Plangia graminea Serville, 1839

Hemp, Claudia, 2013, Annotated list of Ensifera (Orthoptera) and further records on Caelifera (Orthoptera) of Mt Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, Zootaxa 3613 (4), pp. 301-342 : 330

Plangia graminea Serville, 1839

( Fig. 13 C)

Distribution. Cameroon, Gabon, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Ghana, Congo, Uganda, Tanzania. Botswana, SW Africa, Natal, South Africa (collection NHML), DRC, Urundi, Mozambique, Central African Republic, Angola, Niger (collection Tervuren); Sierra Leone (collection Stockholm).

Habitat. Hemp C. 2005. In the tree layer in the plantation belt on the southern slopes of Mt Kilimanjaro.

Song. A single loud chirp heard in the evening hours from large trees in the plantation belt.

Altitudinal range at Mt Kilimanjaro: 1400–1500 m.

Records: 3

Remarks. The type of P. graminea seems to be lost (Eades et al. 2012). This species was originally described from South Africa, Cape region. Plenty of specimens are hold in various collections showing a certain variability of this species in terms of wing length, color pattern and variations in length and stoutness of the male cerci and shape of the subgenital plate. This suggests that more than one species may be hidden in this complex. Plangia graminea is in need of revision to decide whether a sole species is distributed over such a large area of Africa being collected from various habitats.

Figures

FIGURE 13. Phaneropterinae species of Kilimanjaro A – B. Male (A) and female (B) Melidia laminata Chopard, eastern slopes, tree savanna, Chala area, 1000 m C. Male Plangia graminea (Serville), southern slopes, plantation belt, 1430 m D – E. Phaneroptera sparsa (Stål), southern slopes, female (D) plantation belt 1430 m and male (E), bush in savanna grassland, colline zone eastern slopes F. Male Diogena denticulata Chopard on Acacia sp., eastern slopes, tree savanna, Chala area G. Female Terpnistria zebrata (Serville), on Acacia sp., southern slopes, plantation belt 1430 m H. Female Tylopsis dispar Sjöstedt, eastern slopes, savanna grassland, 1100 m, imitating bract leaves of Cyperus niveus I. Male Tylopsis rubrescens Kirby, savanna grassland, eastern slopes, 1000 m.