Zacompsa 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 : 81-82

Zacompsa Karsch, 1893

Zacompsa Karsch, 1893: 54, 74.

Type species.

- Zacompsa festa Karsch, 1893: 74, by original designation.

Description.

-Size small to medium (males 15-24, females 22-31 mm); moderately robust. Integument shiny, finely dotted. Antennae filiform, somewhat compressed in basal third. Frons oblique, weakly convex in profile; frontal ridge shallowly sulcate, margins obtuse, partly obliterate and divergent below ocellus. Fastigium more or less concave, trapezoidal to oblong; lateral carinulae distinct, but medial carinula obsolescent; transverse arcuate sulcus weak. Temporal foveolae concealed from above, elongate, shallow and indistinct, sometimes obliterate. Pronotum subcylindrical; medial carina thick and strong, lateral carinae usually weak, especially in metazona and between first and second transverse sulci, while strongest and somewhat convergent in prozona. All three transverse sulci distinct, the third, and sometimes the first, interrupting medial carina. Metazona distinctly shorter than prozona, its hind margin obtuse-angular, or broadly rounded. Mesosternal interspace open. Tegmina and wings fully developed or shortened. Membrane of tegmen parchment-like, reticulation moderately dense, intercalary vein present but weak. Hind femur of medium build, genicular lobes of equal length, rounded. Arolium large. Male supra-anal plate elongate-cordate, sulcate; cercus narrow, tapering and obtuse apically. Epiphallus with moderately narrow, arcuate bridge, large ancorae, elongate, pointed posterior processes and elongate, finger-shaped lophi (Fig. 24). Spermathecal duct (Figs 327, 329) of usual structure for Gymnobothrini . Ovipositor short with robust valves; lower pair with rounded external lateral projections. Coloration in all taxa bold contrasting pattern of alternating pale and dark stripes on dorsum and sides of body (Fig. 323). Three pale stripes may vary in shade from ivory-white to darker yellowish. One is a broad stripe on dorsum extending from fastigium to tip of tegmina, and other two lie one each on lower half of body, including sides of abdomen; between them are two dark stripes in shades of blackish-brown one each in upper half of body, extending from antennal sockets to tip of tegmina. Hind knee also black, but hind femur is otherwise yellowish-orange. A typical speckled coloration may occasionally occur in some females.

Discussion.

-In reviewing the African Gymnobothrini , Uvarov (1953) diagnosed Zacompsa , based on festa , Karsch, as distinct, on the basis of its non-constricted, almost cylindrical pronotum with typical sulcus placed distinctly behind middle and its peculiar striped patterning. Certain genera, previously attributed by him to Zacompsa as synonyms ( Uvarov 1926), were reallocated to Gymnobothroides Karny, whilst others became synonyms of Gymnobothrus I. Bolívar ( Pseudochirista Karsch, Ogmothela I. Bolívar).

Five species have at different times been attributed to Zacompsa by different authors:

1. Z. festa Karsch, 1893: male, female types, TOGO: Bismarckburg (MfN).

2. Z. bivittata Uvarov, 1926: Holotype female, N. NIGERIA (NHMUK) as Z. festa var. bivittata , subsequently elevated to species rank Z. bivittata by Ramme, 1931: 931.

3. Z. karschi Ramme, 1929: Holotype male, CAMEROON: Benue (MfN). Ramme (1931) later changed its status to Z. bivittata karschi . Subsequently, Dirsh (1970) rendered it a synonym of Z. bivittata .

4. Z. pedestris Uvarov, 1953: 132. Holotype male, TANZANIA: Rukwa valley, Ikuu forest (NHMUK).

5. Z. helonoma Jago, 1966: 351. Holotype male, GHANA: N. Region (NHMUK).

The present review recognises only two species: the highly localized Z. pedestris Uvarov, 1953 (W. Tanzania, Ufipa-Rukwa) and the widespread festa Karsch, 1893 (W. Africa to Sudan and Eritrea). Within the latter, three geographically distinct subspecies can be identified: (i) the typical Z. festa festa Karsch, 1893 (Guinea savanna zone from Sierra Leone to Nigeria and Cameroon in moist grasslands within thickets (also montane, upland forests and riverine habitats); (ii) Z. festa bivittata Uvarov, 1926, Sahelian and Sudanian Zones from Senegal to Ethiopia and Eritrea (rather localized meso-hygrotypic grassland habitats often in association with woodlands and watercourses, but occasionally, e.g. in South Sudan, in open grasslands); (iii) Z. festa helonoma (Jago, 1966) which is apparently an intermediate form between (i) and (ii) above; known so far only from northern Ghana.

Editorial note.

-No author has at any time doubted the validity or the specific distinctiveness of either Z. festa or Z. pedestris . The other species ( bivittata , karschi , and helonoma ) have, however, a more uncertain history (e.g. Ramme 1931, Dirsh 1970). Popov, as seen above, considered their distinctive characters to be insufficient for species status, and so proposed to reduce them all to subspecies of festa . Mestre (2001) independently came to the same conclusions but went further. After a study of specimens from all of West Africa, and of the original type specimens, he synonymized all Zacompsa species, other than Z. pedestris , with Z. festa . Accordingly, we follow Mestre (2001) and so omit Popov’s key to subspecies and his treatments of them.

Key to species within the genus Zacompsa