Arantia (Euarantia) melanota Sjöstedt, 1902

Hemp, Claudia & Massa, Bruno, 2017, Review of the African genera Arantia Stål and Goetia Karsch (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae: Phaneropterinae), Zootaxa 4362 (4), pp. 451-498 : 479

Arantia (Euarantia) melanota Sjöstedt, 1902 ( Figs. 30 , 62 , 93a, b )

http://lsid.speciesfile.org/urn:lsid: Orthoptera .speciesfile.org:TaxonName:464802

Sjöstedt (1902). Bihang Kungl. Svenska Vet. Akad. Handl., 27 (3): 6.

Type locality: CAMEROON. Bonge. Depository: NHRS, Stockholm. Kind of type: holotype male.

Material studied. CAMEROON. Dibongo / Sanaga (1♂, 1♀). L. Conradt 1889–1899 (1♂). Mukonje Farm, R. Rohde (1♀) ( RBINS) . ANGOLA (1♂) ( MNCN) . CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC. Dzanga-Ndoki National Park , Lac 1, 24–25.II.2012 (light trap), P. Moretto (♂) ( BMCP).

Measurements. Male. Body length: 32.8; pronotum length: 7.4; pronotum height: 6.6; hind femur: 34.5; hind tibiae: 40.9; length of tegmina: 50.1; length of hind wings: 53.0; tegmina width: 15.3–15.8; tegmina width/ pronotum length: 2.0–2.1.

Characters. A. melanota is a species of large size (body length ♂ 32–40 mm, ♀ 44 mm). Sjöstedt (1902) described the male. Griffini (1908) described the female from Mukonje Farm ( Cameroon). It is characteristic for its dark tympana, whitish metanotum bordered by a dark stripe and a black line on the posterior part of the pronotum in the area where the metazona is curved. Eyes round and prominent, first antennal segment covered with fine hairs. Fastigium of vertex sulcate. Anterior margin of pronotum straight, posterior margin rounded. Lower margin of pronotal lobes round. Tegmina are 3.4 times longer than broad. Veinlets of tegmina form some hexagons; at their angles some small yellow and black spots are present. The stridulatory file of the left tegmen is arcuate, composed of ca. 60–65 teeth ( Fig. 62 ). Fore coxae unarmed. Conspicuous is a black area around the tympana of the fore tibiae. Fore femora with 5 inner ventral spines, fore tibiae with 8 inner and 4 outer ventral spines, and 5 dorsally. Mid femora unarmed. Mid tibiae with four rows of spines, 11 outer and 9 inner ventral spines, 6 outer and 8 inner dorsal spines. Hind femora with 5 black spines ventrally. Hind tibiae strongly curved, with 14 inner and outer ventral spines. Cerci in-curved, apex claw-like with sclerotized tips, densely covered by hairs ( Figs 93a, 93b ). The subgenital plate is more or less trapezoidal and short, with enlarged and closely spaced appendices. Styli are absent. Ovipositor has two lateral protuberances.

Affinities. The tegmina are comparatively broad, with several hexagons formed by the veins. Typical is also a black area at the immediate base of the tegmina. Characteristic are the male cerci with a claw-like apex. Large black spines are present ventrally on the hind femora. From its habitus with the broad leaf-like tegmina similar to A. latifolia . However, the latter has different male cerci that are undivided and wear a sclerotized ridge at the tips. Similar male cerci are present in A. retinervis also sharing a similar habitus with A. melanota . In the latter species the male cerci are divided into two approximately equally long sclerotized tips, one of them stout and broad-based the other tip more slender. Conspicuous in A. melanota are the black marked areas of the tympana on the fore tibiae which are green in A. retinervis . Further A. retinervis has a uniformly green pronotum while A. melanota has a thin black transverse line on the metazona of the pronotum.

Distribution. Angola, Cameroon and Central African Republic.

Figures

FIGURES 30–33. Habitus of Arantia (Euarantia) melanota (holotype) (30), A. (Euarantia) mauritiana (holotype) (31), A. (Euarantia)retinervis (syntype) (32) and A.(Euarantia) bispinosa n. sp. (holotype) (33).

FIGURES51–62.Stridulatory files of Arantia brevipes (51), Arantia ivoriana n. sp. (52), Arantia simplicinervis (53), Arantia quinquemaculata n. sp. (54), Arantia fasciata from Mt. Kilimanjaro (55), Arantia fasciata from South Africa (56), Arantia rectifolia (57), Arantia tanzanica n. sp. (58), Arantia regina (59), Arantia marmorata (60), Arantia congensis (61) and Arantia melanota (62).

FIGURES 85–95. Cerci of Arantia fasciata from South Africa (85a) and Tanzania (85b), Arantia regina (86, 87), Arantia rectifolia (dorsal and lateral view) (88a, 88b), Arantia incerata (lateral and dorsal view) (89a, 89b), Arantia latifolia (90), Arantia marmorata (91), Arantia congensis (92), Arantia melanota (93a, 93b), Arantia mauritiana (94) and Arantia retinervis (95a, 95b).