Gryllacris (Gigantogryllacris), 2018

Ingrisch, Sigfrid, 2018, New taxa and records of Gryllacrididae (Orthoptera, Stenopelmatoidea) from South East Asia and New Guinea with a key to the genera, Zootaxa 4510 (1), pp. 1-278 : 63

Gryllacris subgenus Gigantogryllacris Karny, 1937 stat. nov.

Gigantogryllacris Karny, 1937 : 159

"tentatively treated as subgenus" Gorochov. 2007. Entomologicheskoe Obozrenie 86(4):862 [Engl. summary]

Type species: Gryllacris excelsa Brunner von Wattenwyl, 1888

Diagnosis. The species of this genus have the media anterior fused at base with radius and the females have the subapical widening of the ovipositor. Both characters typical for the Gryllacris group. Typical for the genus, apart from the large size of the species, is that the color pattern of the hind wings with dark bands bordering the crossveins is shared with Gryllacris s. str., but in both taxa there are also species with uncolored hind wings. There is a transition of the characters of the male abdominal appendages from the fuscifrons group of Gryllacris s. str. to Gigantogryllacris in that the external tubercles or other projections on the surface of the ninth tergite become smaller or disappear while the apical margin of that tergite and with it the pair of projections from that margin become more hidden between the underside of the dorsal area of the ninth tergite and the subgenital plate. Thus they are not visible without manipulation of the specimen. A difference to Gryllacris s. str., apart from often larger size, can be found in the female subgenital plate that has the medial process from base, rather wide and compressed instead of narrow stylus-like in the middle of the plate. But in the fuscifrons group that process is also from the base of the plate but narrower than in Gigantogryllacris . As there is no distinct and constant character that separates both taxa, they are regarded here as subgenera.