Tettigidea lateralis (Say, 1824)

Silva, Daniela Santos Martins, Cadena-Castañeda, Oscar J. & Pereira, Marcelo Ribeiro, 2021, Batrachideinae (Orthoptera: Caelifera: Tetrigidae): an overview of the most diverse tetrigids of the Neotropical region, Zootaxa 4946 (1), pp. 1-84 : 47

Tettigidea lateralis species group

Diagnosis: Slender or moderately robust body. Facial carinae and frontal coast not thickened, in lateral view moderately prolonged fastigium, some species with somewhat longer, rounded or obliquely truncated fastigium. Middle of the anterior margin of the pronotum at most angulate, but in nowise provided with a spine. Macro or brachypronotal forms. Median carina of the pronotal disc slightly elevated. Hind wings developed or not.

Species included: T. australis Hancock, 1900 ; T. bruneri Morse, 1900 ; T. empedonepia Hubell, 1937 ; T. lateralis (Say, 1824) (with two subspecies, T. l. lateralis and T. l. cazieri Rehn & Grant, 1958); T. prorsa Scudder, 1877 , and T. spicatoides Hebard, 1932 .

Distribution: North America: Eastern United States, Southeast Canada to central Mexico, includes the coastal region of the Gulf of Mexico ( Fig. 38 ).

The most widely distributed species is T. lateralis , with possible presence in Northeast Mexico, this species and T. empedonemia have been reported for Cuba by Perez-Gelabert et al. (1998) and Yong & Perez-Gelabert (2014). Although these species records are mentioned by the authors as previous records to their publications; it has been traced in the literature that mentions these two species and no formal records has been found that mentions specimens collected in Cuba and Mexico, so it is suggested to discard these localities from the distribution of the two mentioned species. If there are species in Cuba with characteristics similar to the species in this group, it would be necessary to carry out an additional study to reveal whether they are possible non-described species.

Comments: Six species are included in this group, being some of the best studied species of the genus, which have been widely analyzed for their variation and distribution, mainly T. empedonepia , T. prorsa and T. lateralis with its subspecies. They are distinguished by not having a spine developed in the anterior margin of the pronotum, its own character, and which is not found in any of the new groups of species proposed here, although this characteristic is shared with Paxilla , a genus in which three species were included additional, which were traditionally included in Tettigidea .

In Grant’s doctoral thesis (1962), he proposed a neotype specimen for T. lateralis lateralis since the specimen studied by Say (1824) is lost, the specimen is a female from Macon, Bibb County, Georgia, deposited in ANSP. We consider this designation important, because this species must have a name-bearing specimen and, on the other hand, this species is the type entity of the genus Tettigidea , so it must be fundamental, a specimen that supports its correct identification and differentiation from other related taxa. Grant in his contribution also proposes Tettigidea nicaraguae Bruner, 1895 as a synonym of T. lateralis , emphasizing the comparison of the type specimens of both species, we review this information and we agree with this synonymy, so we make it public and valid in this contribution this synonymy and the designation of the specimen neotype that unfortunately was not officially published by Grant.

Type designation: Tettigidea lateralis lateralis (Say, 1824) . Neotype: female, Macon , Bibb County, Georgia ( ANSP). Designed by Grant 1962 (doctoral thesis), here validated and ratified.

New synonymy: Tettigidea lateralis lateralis (Say, 1824) = Tettigidea nicaraguae Bruner, 1895 syn. nov.

When we studied the type specimen of T. annulipes , no characters were found that separated satisfactorily with T. lateralis lateralis . T. annulipes is the only species without a developed spine in the anterior margin of the pronotum, recorded for South America, but so far that is one of the characteristics of the lateralis group, in addition to having similar coloration of the hind femur, fastigium and frontal costa, curvature of the median carina of the pronotum, and the poor development of the pregenicular spine of the hind femur; this suggests that they are the same specific entity. T annulipes not collected or cited from its original description, and possibly the type locality (Chapada dos Guimar„es in Brazil), may be a label error, and most likely this specimen was collected in North America. T. lateralis at this time is considered with distribution in North America and records for Mesoamerica should be reviewed and confirmed. New synonymy is proposed: Tettigidea lateralis lateralis (Say, 1824) = Tettigidea annulipes Bruner, 1910 syn. nov.

Figures

FIGURE 38. Map of approximated occurrence of the genus Paxilla Bolívar, 1887 and some Tettigidea Scudder, 1862 species.