Warramaba ngadju, Kearney, 2018

Kearney, Michael R., 2018, The matchstick grasshopper genus Warramaba (Morabidae: Morabinae): a description of four new species and a photographic guide to the group, Zootaxa 4482 (2), pp. 201-244 : 219-220

Warramaba ngadju sp. nov.

Holotype ( Fig. 2f ): ♀, Reg. No. ANIC 14 7044, in Australian National Insect Collection, CSIRO, Canberra ; bEARING THE fOLLOwING LAbELS: (1) ‘ ANIC DATAbASE NO. 14 7044’; (2) ‘ vIRGO ZANTHUS CLONE’; (3) ‘ 9 km WNW Of BALLADONIA HOTEL, W. A. 1 MARCH 1981 M. J. D. WHITE’.

Paratype: ♀ (1) ‘ ANIC DATAbASE NO. 14 7044’ (2) ‘ 9 km WNW Of BALLADONIA HOTEL, W. A. 1 MARCH 1981 M. J. D. WHITE’.

Description: SEE TAbLE 1 fOR mORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTERS Of THE HOLOTYPE, AND FIGURE 4C–D AND APPENDIX 1 fOR PHOTOGRAPHS Of LIvE SPECImENS.

Colouration: THE bASE COLOURATION IS GREEN (OCCASIONALLY GREY) wITH RED OR YELLOw LATERAL fACIAL STRIPES ON A PLAIN wHITE bACkGROUND. LIkE W. flavolineata sp. nov. IT HAS A bRIGHT YELLOw TO ORANGE mEDIAN fACIAL STRIPE AND ORANGE OR RED PATCHES ON EITHER SIDE Of THE THORACIC TERGITES. LIkE W. whitei sp. nov. IT HAS LATERAL YELLOw STRIPES ALONG PRONOTUm AND AbDOmEN, THOUGH NOT AS INTENSE .

Diagnosis: THE kARYOTYPE, wITH 2 n ♀ = 15, DERIvES fROm THE COmbINATION Of THE kARYOTYPES Of W. whitei sp. nov. AND W. flavolineata sp. nov. AND IS UNIqUE wITHIN THE GENUS wITH THE EXCEPTION Of W. virgo . IT CAN bE DISTINGUISHED fROm W. virgo AND OTHER mEmbERS Of THE GENUS bY COLOURATION, AS DESCRIbED IN THE kEY bELOw.

Distribution and seasonal cycle: ITS DISTRIbUTION EXTENDS fROm jUST SOUTH Of KALGOORLIE, TO THE EAST AS fAR AS ZANTHUS AND SOUTH TO THE vICINITY Of BALLADONIA ( FIG. 1A & D ), SPANNING A LONGITUDINAL RANGE Of 121.48°E TO 123.53°E. THIS SPECIES REACHES HIGHER LATITUDES THAN ANY OTHER mEmbER Of THE GENUS, SPANNING A RANGE Of 30.97°S TO 32.31°S. IT IS STRICTLY UNIvOLTINE, wITH AN ObLIGATE DIAPAUSE THAT IS bROkEN bY EXPOSURE TO COLD (KEARNEY, UNPUbLISHED).

Material examined: 1 fEmALE, 9km WNW Of NEwmAN ROCk, NR. BALLADONIA, STOP 31 (123.07, -32.08), 9 FEb, 1980, RENTz,D.C.F. & RENTz,B.G.F.; 1 fEmALE , 38km WNW Of BALLADONIA MOTEL, STOP 78 (123.25, -32.22), 22 FEb, 1980, RENTz,D.C.F. & RENTz,B.G.F.; 4 fEmALES , 22 km SE Of NEwmAN ROCk, E Of FRASER RA. (123.33, -32.25), 29 JAN, 1973 , WHITE,M.J.D.; 1 fEmALE, 21 km NW bY W Of BALLADONIA HOTEL (123.42, -32.28), 3 MAR, 1976, WEbb,G.C.; 1 fEmALE, 18km W Of BALLADONIA HOTEL (123.42, -32.35), 6 MAR, 1981 , WHITE,M.J.D.; 1 fEmALE, 13km WNW Of BALLADONIA HOTEL (123.48, -32.3), 6 MAR, 1981 , WHITE,M.J.D.; 1 fEmALE, 10km WNW Of BALLADONIA MOTEL (123.52, -32.32), 1 MAR, 1981 , WHITE,M.J.D.; 1 fEmALE, 9km WNW Of BALLADONIA HOTEL (123.53, -32.32), 1 MAR, 1981 , WHITE,M.J.D.; 1 fEmALE, 17 km WNW Of BALLADONIA H.S. (123.7, -32.4), 21 JAN, 1973 , WHITE,M.J.D.

Taxonomic discussion: FORmER ANIC CODE NUmbER P140. ORIGINALLY wITHIN W. virgo AS A SEPARATE ‘PHYLAD’ bUT SHOwN bY KEARNEY AND BLACkET (2008) TO bE Of INDEPENDENT HYbRID ORIGIN TO W. virgo AND, fOLLOwING VRIjENHOEk ET AL. (1989) ELEvATED TO SPECIES STATUS.

Etymology: NAmED fOR THE NGADjU PEOPLE wHO HAvE INHAbITED THE GEOGRAPHIC RANGE Of THIS SPECIES fOR A SUbSTANTIAL fRACTION Of THE SPECIES’ HISTORY.

Biology: Warramaba ngadju sp. nov. IS AN ALL-fEmALE PARTHENOGENETIC SPECIES RESULTING fROm HYbRIDISATION EvENTS bETwEEN fEmALE W. flavolineata sp. nov. AND mALE W. whitei sp. nov. ( HEwITT 1975; WHITE et al. 1977; KEARNEY AND BLACkET 2008). IT STRONGLY RESEmbLES W. whitei sp. nov. mORPHOLOGICALLY, ESPECIALLY THE mORE SOUTHERN POPULATIONS Of THE LATTER. THIS SPECIES mAY OCCUR SYmPATRICALLY wITH W. virgo AND AT SOmE SITES CAN bE fOUND ON THE SAmE fOOD PLANTS. IT mAY OCCUR IN NARROw PARAPATRY wITH W. whitei sp. nov. IN THE vICINITY Of SPARGOvILLE (WHITE AND CONTRERAS 1979). IT HAS bEEN fOUND ON SHRUbS AND TREES Of THE GENERA Acacia AND Senna.

Key to the species of Warramaba (for female specimens, start at 2)3

1. Male subgenital plate not meeting or exceeding the distance from the base of the head to the anterior end of the eye (Appendix 1a); cultriform portion not much longer, and often shorter, than mid-dorsal length of pronotum (Appendix 1a)............ 2

- Male subgenital plate meeting or exceeding the distance from the base of the head to the anterior end of the eye (Appendix 1e); cultriform portion greatly exceeding the mid-dorsal length of pronotum (Appendix 1e).............................. 5

2 (1). Median facial stripe absent (Appendix 1n–q) or accompanied by lateral facial stripes (Appendix 1r–s).................. 3

- Bright yellow to orange median facial stripe; no lateral facial stripes (Appendix 1j–m)............. W. flavolineata sp. nov.

3 (2). Dark inner edge usually present along lateral facial stripe (Appendix 1b–d); no median facial stripe (Appendix 1a–d) W. picta

- Lateral facial stripes lacking dark inner edge (Appendix 1r–s); median facial stripe present (Appendix 1r–s); males absent.. 4

4 (3). Distinct white triangle background to median facial stripe (Appendix 1r).................................... W. virgo

- Uniform pale background to median facial stripe (Appendix 1s)................................... W. ngadju sp. nov.

5 (1). Lateral facial stripes red or yellow (Appendix 1e–i), usually with lateral yellow/orange stripes along pronotum and abdomen (Appendix 1f–i); magenta colouration absent; distinct white, and often triangular, median facial region..... W. whitei sp. nov.

- Magenta colouration often present on face and/or inner femur (Appendix 1n–p); lateral facial stripes magenta if present (Appendix 1n–o); distinct series of white, orange or red patches on either side of the thoracic and abdominal tergites (Appendix 1o,q); lateral yellow stripes absent along pronotum and abdomen (Appendix 1n–q)............... W. grandis sp. nov.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Distribution of Warramaba species, a) overall in Western Australia, b) of W. virgo in eastern Australia, and c–h) of the Western Australian taxa separately. Also indicated in a) With a black triangle is the location for P152 (here assigned to W. picta) and, With open triangles, the locations of P188 (here assigned to W. grandis sp. nov.).

FIGURE 2. Holotypes of Warramaba, all held in the Australian National Insect Collection: a) W. picta (Key 1976), b) W. whitei sp. nov., c) W. flavolineata sp. nov., d) W. grandis sp. nov., e) W. virgo (Key 1963), f) W. ngadju sp. nov. The Width of the pin in each photo is 0.6 mm.

FIGURE 4. Warramaba virgo ♀ (Key 1963) a) lateral and b) dorsal images of an individual from NoWingi, Victoria, and W. ngadju sp. nov. ♀ sp. nov. c) lateral and d) frontal images from an individual from 23 km South of Boulder, Western Australia.