Tetraconcha ruzzieri, Massa, Bruno, 2017

Massa, Bruno, 2017, Revision of the tropical African genus Tetraconcha (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae: Phaneropterinae) with the description of ten new species, Journal of Orthoptera Research 26 (2), pp. 211-232 : 211-213

Tetraconcha ruzzieri sp. n. Figs 11-14, 71, 99

Material examined and depository.

-Ivory Coast, Aszani N. Park 26. XI– 1.XII.2015, 05°14'33.7"N, 04°48'06.2"W (light trap), M. Aristophanous, P. Moretto, E. Ruzzier (♂ holotype); Ivory Coast, Taï Nat. Park, Res. Station 5-10.VII.2015, 05°49'59.8"N, 07°20'32.0"W (light trap), M. Aristophanous, P. Moretto, E. Ruzzier (2♂ paratypes) (NHM); Ivory Coast, Taï Nat. Park, Res. Station 21.III.2017 (night), S. Danflous (1♂ paratype); Ivory Coast, Taï Nat. Park, Res. Station 4.IV.2017 (light trap), P. Moretto (1♂ paratype) (BMPC).

Color.

-Head and pronotum yellow-green, abdomen brown, cerci yellow, black at the tip, tegmina green-yellow, brownish in the stridulatory area, with a translucent area. Fore femora brown with 4-6 black spots, mid and hind tibiae brown. One wide black spot is visible laterally on the metanotum, below the hind wing, present only in T. danflousi sp. n. This exclusive character excludes that it is the male of T. longipes , known only from the female sex, and was also collected from the Ivory Coast, along the coast next to the border with Ghana.

Description.

-Males. Head and antennae: Fastigium of vertex narrow, sulcate above, separated from fastigium of frons. Eyes rounded, well projecting. Antennae longer than body. Legs: Fore coxae armed with a small spine. Fore tibiae furrowed on dorsal side, distinctly widening above tympanum, conchate on both sides. Fore femora armed on inner ventral side with 10-12 spines, fore tibiae with 4-5 spines + 1 spur on inner side and 3 small spines on anterior ventral side, 4 spines + 1 spur on outer dorsal side, mid femora armed with 5-6 spines on outer ventral side, mid tibiae with 12-13 spines on outer and inner ventral sides + 1 spur on each side, and 7 spines + 1 spur on inner dorsal side, hind femora armed with 3-4 small spines on outer side, hind tibiae with many spines on ventral and dorsal sides + 3 spurs on each side. Thorax: Pronotum narrowing anteriorly, flat above, anterior margin incurved, posterior margin rounded, humeral sinus well developed, lobes of pronotum rounded. Tegmina narrow with rounded apices, with an evident translucent area (window), laterally on the left and on the right of stridulatory areas of the left and right tegmina, respectively. Wings longer than tegmina. Stridulatory area of left and right tegmina shown in Fig. 11, veinlets of left tegmen in Fig. 99; stridulatory file arched and interrupted at the mid by a bulge, the half whitish proximal part composed of ca. 80 very dense and evenly spaced teeth, the central brown part (including also the bulge) composed of ca. 30 widely spaced teeth, and the distal brown part composed of ca. 80-90 dense and evenly spaced teeth (Fig. 12). Abdomen: Subgenital plate with a well-developed concavity, cerci slender, fairly straight and incurved at the tip (Figs 13-14).

Female. Unknown.

Measurements.

-Cf. Tables 1 and 2.

Diagnosis.

- T. ruzzieri sp. n. seems to be related to T. fenestrata , but its windows (translucent areas) on the tegmina are differently placed, like all veinlets (compare Figs 69, 71, 99). Different between males of the two species are also the subgenital plates, the stridulatory files and cerci. It is also related to T. danflousi sp. n., which has only one small window on the tegmina and a clear concavity between the stridulatory file and the rest of the tegmina.

Etymology.

-This species is named after Enrico Ruzzier, who, together with M. Aristophanous and P. Moretto, collected many specimens of Orthoptera in the Ivory Coast by means of light traps in 2015; the material caught was sent on loan to the present author.