Anterastes antecessor Kaya & Ciplak

Kaya, Sarp & Ciplak, Battal, 2011, Taxonomy of Anterastes and related genera: a new synonym and a new species of Anterastes, Zootaxa 2771, pp. 41-52 : 46-52

Anterastes antecessor Kaya & Ciplak sp. n.

( Figs 1–7 )

Material examined. Holotype, male, TURKEY: Antalya, Akdag, Ikiz Lake, N 36°44.440, E 029°35.417, 2540 m, 17.7.2010 (Leg.: B. Çıplak & S. Kaya) (in alcohol). Paratypes— 4 males, 5 females, same data as the holotype; paratypes— 2 males (1 nymph, 1 adult), 2 females nymphs, Antalya, Gombe, Akdag, Ikiz Gol, N 36°44.449, E 029°35.414, 2570 m N.N., 28.7.2006 (Leg.: D. Sirin & O. Eren).

Diagnosis. The unique autapomorphies of this species that distinguish it from all others are: the short male cercus length of which is less than twice the transversal width along the tooth (it is tree times or more in all others) and the huge tooth of cercus located pre-apically; the male subgenital plate with the index maximal width/length more than two is another typical diagnostic character (the index value is less than two in the other species of Anterastes ). Additionally, compared to other species, the processes of male tenth tergum are short. The semi-circular incision of female subgenital plate is a character state shared by the four species of A. babadaghi group, but also separating the new species from other species of the genus (see Ciplak 2004). However, females of A. antecessor can easily be distinguished from the four species in A. babadaghi group by the short and robust ovipositor. The number of stridulatory pegs is ca. 53 (similar to A. niger ) while it is 60 or more in the others. The right margin of the left tegmen is posteriorly truncate as in A. uludaghensis and contrary to the other species.

There are two general song patterns observed in Anterastes (Ciplak et al. unpublished data). In the A. serbicus group the male produces song consisting of irregularly repeated syllable groups which can not be defined as typical echemes ( Fig. 6 A, B). On the other hand four species within A. babadaghi group ( A. babadaghi , A. ucari , A. turcicus and A. niger ), as well as A. uludaghensis , produce a song of regular syllable groups ordered in echemes each of which including a certain number of syllables with a certain period ( Fig. 6 C, D). The song of A. antecessor , sp. n., is not arranged in echemes and in respect to this character is similar to the songs of the first group. However, in A. serbicus group the syllable sequences are irregular in duration and syllable number while the sequences are regular in both. In the species of A. serbicus and A. babadaghi groups, as well as in the new species, the syllable includes two elements (a closing and an opening hemisyllable), while in A. uludaghensis the syllable includes four elements.

Description (Holotype, male). Fastigium of vertex rounded, twice or more the width of scapus, not sulcate. Pronotum relatively short, cylindrical or slightly depressed dorsally, with a trace of median carina, lateral carinae absent, hind margin widely obtuse ( Fig. 7 C). Micropterous, tegmina shorter than pronotum ( Fig. 7 C); right tegmen slightly longer than left tegmen; stridulatory file slightly sinuate, with ca. 53 teeth, teeth in the medial part wider than those on the proximal and distal ends; distal teeth small and conical. All three pairs of femora without ventral spines. Fore tibiae spineless on dorso-anterior margin and with three spines on dorso-posterior margin. Mid tibiae with one spine on dorso-anterior and four spines on dorso-posterior margins. Each of the ventro-anterior and ventro-posterior margins of fore and mid tibiae with six spines. Hind femur barely extends beyond the end of abdomen, swollen in the basal 2/3; 3.3–3.8 times as long as its maximal width; hind tibiae with one pair of spurs apico-ventrally; platulae are two-thirds of the length of metatarsus.

Tenth abdominal tergum with two short, incurved and triangular processes, and with a wide shallow incision between them, setose medially and marginally ( Fig. 3 A). Cerci short and thick, with a huge pre-apical tooth, base of the tooth depressed and its apex strongly curved downward; width of cercus along the tooth almost equal to half the total cercal length ( Fig. 3 B). Male subgenital plate wider than long, with small styli, almost not incised at posterior margin ( Fig. 3 C). Titillators slender; apical and basal arms roughly equal in length; basal arms smooth and obtusely curved; apical arms almost straight in proximal 3/4 and strongly curved in apical 1/4, with a few small teeth in the middle of outer margin ( Fig. 3 D, E). Paratypes are similar to the holotype.

Description of female (paratype). Similar to male in general characteristics. Tegmina strongly abbreviated, not overlapping dorsally, but visible laterally; hind femur 3.1–3.3 times as long as its maximal width. Sixth and seventh abdominal sterna not modified. Subgenital plate wider than long, with a semi-circular incision and two tapered lobes apically ( Fig. 3 F, G). Ovipositor short, robust and slightly upcurved, 4–5 times as long as its maximal width; ventral valves with 15–20 tubercles in the apical one-sixth ( Fig. 4 B).

Coloration. Black or blackish brown. A black pattern with a narrow light stripe is situated behind the eyes; pronotal disc dark brown, paranota with a large black spot or black pattern, margins with a dirty creamish posterioventral band; hind femur with a black spot dorso-anteriorly and indistinct black pattern dorso-externally; tegmina brownish ( Fig 4 A). Abdominal terga black, with irregular brownish pattern; ovipositor light brown with dark brown pattern.

Measurements (in mm). Body, male 17.87 (17.4–18.6), female 17.10 (16.2–18.1); length of pronotum, male 4.2 (4.00–4.5), female 4.75 (4.–4.8); tegmina, male 2.85 (2.7–3.0); number of stridulatory pegs 53 (46–56); length of hind femur, male 10.33 (10.0–10.6), female 11.8 (11.7–11.9); maximum width of hind femur, male 2.7 (2.3–3.1), female 3.7 (3.6–3.8); length of ovipositor 18.1 (17–19); maximum width of ovipositor 1.8.

Song. The male calling song of type specimens (the holotype and a paratype male) was recorded in the evening/nigth at 26 °C ( Fig. 5 ). The calling song is a long lasting sequence consisting of several regularly and continuously repeated syllables. The duration of one sequence ranges between 44 and 230 s (mean: 90 s) and the syllable number per sequence – between 1570–4900 (mean; 3330). Syllable period has a length of 0.025–0.031 ms (mean 0.027) and each syllable includes a noisy opening- and a loud closing- hemisyllable. The opening hemisyllable includes 1–3 inseparable impulses in a period of 0.008–0.01 ms (mean 0.0084). The closing hemisyllable contains 13–20 (mean 16) impulses and lasts 0.016–0.02 ms (mean 0.018).

Etymology. From Latin antecessor , forerunner. We name this new species in accordance with the phylogenetic results of the present study placing it as an ancestral stock of the whole Anterastes clade.

Remarks on the generic taxonomy

Phylogenetic hypotheses suggested by 16S rDNA data provided two clear results. The first was discovery of a new species and the second is that Koroglus belongs to the genus Anterastes . These objective data suggest placing Koroglus Ünal, 2002 in a synonymy as a junior synonym of Anterastes Brunner von Wattenwyl, 1882. Thus, Koroglus disparalatus Ünal, 2002 is given a new combination as Anterastes disparalatus ( Ünal, 2002) comb. n. Further, A. uludaghensis and A. disparalatus are supposed to be sister species.

The above taxonomical acts are not based solely on the obtained phylogenetic results. In the original description of A. disparalatus , comb.n., Ünal (2002) diagnosed the new species by the smaller body size, the short ovipositor and hind femur, and especially by the unequal length of right and left tegmina. The size related characters are not different from those found in some Anterates species such as A. niger , A. uludaghensis and A. antecessor sp. n. (compare the measurements in Ünal, 2002 and Ciplak, 2004). However, the unequal lengths of right and left tegmen have not been reported in earlier publications. During this study several specimens belonging to Anterastes were examined to determine the state of this character. Results for some species are shown in Table 2 (also see Fig. 7 ). These data shows that unequal length of tegmina is also a character state observed in Anterastes , though sometimes it is indistinct or absent. So, these data are also congruent with phylogenetic hypotheses. Later, Ünal (2006) provided a supplement to his earlier description. However, several of the characters he presented in this supplement are variable at a generic or even sometimes at a species level, thus, we think not valid to diagnose genera. Further, A. uludaghensis and A. disparalatus share several similarities such as the male cercus with a preapical tooth, a male anal tergum with long pointed processes, a female subgenital plate with a semi-elliptical incision and a short ovipositor. Especially, the shape of the male cercus is unique in these two species among Anterastes . However, there are enough differences between A. uludaghensis and A. disparalatus to diagnose both ( Fig. 8 A–G). The second species differs from the first mainly by the following characters; (i) the distinct inconformity in the tegminal length (indistinct in the other), (ii) the titillators with apical arms longer than basal arms (basal arms are longer or the basal and apical arms are equal in length in the other) and (iii) the apical arms with distinct long distal curvature (very short in A. uludaghensis ). Thus, A. disparalatus is a distinct species within Anterastes (compare 8 with Fig. 1 in Ciplak 2004).

A second classification can be suggested by including both A. uludaghensis and A. disparalatus into a distinct genus sister to Anterastes . However, such a decision requires reconsidering Karabaġ (1950) and Ramme (1951) who independently described the taxon presently known as A. uludaghensis . Karabaġ (1950) described it as Anterastes uludaghensis . Ramme (1951) established a new genus, Uludaghia , to include his new species U. gerdae . Since both species were based on the same population (type localities in both publications are the same), later, Karabaġ (1951) synonymyzed Uludaghia with Anterastes , and Uludaghia gerdae Ramme with Anterastes uludaghensis Karabaġ. Thus , if A. uludaghensis and A. disparalatus are included in a separate genus, the priority belongs to Uludaghia Ramme, 1951 , not to Koroglus Ünal, 2002 . Additionally, if the previous two species constitute a separate genus, then a third genus should be established to include the new species Anterastes antecessor sp. n. since it represents a separate, basal to the genus, branch in the phylogenetic analyses. However, this will be a highly fractioning taxonomical approach and we prefer to follow Karabaġ (1951). Herewith, the new species is considered an aberrant new species of Anterastes .

N Right tegmen is longer than Left tegmen is longer than the Both tegmina are in equal the left tegmen right tegmen length

Dr Islam Gunduz (Samsun) has guided us in molecular studies. The young orthopterist Zehra Boztepe (Antalya, Turkey) helped in the laboratory studies. A few specimens of the new species were collected by the Dr Deniz Sirin and Dr Ozkan Eren ( Turkey). Bulgarian specimens were provided by Dr Dragan Chobanov ( Bulgaria). Anonymous reviewer(s) have made a very careful review and valuable contributions. Thanks to all.

Our research was supported by the Scientific and Technical Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) and Akdeniz University Research Fund. Studies were carried out in laboratories of the Department of Biology, Akdeniz University, and the paper was supported by the Akdeniz University Research Fund.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Map showing localities and haplotypes used in phylogenetic analyses.

FIGURE 2. Phylogenetic tree obtained from MP analyses of the 16 S rDNA haplotypes given in Table 1 (PA 1 — Phylogenetic Analyses- 1, S. bella as outgroup; PA 2 — Phylogenetic Analyses- 2, P. signata and B. turkiyae as outgroups). Bootstrap (MP, ML) and posterior probability (MB) support (those lower than 50 % indicated by an *) to branches are shown as MP / ML / MB respectively.

FIGURE 3. Anterastes antecessor sp. n. A—Male tenth tergum, B—Male cerci, C—Male subgenital plate, D—Titillators (dorsal), E—Titillators (ventral), F—Female subgenital plate (ventral), F—Female subgenital plate (lateral).

FIGURE 4. Anterastes antecessor sp. n. A—Male pronotum and tegmina (lateral), B—Ovipositor in whole and apical view (lateral)

FIGURE 5. Male calling song of Anterastes antecessor sp. n.. A—A whole syllable sequence, B-C a group of syllables in different rates.

FIGURE 6. Male calling song. A—Irregular echemes in A. burri, B—A group of syllables in A. burri, C—Regular echemes in A. babadaghi, D—A group of syllables in A. babadaghi.

FIGURE 7. Pronotum and tegmina in Anterastes species (dorsal view). A— A. antitaurcus, B— A. burri, C— A. antecessor sp. n., D— A. uludaghensis, E— A. turcicus, F— A. tolunayi, G— A. ucari, J— A. niger.

FIGURE 8. Anterastes disparalatus. A—Male tenth tergum, B—Male cerci, C—Male subgenital plate, D—Titillators (dorsal), E—Titillators (ventral), F—Female subgenital plate (ventral), F—Female subgenital plate (lateral).

Tables

TABLE 2. Length of left and right tegmina according to each other in Anterastes species (N, specimens examined).

A. serbicus 5 4 A. burri 26 20 A. uludaghensis 4 1 A. tolunayi 5 4 A. niger 7 4	- - - - -	1 6 3 1 3
A. babadaghi 22 14 A. ucari 4 3 A. disparalatus 6 6 A. antecessor 5 -	- 1 - -	8 - - 5
Acknowledgements