Phalangopsina Chopard, 1933

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 : 16-17

Phalangopsina Chopard, 1933

Phalangopsina Chopard, 1933a: 165 .

Type species. Arachnopsis dubius Bolivar, 1900

Other species included. Phalangopsina palpata Chopard, 1969 , P. b o li va r i Desutter-Grandcolas n. sp. and possibly P. d i s c i f e r a Gorochov, 2003a. Phalangopsina (?) chopardi Desutter-Grandcolas n. sp. and Phalangopsina (?) gravelyi Desutter-Grandcolas n. sp. are tentatively described in the genus Phalangopsina .

Remark. The type species of the genus has been tentatively described by Bolivar (1900 (1899)) in the genus Arachnopsis Saussure, 1878 on a series comprising an unspecified number of males and females, deposited in Bolivar’s and Pantel’s collections (now in MNCN and MNHN respectively), and originating from Maduré, Kodaikanal (collectors: Castets, Décoly).

Listing the types of Ignacio Bolivar, Mercedes Paris (1994) identified several putative male and female syntypes of P. dubia : one female identified “Arachnop. Dubius ” by Bolivar in Madrid, and one male and 3 females in Paris: 1/ one female labeled “ Type // Arachnopsis dubius // Mission Maduré”; 2/ one female labeled “ Arachnopsis dubius // Kod[aikanal] Dec[oly]“; 3/ one female labeled “Indes Or., P. Castets”; and 4/ one male, from Kod[aikanal] Dec[oly].

The male specimen revealed a Landrevinae and does not fit Bolivar’s description and measurements: it is not considered here as belonging to the original syntypic series; the male syntype mentioned by Bolivar has not been found yet in Pantel’s collection. The four females are considered here syntypes: in order to fix the species name, two conspecific females are designated here Lectotype (MNCN) and Paralectotype (MNHN) of P. dubia ; the other two paralectotype females belong to two new species of Phalangopsina described here, P. bolivari Desutter- Grandcolas n. sp. and Phalangopsina (?) chopardi Desutter-Grandcolas n. sp.

Known distribution. Southern India.

Diagnosis. According to Bolivar (1900), Chopard (1933a) and type observation: Small to very small species with a wide fastigium (wider than scape) and transverse pronotum (less so in P. (?) chopardi Desutter-Grandcolas, n. sp.). Ocelli arranged in a wide triangle, the distance between the lateral ocelli larger than the distance between the median and one lateral ocelli. Scape as long as wide ( Figs 6 A, 8A), except in P. (?) chopardi Desutter- Grandcolas n. sp. ( Fig. 8 H); TI without tympanum. TIII with four pairs of subapical spurs, the outers slightly longer than the inners and set less distally on TIII than inner spurs; three pairs of apical spurs, the dorsal the longest on both sides ( Fig. 8 C, D, except in P. (?) chopardi Desutter-Grandcolas n. sp. Fig. 8 I). Male with short, slightly overlapping ( P. dubia ) or not overlapping (P. d is ci fe r a) FWs, lacking a stridulatory apparatus. Metanotum glandular (P. d i s c i f e r a) or not ( P. dubia ). TIII spurs not modified. Male genitalia: pseudepiphallic sclerite with a wide median part, more or less reversed overhead, and two long lateral sclerites, clearly articulated in P. dubia ; pseudepiphallic parameres very large, concave, making a kind of wide forceps ( Fig. 6 D–F); ectophallic apodemes short and wide; ectophallic fold long and narrow, membranous; endophallic sclerite long and thin. Dorsal cavity lacking. Female apterous. Ovipositor longer than FIII. Female genitalia: copulatory papilla large, sclerotized and elongate, with a longer and thinner distal part (except in P. (?) chopardi Desutter-Grandcolas n. sp.).

Habitat. Unknown.

Figures

FIGURE 6. Phalangopsina dubia (Bolivar, 1900). A, right scape, anterior side; B, maxillary palpus, last joint; C, outer apical spurs of hind tibia; D – F, male genitalia, dorsal (D), ventral (E), lateral (F); G – H, female copulatory papilla, dorsal (G), lateral (H). Abbreviations: see text p. ***. Scales 1 mm.

FIGURE 8. Phalangopsina bolivari Desutter-Grandcolas n. sp. (A – G) and Phalangopsina chopardi Desutter-Grandcolas n. sp. (H – L). A, H, scape, anterior side; B, maxillary palpus; C, D, I, apical spurs of hind tibia, inner (C, I), outer (D); E, J, female subgenital plate; F, G, K, L, female copulatory papilla, dorsal (F, K), lateral (G, L). Abbreviations, see text p. ***. Scales 1 mm.