Depressogryllus depressiceps (Ebner, 1935)

Meena, Ashok Kumar, Swaminathan, Rajamani & Swaminathan, Tatiana, 2022, First report of the female Acanthogryllus asiaticus Gorochov, 1990 (Orthoptera: Gryllidae: Gryllinae) from India and updated description of two crickets of Gryllini, Zootaxa 5125 (2), pp. 144-156 : 152-155

Depressogryllus depressiceps (Ebner, 1935) [Plates: III (a) & III (b)]

Gryllus depressiceps Ebner. 1935 . Anz. Akad. Wiss. Wien 72: 151

Gryllulus rostratus Chopard, 1943 . Faune de I’Empire Français, 1: 189 (Synonyme).

Tartarogryllus depressiceps Chopard. 1967 . In Beier [Ed.]. O. Catalogus 10: 72 (Synonyme).

Tartarogryllus depressiceps Bhowmik. 1977 . Rec. Zool. Survey India 72(1-4): 364.

Depressogryllus depressiceps Gorochov. 1988 . Ento. Obozrenie 67(1):94-95.

Depressogryllus depressiceps M. S. Shishodia, K. Chandra & S.K. Gupta. 2010 . Rec. Zool. Surv. India, Misc. Pub., Occas. Paper 314:191.

Material examined: 5♂: India (Rajasthan) NRCSS, Ajmer, 25-ix-2016, 26° 21’ 58.41’’ N, 74° 35’ 35.97’’ E, 579.5 m., from the light trap, coll. R Nagar, N Y Chanu (1), T. Swaminathan (1) & R. Swaminathan (1); RCA, Udaipur, 19-ix-2007, 24° 34’ 48’’ N, 73° 40’ 48’’ E, 600 m., from light trap, coll. S L Jat.

7♀: India (Rajasthan) NRCSS, Ajmer, 25-ix-2016, 26° 21’ 58.41’’ N, 74° 35’ 35.97’’ E, 579.5 m., from the light trap, coll. R. Swaminathan; Same location but 26-ix-2016, coll. R Nagar (2), N Y Chanu (2) & R. Swaminathan (1); RCA, Udaipur, 18-ix-2007, 24° 34’ 48’’ N, 73° 40’ 48’’ E, 600 m., from light trap, coll. R. Swaminathan .

Description of male ( Gorochov, 1988): Body size medium, compressed dorso-ventrally, sparsely pubescent. Head also compressed, uniformly dark coloured, and clypeal suture strongly angulated and reaches middle ocelli. Similar clypeal structure can be seen in the genera, Gryllodinus and Tartarogryllus . Fore wing of male characteristic for the tribe as per structure (58); mirror conspicuous (clearly visible), oval, 2 harp veins, clear, not strongly bent, stridulatory apparatus transverse, apical field well developed. Fore tibiae with large slit of tympanal organ from outside view and small slit from inner view, hind tibiae short with thick, closely spaced spines. Genitalia of male close to that of, Modicogryllus ; epiphallus shaped like a bent plate with posterior cut, ectoparamere compact with a characteristically sclerotized ribbon, secondarily joined with the middle or ventral lobe with the main body of the ectoparamere; the ventral lobes elongate and narrow.

Additional description of male: Some additional characters for this species are as follows: Body small to medium sized, pubescent excluding wings, frontal rostrum slightly elongate and about two times wider than antennal scape. Frontal and lateral ocelli are yellowish brown in colour and more or less arranged in a triangle. Maxillary and labial palpi brown to yellowish brown in colour with small hairs, 1 st and 2 nd segments of maxillary palpi are very small, 3 rd and 5 th both are almost equal in length, but the 4 th slightly shorter than 3 rd and the 5 th; the apical segments of maxillary palpi are widened. Head and pronotum wider than long with dark brown to black colour, anterior margin of pronotum slightly rounded, but posterior one straight. Tegmina extend to almost nearly the apex of abdomen, light brown in colour, mirror significantly wider than long and one dividing vein present posteriorly, first chord vein joined to mirror by one veinlet. Length of mirror and apical field of tegmina more or less equal, apical field well developed with five longitudinal curved veins with square to rectangular reticulations and the apex of apical field rounded. Lateral area of tegmina with 4-5 parallel longitudinal veins and mediastinal vein divided by one branch, PLATE III (a). D. depressiceps ♂ (1-9): 1. Male; 2. & 3. Head & pronotum: 2. Lateral view; 3. Dorsal view; 4. Head in front; 5. Tegmina; 6. Hindleg; 7. Supra anal plate; 8. Subgenital plate; 9. Spermatophore lateral area brown colour. Hind wings long, reaching the tip of first tarsal segment or a little beyond. Ventral side of abdomen including subgenital plate, cerci and legs are yellowish brown, but abdomen dark brown dorsally.Anterior tibiae with external tympanum long, oval-shaped and internal tympanum small, spot-like. Hind femur longer than hind tibiae, hind tibiae armed with small to medium sized 5 dorsal subapical spurs on each side, the first tarsal segments of hind legs with 6-8 denticles on each face dorsally.

Genitalia: Supra-anal and subgenital plates as in Figure (7 & 8). Apices of subgenital plate deeply emarginated in the middle. Epiphallus of genitalia less sclerotized, dorsally bridge shaped, anteriorly epiphallus with rounded, wide “U” shaped margin and posteriorly also with margin, but inverted “U” shaped; lateral lobes of epiphallus wide, short, apex slightly curved inward and pointed with hairs. Epiphallic apodeme narrow, less sclerotized, straight, paired apodeme present anterio-laterallly, closely attached to epiphallus with apex almost reaching middle of principal ectoparameral apodemes. The ramus is longer than principal ectoparameral apodemes, rod-shaped, with paired ribbon-like antero-lateral of epiphallus, which is often separated from epiphallus by small membranous area and with pointed apices. Ventrally, apex of ectoparameres are slightly longer than lateral lobes of epiphallus and closely attached to lower side of epiphallus by membranous and ribbon-like structure. Ectoparameres are anteriorly divided into a very narrow inner side; at the anterior, ectoparameres are wide, but more bulbous in the middle and posteriorly with a very acute apex with small cut on inner side. Ectoparamere compact with a characteristically sclerotized ribbon, this one secondarily joined with the middle or ventral lobe of with the main body of the ectoparamere. Middle lobes of ectoparamere are elongate, more sclerotized and apices curved, lateral side with rounded apex, and middle lobes, in base with membranous spot-like structures. Principal ectoparameral apodemes are elongate, apically joined together by membranes. Acute part of apex of virga extends to almost the middle lobes of ectoparameres.

Measurements (mm) Male: Body length 11-12; head length 2.5-2.75, width with eyes 3-3.75; pronotum length 2, width 3-3.5; tegmina 7-7.80; hind femur 6-6.5; hind tibia 4-4.5.

Female: Female of this species almost similar to male in all morphological characteristics and in colour patterns of body parts, but slightly differs in body length. Subgenital plate without emargination at apex, ovipositor is shorter than the length of hind femur, but more or less equal to length of hind tibiae. Apex of ovipositor is oblate on both sides and pointed.

Measurements (mm) Female: Body length 10.5-12.5; head length 2.5-3.5, width with eyes 2.75-3.5; pronotum length 2, width 3.0-3.75; tegmina 6.5-7.5; hind femur 6.5-7.0; hind tibia 4.25-5; ovipositor 3.30- 4.

Distribution: Africa, Northeast Tropical Africa, Sudan, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Air, Iran ( Chopard 1961), Asia-Tropical, Indian Subcontinent, India (Karnataka and Rajasthan).