Eubliastes viridicorpus, Woodrow & Montealegre-Z, 2023

Woodrow, Charlie & Montealegre-Z, Fernando, 2023, Auditory system biophysics in a new species of false-leaf katydid (Tettigoniidae: Pseudophyllinae) supports a hypothesis of broadband ultrasound reception, Zoologischer Anzeiger 304, pp. 94-104 : 96-97

Eubliastes viridicorpus sp. nov.

Material examined. - Holotype: COLOMBIA • Ƌ; Sabaletas, Buenaventura , Valle del Cauca, Colombia; (3.741569 N, 76.967294 W); F Montealegre-Z; IAVH . Allotype: COLOMBIA • ♀; Sabaletas, Buenaventura , Valle del Cauca, Colombia; (3.741569 N, 76.967294 W); F Montealegre-Z; IAVH; captured as subadult juvenile, attempt to rear to adult in captivity successful but fall during final molt resulted in loss of hindlegs and damage to ovipositor (folded in half laterally, but recoverable for identification and suitable illustrated reconstruction) and wings (completely damaged). Head, thorax, and forelegs not damaged by failed molt .

Type locality. - Sabaletas , Buenaventura, Valle del Cauca, Colombia .

Etymology. - Meaning ‘green body’ named after the bright colours which differentiate the species from other Eubliastes spp .

Diagnosis. – E. viridicorpus is placed within the genus Eubliastes due to darkened dorsal surface of head and pronotum; long elytra with yellow venation; gradually compressed pronotum with anterior granulation and thick lateral margins. There are nine other valid species in the genus Eubliastes ( Cigliano et al., 2023) . In E. viridicorpus , there is a distinct U-shaped marking at the base of the frons, the corners of which point to the base of the eyes, and two dots centrally. The dorsal margin of the frons has further markings which are continuous from left to right eye. Other features of E. viridicorpus which diagnose it from the other nine species include the unique globular shape of the male cerci, which display a single spine on the inner ventral edge rather than the cercal tip, and the sharp angle between the male subgenital plate and the elongate styli (For measurements, see Table 1 ).

Description. – Head: around 1.4x longer than wide, with eyes that do not extend far beyond the gena laterally. Postclypeus (dorsal clypeus) black. Dorsal frons and gena black. Frons with distinct U-shaped marking ventrally and two dots centrally ( Fig. 1A and B ).

Thorax: Mostly vivid green in colour, with beige/amber moving ventrally, and black markings on dorsal margins of all leg coxae ( Fig. 1C ). The acoustic spiracle in the prothorax is small as expected for the subfamily, and kidney bean shaped ( Fig. 1C ).

Legs: Forelegs and midlegs dorsally unarmed, ventrally with four pairs of spines on tibiae. Foretibae bearing large tympanal organ with wide pinnae, and eight pairs of ventral spines, with first pair distal of the tympanal organ. All legs reddish-brown with vivid green towards coxae. Midfemur and hindfemur with light beige/amber band towards distal end before joint. Beige/amber band contains dark spots, 5–7 in sequence on all femurs. Mid- and hindfemur spines light beige/amber at base, black at tip. Hindfemur armed with ten ventral spines. Hindtibiae armed with 12 pairs of spines ventrally and 17 dorsally. Genicular lobes rounded and without dark pigmentation.

Wings: Large, extending distally beyond terminalia but not beyond hindlegs ( Fig. 1D ). Striking yellow venation pattern. Within-cell tegminal colour black rather than the vivid light green of E. chlorodictyon ( Montealegre-Z and Morris, 1999), or the ochraceous tawny brown of other members of the genus ( Fig. 1C ). Male stridulatory field large and circular, with strongly raised CuPb vein and stridulatory file. Stridulatory file with 262 teeth. Wings shorter than E. pollonerae ( Beier, 1960) .

Abdomen: Follows colour pattern of thorax, with mostly vivid green colour dorsally, with beige/amber moving ventrally. Lacks black markings as seen on thorax.

Terminalia: Male: subgenital plate elongate without strong emargination, centrally depressed ( Fig. 1E (i)), with two long styli. 10th tergite truncate with central emargination ( Fig. 1E (ii). Cerci large, beige/white, and robust, with curved spine on inner edge ( Fig. 1E (iii)). Styli at unique obtuse angle with subgenital plate ( Fig. 1E (iii)). Female: subgenital plate isosceles triangular with rounded subbasal lobes and pronounced soft V-shaped emargination ( Fig. 1F (i)). Cerci cream white, pointed with spine ( Fig. 1F (ii)). Ovipositor broad, smooth with distal serrations dorsally, and four lateral notches; reddish-brown and basally amber/ beige ( Fig. 1F (iii)).

Coloration. – In live animal colours unusually bright for genus ( Fig. 1C ). Dorsal pronotum and head a cordovan brown colour, with a lateral gradient typical of the genus. Ventral edges of pronotum, head, and most of body a vibrant green. Frons a deeper vibrant green. Wing venation electric yellow. Within-cell tegminal colour black. Large male cerci and distal patch on hind femur matching in light beige. Bases of spines on hind femur also beige. Markings on face and legs black.

Comments. – In Beier’ s key to the genus and more recent descriptions, this species has dorsally unarmed middle tibiae, and the anal margins of the tegmina are not darkened, placing it closely with E. chlorodictyon . The next character choice is based on the pronotum, which will either have black, reddish-brown, or light amber lateral lobes. E. viridicorpus does not fit any of these descriptions, with vivid green lateral pronotal lobes ( Fig. 1C ). E. viridicorpus is most similar in overall morphology to E. chlorodictyon ( Montealegre-Z and Morris, 1999), but displays distinct features which we have used to distinguish E. viridicorpus as a new species. Frons of E. viridicorpus displays additional markings absent in E. chlorodictyon . E. viridicorpus larger than E. chlorodictyon , with eyes smaller relative to the head width. Face markings distinct from E. aethiops , which has two marks extending down from the eyes, and three markings on the ventral frons. Male subgenital plate much shorter than E. chlorodictyon , lacking the V-shaped emargination, with longer styli than E. chlorodictyon . Sharp angle between the male subgenital plate and the elongate styli in E. viridicorpus is similar to E. adustus but styli much shorter. Male cerci substantially more robust in E. viridicorpus than any other members of the genus, with spine located on inner edge rather than cercal tip. Male subgenital plate and styli similar to E. festae but cerci more elongate in E. festae than E. viridicorpus , with larger final abdominal tergite in E. festae . Female ovipositor much larger and broader in both E. ferrugineus and E. pollonerae than E. viridicorpus . Ovipositor less elongate in E. viridicorpus than E. conspersus . Female ovipositor is instead most similar to E. apolinari , but with four short oblique ridges rather than five. Female subgenital plate smaller and less ventrally protruding than E. ferrugineus and E. pollonerae .

Figures

Fig. 1. Eubliastes viridicorpus sp. nov. A. male face; B. female face; C, male alive; D. illustrated male habitus; E, illustrated male terminalia in ventral (i), dorsal (ii), and lateral (iii) views with lateral view of left cercus (iv); F, female terminalia in ventral (i), dorsal (ii), and lateral (iii) views with lateral close up of ovipositor tip (iv). Note, colours of the face in A and B are an artifact of alcohol preservation, but markings remain accurate. Illustrations by CW.