Paraporeuomena signata, Massa, 2018

Massa, Bruno, 2018, The tropical African tribes Poreuomenini, Zeuneriini and Morgeniini with the description of a new genus (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae: Phaneropterinae), Zootaxa 4514 (2), pp. 293-300 : 296

Paraporeuomena signata n. sp.

( Figs. 6–14 )

Holotype ♂: Africa , Central African Republic, Dzanga Ndoki National Park, border of Lac 1 (02°28’40.5”N, 16°13’02.6”E), 4.II.2012, P. Annoyer ( BMPC).

Colour. Antennae yellowish with alternate black segments. Maxillary palps with black tip, face yellow, body yellow-brownish, tegmina green spotted with black and cream in the stridulatory area ( Figs. 7–8 ). Abdomen yellow with some brown spots, legs yellow, tarsi blackish. Cerci with black tip.

Description. Male. Head and antennae. Fastigium of vertex not contiguous with fastigium of frons, narrow and pointed, much narrower than first antennal segment. Eyes elliptical, prominent, face smooth with lateral grooves below the eyes. Maxillary palps as long as the head length ( Figs. 6, 11 ).

Thorax. Pronotum as long as high, without lateral carinae, surface shiny with a well-developed humeral excision on the lateral lobes ( Fig. 6 ). Anterior margin of pronotum straight, posterior margin rounded, pronotum lobes widely rounded.

Legs. Long, fore coxae armed with a fine spine, conchate tympana on inner and open on outer fore tibiae, that are sulcate dorsally; mid femora also dorsally sulcate. Lower inner margin of fore femora armed with 4 spines, lower outer margin of mid femora armed with 3 (left) and 5 (right) spines, lower outer and inner margins of hind femora armed with 6–7 spines, genicular lobes of fore, mid and hind femora armed with 2 spines on inner and outer margins ( Fig. 14 ). Fore tibiae ventrally armed with 4 spines + 1 apical spur on outer and inner margins, dorsally covered by many small spinules, mid tibiae armed with 4 ventral spines + 1 spur on outer and inner margins and with 1 dorsal spine on inner margin, hind tibiae with many spines on ventral and dorsal margins + 3 apical spurs on each side.

Tegmina with a net of veinlets, without any particular shape; anterior margin of tegmina convex ( Fig. 1 ). Stridulatory area well marked, mirror absent in the right tegmina ( Figs. 7–8 ), stridulatory file short, ca. 0.6 mm long, consisting of less than 50 evenly distributed teeth ( Fig. 13 ).

Abdomen. Cerci stout at the base, pointed apically, with a robust inner spine at the mid, undulate with an upward tip in lateral view ( Figs. 9, 10, 12 ). Supragenital plate rounded, subgenital plate trapezoidal with a straight posterior margin, styli absent ( Fig. 9 ).

Measurements (mm). Male. Total length: 17.5; length of pronotum: 3.5; height of pronotum: 3.5; length of fore femora: 7.8; length of mid femora: 9.2; length of hind femora: 18.9; length of tegmina: 28.5; width of tegmina: 6.0.

Etymology. From Latin adjective signatus (= marked), after its well bi-colored stridulatory area.

Distribution. Currently this species is known only from the type locality ( Central African Republic, Dzanga Ndoki National Park).

Discussion. This new taxon increases the very long list of endemic taxa of Orthoptera and other orders of insects till now found within the Dzanga Ndoki National Park (cf. Massa et al. 2018). The subfamily Phaneropterinae contains African taxa that have a great propensity to speciate; the new genus here described shows a series of characters that do not allow to establish exactly to which tribe it belongs. To propose to consider it to be belonging to the tribe Poreuomenini is only an attempt, and only a more comprehensive study, possibly genetic, will ravel the doubt.

Figures

FIGURES 6–14. Paraporeuomena signata n. gen. n. sp. Habitus of the male in lateral view (6), stridulatory area (tegmina closed) (7) and left tegmina extended (8), subgenital plate and cerci from below (9), left cercus from below (10), face in frontal view (11), lateral view of subgenital plate and cerci (12), stridulatory file (13) and genicular lobe of hind femur (14).

FIGURES 1–5. Poreuomenini Brunner von Wattenwyl, 1878. Habitus in lateral view of Poreuomena sanghensis Massa, 2013 (1), Cestromoecha crassipes (Karsch, 1890) (2), Cestromoecha longicerca Massa, 2013 (3), stridulatory area of Poreuomena lamottei Chopard, 1954 (4) and Cestromoecha crassipes (5).