Meloimorpha Walker, 1870

Desutter-Grandcolas, Laure & Jaiswara, Ranjana, 2012, Phalangopsidae crickets from the Indian Region (Orthoptera, Grylloidea), with the descriptions of new taxa, diagnoses for genera, and a key to Indian genera, Zootaxa 3444, pp. 1-39 : 6

Meloimorpha Walker, 1870

( Fig. 1 B, C)

Meloimorpha Walker, 1870: 468 .

Type species. Meloimorpha cincticornis Walker, 1870

Other species included. Phalangopsis albicornis Walker, 1870 , Gryllus / Phalangopsis japonicus Haan, 1842 , Homoeogryllus indicus Agarwal and Sinha, 1988 .

Remark. Meloimorpha has long been synonymized with Homoeogryllus Guérin-Méneville, 1844 . Actually both genera are extremely similar by their general shape and male stridulum, although they differ markedly by their male ( Desutter 1985, Gorochov 2003b) and female (compare Fig. 1 B, C and 1D–F) genitalia. Both genera can be readily separated by their number of inner subapical spurs on TIII, equal to 3 in Meloimorpha and 2 or less in Homoeogryllus ( Desutter 1985, Jaiswara et al. in prep.).

Distribution. From Northern India in the West to Japan in the East.

Many photos on the web are identified « Homoeogryllus indicus » while they represent an African cricket. These photos clearly show a Homoeogryllus species, which may be H. xanthographus Guérin-Méneville, 1844 or H. orientalis Desutter, 1985 , according to locations in Eastern Africa ( Desutter 1985). The species described as “ Homoeogryllus indicus ” by Agarwal and Sinha in 1988 actually belongs to Meloimorpha , which is not present in Africa.

Diagnosis. Size small to medium. Eyes small, protruding. Fastigium narrow, as wide as about half scape width; not separate from the vertex by a distinct transverse furrow. Ocelli not distinct. Maxillary palpi moderately long; joint 5 concave dorsally, slightly widened in apical fourth. Pronotum transverse, greatly widened posteriorly, saddle-shaped. TI with inner and outer tympana; two ventral apical spurs, the inner slightly longer than the outer. TII with two ventral apical spurs, the inner slightly longer than the outer. TIII with three pairs of apical spurs; outer spurs small, the dorsal and median subequal in length; inner spurs longer, the median greatly longer than the dorsal; three pairs of subapical spurs, only very slightly alternate, the outers slightly longer than the inners, and located in TIII distal third; TIII strongly serrulated over their whole length. FIII with a distinct filiform apical part. Colouration often contrasted, head and body brown to black, with some times yellow spots on head and pronotum dorsum; tibiae and antennae white, yellow or light ochre. Males with very long FWs greatly widened from their base, but their lateral margins almost parallel. Stridulatory apparatus complete; harp wider than long, crossed by several transverse, parallel veins; mirror wider than long, subdivided into wide cells by crossing veins, and prolonged by wide cells toward the chords; a thin, continuous cell surrounding the mirror distally. Apical field short, truncated. Lateral field: R with many parallel, transverse veins. TIII spurs not modified. Male genitalia: pseudepiphallic sclerite rounded, surrounding long, hook-like pseudepiphallic parameres; median part of pseudepiphallus more or less membranous; rami thin; ectophallic apodemes thick; ectophallic fold small and membranous; endophallic sclerite with one main, median, part, but bordered laterally by a pair of wide sclerites; endophallic apodeme crest-like. Female FWs longer than the body; longitudinal and transverse veins strong, delimiting wide cells. Female genitalia: Copulatory papilla having the shape of a short, sclerotized tube slightly narrowed before apex, and slightly plicated dorsally; aperture of spermathecal duct ventral, sub apical ( Fig. 1 B, C).

Habitat. Species possibly cavicolous, mentioned in termite nests ( Bhagava 1982).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Female copulatory papilla (A – H) in: A, Cacoplistes sp, female identified Cachoplistus rogenhoferi Saussure, 1877 by L. Chopard (specimen MNHN-ENSIF 2960, Tonkin, Dong Daky), distal view; B – C, Meloimorpha japonica (specimen MNHN-ENSIF 2963, Japan, Kyoto), ventral (B), lateral (C); D – F, Homoeogryllus xanthographus Guérin-Méneville, 1847 (specimen MNHN-ENSIF 2944, Tchad, Amdjamena), dorsal (D), ventral (E), lateral (F); G – H, Arachnomimus maindroni (Chopard, 1969), n. comb., dorsal (G), lateral (H). Hind tibia apical spurs in: I, Arachnomimus maindroni (Chopard, 1969), n. comb. inner spurs; J, Arachnomimus nietneri (Saussure, 1878), outer spurs. Scale 1 mm.