Gonatacanthus pulcher (Bolivar, 1900)

Nagar, Rajendra, Swaminathan, Tatiana & Swaminathan, R., 2016, A note on Agraeciini species (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae: Conocephalinae) in India, Zootaxa 4162 (3), pp. 438-450 : 442

Gonatacanthus pulcher (Bolivar, 1900)

(Plate II&III; Fig. 7–15)

Material examined. (02 Specimens, 1♂ & 1♀). Paratype: India: Kerala: 7.vi.2015, Coll. Rajesh, K. M. (Munnar, Mannavan Shoal).

Description. Body cylindrical, small, robust; male brachypterous, female squamipterous. Head,frons weakly concave, oblique, smooth; lateral carinae absent. Fastigium of frons well developed, separated from fastigium of vertex by small gap; fastigium of vertex triangular, as wide as 1/2 of antennal scapus, shorter than half of scapus; eyes globular, moderately protruding; median ocellus present, circular; lateral ocelli absent; antennae more than twice as long as body.Pronotum surface smooth; anterior margin of pronotum straight, flat; metazona weakly convex, posterior edge of metazona broadly rounded, lateral lobe almost 3 times as long as high; marginal fold of pronotum narrow, smooth. Thoracic auditory spiracle minute, circular, completely hidden under pronotum. Sternum flat; prosternum armed with two short spines; mesosternum posterior lobes with small protuberances; metasternum unarmed.

Male: Tegmen nearly completely hidden under metazona of pronotum, barely reaching posterior margin of 1st abdominal tergite; tegminal venation strongly reduced; anterior margin rounded; apex of tegmen somewhat truncate. Mirror roughly rectangular; stridulatory file flat, 1.15 mm long, 0.06 mm wide; hind wing absent. Front femur armed on both margins, spines on posterior margin minute; genicular lobes of fore femur blunt, one spine; fore tibia with both ventral margins armed, 6-7 ventrointernal spines, 4-5 ventroexternal spines and one apical spur on both side; mid femur armed with 1–2 spines on anterior ventral margin only; mid tibia 7-7 ventrointernal spines; 2–3 ventroexternal spines; one apical spur on both side; genicular lobes of mid femur only one internal spine; genicular lobes of hind femur armed with single spine on both sides; 5 spines ventroexternal; on spine on ventrointernal side; hind tibia number of spines; 10-12 dorsointernal; 6-7 dorsoexternal; 4-5 ventrointernal; 8-10 venroexternal and 6 apical spurs.Tenth tergite unmodified. Cerci conical, with two internal spines one smaller apex pointed, and the other spine longer apex obtuse; paraprocts unmodified; epiproct small and rounded. Subgenital plate broadly trapezoidal, with small, triangular rounded apical incision; styli small, cylindrical.

Female: Female small than male, tegmina squamiform, shorter than half of pronotum, separated by distinct gap. Tenth abdominal tergite bifid in middle with apical margin triangularly rounded. Epiproct small, triangular, apex obtuse. Cerci conical at base, narrowing apically, apex obtuse and hairy. Subgenital plate slightly broader than long, rounded, apex obtuse, apical lobe triangular and rounded. Ovipositor long moderately curved upward, dorsal and ventral margins smooth, dorsal valve longer than ventral, apices rounded.

Coloration. Brown with irregular light and dark patterns; with or without few light yellow spots. Frons black, fastigium frontis and antennal scrobae black; sometimes less dark in middle; mouthparts reddish or brown; labrum partly orange; palpi brown, apices of most segments pale; antennae brown with spaced white annulation, first two segments with black marks. Hind area of genae brown; compound eyes light; ventral margin and a spot near scapus black. Vertex and pronotum brown with various shades of a dark and light pattern, sometimes infumate with green pattern. Tergites ochre, medium or dark brown with small light dots that partly merge to form larger spots; with fairly distinct dark medial band; sternites yellow mottled with brown or dark or reddish brown; thoracic sternites blackish brown. Legs with various shades of brown and marbled with black dots of variable size; ventro-internal lobes of meso- and meta coxa nearly whitish light yellow, sometimes indistinct; ventral areas of all femora reddish brown, darker towards trochanter; trochanter dark reddish brown; base of tibiae black or dark brown, spines black with dark tips; hind femur brownish straw, sometimes with light dots on outer face; dorsal areas of profemur, protibia, mesotibia, posttibia can additionally become infumate with a light brown pattern, sometimes indistinct.