the present author examined it and obtained all the missing data from their original labels, handwritten by Fernando de Zayas himself: it is composed of one male and two females from Sierra de Casas, and one female from Sierra de Caballos (see herein fig. 2 and Material Examined).

Due to an inadequate preservation for such delicate, weakly sclerotized specimens (technique of double montage: dry, glued to pinned cardboard), their current condition is poor, e.g., all are dehydrated, distorted and some crucial structures are impossible to observe. Thus, the present redescription is based on the perfectly preserved, freshly collected specimens from Sierra Chiquita, once their conspecificity with the examined syntypes was corroborated beyond any doubts.

According to the Article 76.1 and Recommendation 76A of the Code ( ICZN, 1999: 71), the original labels of the syntypes (fig. 2) unambiguously establish that the type locality (not stated in the original description), is collectively " Isla de Pinos: Sierra de Casas and Sierra de Caballos ", and it is herein formally fixed as such. This had already been suggested by Yong & Perez-Gelabert (2014: 416), but only implicitly .

Last, Yong & Perez-Gelabert (2014: 401, 416) "designated" four syntypes for this species. This was totally unnecessary and a misconception, i.e., Article 73.2 of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature ( ICZN, 1999: 67), clearly rules that syntypes either can be fixed only in the original description, or automatically include all specimens of the type series if a holotype or lectotype has not been designated. The latter is exactly the case for this species, as the above-mentioned statement by Yong & Perez-Gelabert (2014) neither constitutes an inadvertent lectotype designation, i.e., Article 74.7 of the Code ( ICZN, 1999: 68) rules that after 1999, such designation to be valid must employ the term " lectotype " or an exact translation, a criterion not fulfilled by Yong & Perez-Gelabert (2014), who only referred to " syntypes " .

Figures

Figure 1. Photographic copy of the pages from Zayas (1976), containing the original description of Pineronemobius histrionicus n. comb. (highlighted).

Figure 2. All syntypes of Pineronemobius histrionicus n. comb. and their labels, in the original entomological box at the private collection of Fernando de Zayas. See the poor condition of specimens.

Figures 3-4. 3 Adult male Pineronemobius histrionicus n. comb. from Sierra Chiquita, full-body views: a) dorsal; b) lateral; c) ventral. Scale bar in millimeters. See fresh, perfectly preserved specimen. 4 Adult female Pineronemobius histrionicus n. comb. from Sierra Chiquita, full-body views: a) dorsal; b) lateral; c) ventral. Scale bar in millimeters. See fresh, perfectly preserved specimen.

Figures 5-6. 5 Adult male Pineronemobius histrionicus n. comb. from Sierra Chiquita, close-up views: a) head and pronotum, dorsal; b) head and pronotum, lateral; c) head, frontal; d) hind tibia and tarsus, external; e) hind tibia and tarsus, internal. 6 Adult female Pineronemobius histrionicus n. comb. from Sierra Chiquita, close-up views: a) head and pronotum, dorsal; b) head and pronotum, lateral; c) head, frontal.

Figures 7-8. 7 Adult male Pineronemobius histrionicus n. comb. from Sierra Chiquita, close-up views: a) apex of abdomen, dorsal; b) apex of abdomen, lateral; c) apex of abdomen, ventral. 8 Adult female Pineronemobius histrionicus n. comb. from Sierra Chiquita, close-up views: a) apex of abdomen and ovipositor, dorsal; b) apex of abdomen and ovipositor, lateral; c) apex of abdomen and ovipositor, ventral; d) ovipositor tip magnified, dorsal; e) ovipositor tip magnified, lateral; f) ovipositor tip magnified, ventral.

Figure 9. Adult male Pineronemobius histrionicus n. comb. from Sierra Chiquita, close-up views of genitalia: a) dorsal; b) lateral; c) ventral.

Figure 10. Live Pineronemobius histrionicus n. comb., photographed in their natural habitat (walking on limestone cliff) at Sierra Chiquita: a) adult female (left) and subadult female (right); b) adult male. Photos courtesy of Tomás M. Rodríguez-Cabrera.

Figure 11. Habitat of Pineronemobius histrionicus n. comb., i.e., semicaducifolious forest on karstic limestone relief: a) Sierra de Casas, detail; b) Sierra de Caballos, overview. Photos courtesy of Rosario Domínguez.

Figure 12. Geographical distribution of the genus Pineronemobius gen. n. and its single species Pineronemobius histrionicus n. comb.: previous records (yellow symbols) and new record (red symbol). Image frame = 500 x 220 km, inset = 20 x 13 km.