Mangomaloba excavata, Massa, 2022

Massa, Bruno, 2022, On some interesting Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae and Acrididae from tropical Africa, Zootaxa 5178 (2), pp. 152-160 : 156-158

Mangomaloba excavata new species

( Figs. 3a– 3g )

Material examined. Sierra Leone, Loma Mts. (1050m), Closed Canopy Forest, 09°10’35”N, 11°05’25”W, Light Trap 7–10. VI .2016, H. Takano, W. Miles, R . Goff (1♂ holotype) ( ANHRT) .

Diagnosis. Very characteristic for its incurved and externally excavated cerci, the long and incurved apical tips of the subgenital plate, and the costal area of tegmina with a net of small cells.

Description. Male ( Fig. 3a ). Colour. Green, antennae yellowish, abdomen yellow with red spots, left tegmen green with black stridulatory area and small brown spots between cells. Head and antennae. Fastigium of vertex narrow, sulcate above, not contiguous with fastigium of frons. Eyes rounded, well projecting. Legs. Fore coxae armed with a fine spine. Fore tibiae furrowed on upper margin, distinctly widening above tympanum, conchate on inner, open on outer side. Fore femora armed on inner ventral side with 12 small spines, fore tibiae with 4 spines + 1 spur on inner side and 3 spines + 1 spur on outer ventral side, mid femora with 9 outer spines, mid tibiae with 8–9 outer and inner ventral spines. Hind femora armed with 5 small spines on outer and inner ventral sides, hind tibiae with many spines on ventral and dorsal sides + 3 spurs on each side. Thorax. Pronotum narrowing at the level of the humeral sinus, flat above, lateral margins rounded, anterior margin a little incurved, posterior margin rounded, humeral sinus well developed, lobes of pronotum rounded. Small hairs are scattered on pronotum. Wings. Tegmina narrow with rounded apices and costal area with a net of small cells. Wings longer than tegmina. Stridulatory area of the left tegmen composed of the stridulatory file and of a raised parallel posterior bulge ( Fig. 2b ). Stridulatory file arched, consisting of 35 teeth, 10 distal more distant from each other, the other smaller and more and more close together ( Fig. 2c ). Mirror of the right tegmen small. Abdomen. Last tergite covered by thick yellowish hairs. Cerci stout at the base, apically incurved and flat, excavated in the external side ( Figs. 3d, 3e, 3f , see arrow). Subgenital plate narrow and long with two long apical incurved tips, without styli ( Figs. 3d, 3e, 3f, 3g ).

Female. Unknown.

Etymology. From the shape of cerci, externally excavated.

Measurements (mm). Male. Body length: 20.8; length of pronotum: 4.9; height of pronotum: 3.8; length of hind femora: 19.1; length of tegmina: 29.6.

Affinities. Mangomaloba excavata n. sp. differs from the other three known species of the genus by its costal area of tegmina with a net of small cells instead of spaced cross-veins; further, it differs from them by the shape of cerci and the characteristic subgenital plate.

Distribution. Presently M. excavata n. sp. is known only from the type locality, Loma Mts. (1050m), Sierra Leone, where it has been collected at light trap in closed canopy forest.

Figures

FIGURE 2. a) Lateral view of the holotype of Mangomaloba latipennis; b) the same, dorsal view of the stridulatory area; c) the same, spur on the mid tibiae (cf. arrow), typical character of the genus Morgenia (photos by L. Desutter-Grandcolas). The habitus and morphological characters allow to synonymize Mangomaloba latipennis with Morgenia rubricornis.

FIGURE 3. a) Mangomaloba excavata n. sp., habitus of the male; b) the same, dorsal view of the stridulatory area; c) the same, stridulatory file under the left tegmen; d) the same, cerci and subgenital plate in lateral view; e) the same, subgenital plate and cerci in dorsal view (the arrow shows the particular shape of cerci); f) the same, subgenital plate and cerci in dorso-lateral view; g) the same, subgenital plate and cerci in ventral view.