Coryphosima Karsch, 1893

Popov †, George B., Fishpool, Lincoln D. C. & Rowell, C. Hugh F., 2019, A review of the Acridinae s. str. (Orthoptera: Acridoidea: Acrididae) of eastern Africa with taxonomic changes and description of new taxa, Journal of Orthoptera Research 28 (2), pp. 37-105 : 63-64

Coryphosima Karsch, 1893

Coryphosima Karsch, 1893: 54, 72.

Type species.

- Coryphosima brevicornis Karsch, 1893: 72 (type female, TOGO: Bismarckburg) by original designation.

Paracomacris Karsch, 1900: 276 (syn. Dirsh 1958).

Description.

-Recognition as in the key to genera. Genital structures characteristic of Gymnobothrus genus group, show little variation and are of little taxonomic use. Epiphallus (Fig. 25).

Discussion.

-A large genus showing considerable taxonomic variation and, like other genera in the Gymnobothrus group, individual variation may be large even at a single locality. Some recent synonymy, however, is thought unjustified. Consequently, carefully defined criteria have been established here, enabling definition of species and subspecies to be made on a consistent basis: geographically distinct populations are considered as valid species if there are no intermediate forms, but in the presence of clinal links they are considered to be subspecies.

In addition to the principal characters used previously to diagnose taxa, this study has found that wing length and structure are informative in dividing these taxa into three groups: macropterous, brachypterous, and micropterous. These are treated sequentially below.

1) Macropterous group: Folded wings reach or extend beyond the tip of abdomen; this group contains several closely related taxa, with Coryphosima stenoptera (Schaum, 1853) (Fig. 127) as the most important element. This group has been subjected to a number of revisions, as follows:

i) Uvarov (1953), in his preliminary review of the species and subspecies of Paracomacris Karsch, 1900, cited seven macropterous species and subspecies, with 12 synonyms. To size (i.e. body length, length of elytra, and hind femur) he added width of the costal and subcostal (scapular) area of the tegmen and the shape of the radial vein as of major diagnostic importance. These criteria divided his material into three species groups:

a) Scapular area narrow, radial vein straight: P. centralis centralis , P. centralis planicola , and P. acuta .

b) Scapular area broad, radial vein sinuous: P. stenoptera stenoptera , P. st. montana, P. st. pharaonis.

c) Scapular area and radial vein of intermediate width and shape: P. producta .

ii) Dirsh (1966, 1970) stated that Uvarov’s tegminal characters were, in his opinion, too variable to define species entities. He consequently published an extensive synonymy under stenoptera , as follows:

Coryphosima (= Paracomacris ) stenoptera =

Chrysochraon stenopterus Schaum, 1853.

Stenobothrus productus Walker, 1870 (syn. Dirsh 1966).

Duronia tricarinata I. Bolívar, 1890 (syn. Uvarov 1953).

Coryphosima brevicornis Karsch, 1893 (syn. Dirsh 1966).

Paracomacris deceptor Karsch, 1900 (syn. Uvarov 1953).

Duronia pooensis I. Bolívar, 1905 (syn. Johnston 1956, Dirsh 1958).

Phlaeoba pharaonis Karny, 1907 (syn. Dirsh 1966).

Phlaeoba pharaonis var. alterrima Karny, 1907 (syn. Uvarov 1953).

Paracomacris stenoptera pharaonis (Karny, 1907) (syn. Uvarov 1953).

Paracomacris centralis Rehn, 1914 (syn. Dirsh 1966).

Rodunia pharaonis var. virescens Karny, 1915 (syn. Dirsh 1966).

Rodunia pharaonis var. ferruginea Karny, 1915 (syn. Dirsh 1966).

Duronia acuticeps I. Bolívar, 1915 (syn. Uvarov 1953).

Rodunia deceptor f. kilimana Sjöstedt, 1931 (syn. Uvarov 1953).

Paracomacris centralis planicola Uvarov, 1953 (syn. Dirsh 1966).

Paracomacris acuta Uvarov, 1953 (syn. Dirsh 1966).

iii) Johnsen (1984) synonomized C. vicina (Dirsh, 1956) with C. stenoptera (Schaum, 1853).

iv) Mestre (1988) rightly reinstated Coryphosima brevicornis Karsch, 1893 as a valid species.

v) The present paper. Popov wrote: "In view of transitional forms, this study makes C. vicina (Dirsh, 1956) (macropterous; South Africa) a subspecies of C. stenoptera , as C. stenoptera vicina (Dirsh, 1956)".

Editorial note

Editorial note.

-Popov seems to have been unaware of Johnsen’s (1984) synonomy, but both authors follow the same rationale. We accept Johnsen’s synonomy, considering it to be corroborated by Popov’s opinions.

The macropterous group also includes: Coryphosima stenoptera montana (Uvarov, 1953) and Coryphosima stenoptera colorata subsp. n., both from Ethiopia.

There are now, therefore, two macropterous species ( stenoptera and brevicornis ), the first of which has three subspecies.