Conocephalus (Conocephalus) conocephalus Linnaeus, 1767

Heller, Klaus-Gerhard, 2019, Provisional checklist of the Tettigonioidea (Insecta: Orthoptera) from São Tomé & Príncipe with taxonomic remarks, bioacoustical data and the description of new taxa, Zootaxa 4563 (1), pp. 41-66 : 53

Conocephalus (Conocephalus) conocephalus Linnaeus, 1767

Krauss 1890: Locusta aethiopica Thunberg, 1789

Chopard 1958: Conocephalus lugubris ( Redtenbacher,1891)

2 males, 1 female, SAO TOME & PRINCIPE: São Tomé , Monte Cafe, above Botanical Garden (0°17'N, 6°37'E), 1200 m a.s.l., 23 iv 2018, leg. Martina & K.- G. Heller ( CH 8572-4) ; 1 male, SAO TOME & PRINCIPE: São Tomé , Praia Inhame Eco Lodge (0°01'N, 6°30'E), 20 m a.s.l., 1–2 v 2018, leg. K.- G. Heller & Marianne Volleth ( CH 8571) ; 1 male nymph collected and many adults seen, SAO TOME & PRINCIPE: São Tomé , Rolas Island , near lighthouse (0°00'N, 6°31'E), 80 m a.s.l., 3 v 2018, leg. Martina & K.- G. Heller & Marianne Volleth .

This widespread species was first registered for the Rolas Islands in São Tomé by Krauss (1890) under the synonym Locusta aethiopica Thunberg, 1789 . Chopard (1958) lists a male from Mt. Cafe under Conocephalus lugubris Redtenbacher,1891 , a very similar species known up to now only from one female from Egypt ( Harz 1969a). Records of this species from Palestina refer to misidentifications of C. conocephalus according to Harz (1969a: the source used by Harz is not Uvarov 1924, but very probably Buxton & Uvarov 1923: specimens without dark knees). Both species differ in the colouration of the hind knees (unusual dark in lugubris ) and the length of the tegmina (13 mm in lugubris , 15.5–19 mm in conocephalus females; Harz 1969a). Our male specimens agree in size with C. conocephalus and the females are between lugubris and conocephalus ( Table 2), all without dark knees. Since the song of our specimen shows a quite complicated pattern (see Acoustics) identical to that described by Ragge & Reynolds (1998; and Massa et al. 2012 and Willemse et al. 2018) for conocephalus , we consider all members of the subgenus Conocephalus on the islands as C. conocephalus . The variation of size in conocephalus may be similar in males and females thus in females slightly larger than described by Harz (1969a, b). Chopard (1958) mentions observations of C. lugubris in Equatorial Guinea by Bolivar (1906, p. 372) but these specimens are explicitly described as missing the diagnostic dark knees and may represent also a C. conocephalus population with slightly shorter wings than typical, not surprising considering the already known large variability in tegmen length; see Table 2).

type of C. (C.). lugubris