Sphenarium miztecum Sanabria-Urbán, Song & Cueva

Sanabria-Urbán, Salomón, Song, Hojun, Oyama, Ken, González-Rodríguez, Antonio & Castillo, Raúl Cueva Del, 2017, Integrative taxonomy reveals cryptic diversity in neotropical grasshoppers: taxonomy, phylogenetics, and evolution of the genus Sphenarium Charpentier, 1842 (Orthoptera: Pyrgomorphidae), Zootaxa 4274 (1), pp. 1-86 : 60-61

Sphenarium miztecum Sanabria-Urbán, Song & Cueva del Castillo sp.n.

(http://lsid.speciesfile.org/urn:lsid: Orthoptera .speciesfile.org:TaxonName:495094)

Description. External morphology ( Fig. 20 S, T): total body length ranging from 31.09 to 32.07 mm in females and from 24.87 to 33.35 mm in males; antennae ensiform, slightly shorter in females or longer than head and pronotum together in males; head conical notably longer than wide with oval eyes in both sexes; fastigium notably elongated, nearly as long as the interocular space in both sexes; tegmina strap-like in both sexes; subgenital plate of males somewhat tapered in the apex; dorsal ovipositor valves lanceolate slightly elongated towards the apex. Male genitalia: bridge of epiphallus as long or slightly longer than the length of lateral plates in most cases ( Fig. 22 G-I). Ectophallus in dorsal view ( Fig. 22 G-II) small with lateral borders of ramus convergent, straight; basal emargination of cingulum mostly notably developed closing the interspace between the apodemal plates. Ectophallus in posterior ( Fig. 22 H) view with a conspicuous sclerotized hollow in the sheath notably closed; valves of cingulum small with form, not developed posteriorly ( Fig. 22 I); inflections of supraramus notably developed laterally and dorsally whit dorsal borders evidently fused above the valves of cingulum ( Fig. 22 H, arrow). Endophallus in lateral view ( Fig. 22 D-III) with a short pseudoarch tightly joined to the valves of cingulum; aedeagal valves very small, sharply pointed apically, without apical spine; aedeagal valves and sclerites about half the length of dorsal inflections of endophallic apodemes.

Colouration. Ground colours green or brown. Body uniformly coloured ( Fig. 20 T) or with the following colour traits ( Fig. 20 S): antennae dark brown; fastigium brownish; lateral postocular bands frequently present, wide and yellowish, whitish or bluish; dorsomedial line frequently present, wide and yellowish; dorsal shades brown to dark magenta, covering entirely the dorsal portion of pronotum and abdomen in most specimens; lateral shades often present, dark to light brown; lateral bands of blotches if present, cyan or distinct emerald green ( Fig. 20 S, arrow); ventral bands of pronotum often present, wide, whitish to bluish; pronotum sometimes with small dots in the dorsal posterior margin; mesonotum brownish; lateral blotches of 1st abdominal segment frequently present, cyan to whitish; tegmina red or green; hind femora with medial area uniformly coloured and lower marginal area with distinct blue colouration, specially in the apex of femur; knees of hind femora darkly coloured laterally, lighter dorsally, black to bluish; hind tibia intense yellow or green.

Diagnosis. S. miztecum sp.n. is very similar to its sister species S. adelinae sp.n. both in external and male genital morphology. Externally S. miztecum sp.n. differs from other Sphenarium species by its cyan or emerald green colourations in the lateral bands of blotches, when present ( Fig. 20 S, arrow). The main difference in their male genital structures is that in S. miztecum sp.n. the dorsal borders of the inflections of supraramus are fused above the valves of cingulum.

Distribution. This species is only known from a single locality from in the Pacific Cost of northern Oaxaca ( Fig. 7 B). Additional fieldwork on this region is necessary to accurately delimit the distribution rages of this species.

Material examined. Holotype m ( Fig. 20 S) from Mexico: Oaxaca, ca. de Pinotepa Nacional Carr 200, 16.37195°N, - 98.177102°W, 216 m a.s.l., X-5-2011 (Sanabria-Urbán S. # 18CPI [L18 MS1]). Paratypes from, 11 m, 6 f, same data as holotype. The holotype was deposited at IBUNAM and the paratypes were deposited at IBUNAM and TAMUIC.

Taxonomic discussion. This species is closely related morphologically and genetically to S. adelinae sp.n.

Nevertheless, this new species show a unique combination of morphologic traits (both in external and male genitalia structures) in combination with a well-supported monophyly and relatively high levels of genetic differentiation ( Table 3). Therefore, we considered S. miztecum sp.n. as separate lineage from S. adelinae sp.n. Previously, we recognized specimens S. miztecum sp.n. as the putative new taxa Sphenarium sp.n. 3 (Sanabria- Urbán et al. 2015). For other studies in the genus, this new species was unknown.

Etymology. Named in honour of the Mixtecos, an ancient Native American people still living in the area where this species was found.

Figures

FIGURE 7. Geographic distribution of Sphenarium species. Numbers within parenthesis in front of taxa names indicate the number of identified morphotype within the species. White surrounded areas and upper case abbreviations denote the Mexican biogeographic provinces. AC, Altos de Chiapas; AL, Altiplano Sur; BRB, Balsas River Basin; GMC, Gulf of Mexico Coast; MVB, Mexican Volcanic Belt; PC, Pacific Coast; SMOC, Sierra Madre Occidental; SMOR, Sierra Madre Oriental; SMS, Sierra Madre Sur; SO, Soconusco; and SOX, Sierra de Oaxaca.

FIGURE 20. External morphology of S. histrio: morphotype 2 m (A and C) and f (B and D), morphotype 3 m (E) and f (F), morphotype 4 m (G) and f (H), and morphotype 5 m (I) and f (J); S. occidentalis sp. n. holotype m (K) and paratypes m # 2 (M), f # 3 (L) and f # 4 (N); S. totonacum sp. n. holotype m (O) and paratype f # 1 (P); S. adelinae sp. n. holotype m (Q) and paratype f # 1 (R); S. miztecum sp. n. holotype m (S) and paratype f # 1 (T) (Scale bars = 1 cm).

FIGURE 22. Male genital structures of S. totonacum sp. n. holotype (A – C), S. adelinae sp. n. holotype (D – F); and S. miztecum sp. n. holotype (G – I). For all taxa left squares show epiphallus (I) and ectophallus (II) in dorsal view, and endophallus in lateral view (III); meddle squares show ectophallus in posterior view; and right squares show a close up of ectophallus in lateral view (Scale bars = 1 mm).