Symmetropleura Brunner von Wattenwyl, 1878

Massa, Bruno, 2015, New genera, species and records of Phaneropterinae (Orthoptera, Phaneropteridae) from sub-Saharan Africa, ZooKeys 472, pp. 77-102 : 79-80

Taxon classification Animalia Orthoptera Phaneropteridae

Genus Symmetropleura Brunner von Wattenwyl, 1878

Remarks.

When Brunner von Wattenwyl (1878) described the genus Symmetropleura (from Latin: symmetro = symmetric, equal; pleura = side), he placed it in the American group of Scudderiae. According to Brunner von Wattenwyl (1878) characters of the genus are the following: fastigium of vertex triangular and sulcate; pronotum disc flat, with lateral excisions, anterior margin straight, and rounded posterior margin; tegmina wide with rounded hind margin or narrow with straight hind margin; fore and mid femora with ventral inner spines, hind femora with double row of ventral spines. Fore and mid tibiae dorsally unarmed or with some spinules; cerci long, in-curved and pointed; male sub-genital plate short with rounded posterior margin or (in Symmetropleura africana ) long with triangular apex; styli absent; ovipositor longer than pronotum, not much curved, sharp, with upper and lower apices serrate (differently shaped in Symmetropleura africana : see below); female sub-genital plate triangular, just concave. In the description Brunner von Wattenwyl (1878) referred mainly to Symmetropleura laevicauda , both within the text and in the figure 73; thus, by subsequent designation, Kirby (1906) established Symmetropleura laevicauda as the type-species of the genus. The description of the female of Symmetropleura laevicauda by Brunner von Wattenwyl (1878) from Bahia (Brasil) is as follows (translated from Latin): small (28 mm), tegmina width about two times the length of pronotum, anterior margin basally pale with a darker outer area, posterior margin rounded. Radius forked before Media, ovipositor little up-curved, acuminate.

Ragge (1968b, 1980) pointed out that Symmetropleura is a New World genus, occurring in South America, Mexico and eastern USA, and that the two African species are not very similar either to each other or to the Neotropical type-species of the genus. He observed also that the name Cameronia Karsch, 1888 was available for Symmetropleura africana . However, the genus Cameronia should be considered a junior homonym, because was pre-occupied since 1879, when Cameronia spekii Bourguignat ( Mollusca Bivalvia) was described from Lake Tanganyika (R. Poggi, pers. comm.)1.

There are three African species so far included in the genus Symmetropleura : one of them is Symmetropleura africana , others are Symmetropleura dirempta Karsch, 1889, that occurs in Madagascar, treated below, and Symmetropleura plana (Walker, 1869), that occurs in South Africa. Concerning the latter, some photographs, kindly taken by C. Hemp, show that the pronotum is not keeled and the male sub-genital plate has a very different shape from that of Symmetropleura africana and Symmetropleura dirempta ; it is very probable that it belongs to another undescribed genus, but specimens were not available to establish this.

For the reasons reported above and below, two new genera are described for Symmetropleura africana and Symmetropleura dirempta .