Epitettigini Storozhenko, 2023

Storozhenko, S. Yu., 2023, A new tribe of the pygmy grasshoppers subfamily Cladonotinae (Orthoptera: Tetrigidae), Far Eastern Entomologist 468, pp. 16-18 : 17

Tribe Epitettigini Storozhenko , trib. n.

https://zoobank.org/NomenclaturalActs/ DC949CBE-FB6E-49EC-A725-90F713FDDA54

Type genus: Epitettix Hancock, 1907 .

DESCRIPTION. New tribe is characterized by the following combination of traits: antennae filiform, 14–16-segmented; eyes not protruding above vertex in lateral view; frontal ridge widened but not forming typical for Cladonotinae scutellum; width of frontal ridge near the base of antennae 1.3–3 times wider than width of 1st antennal segment, lateral carinae of ridge below lateral ocelli parallel or divergent, distinct median furrow between carinae always present; frontal ridge, in lateral view, broadly rounded or with a shallow excision between eyes; pronotum never evenly compressed in a leaf-like pattern; anterior margin of pronotum in dorsal view straight or slightly angularly projecting but never forms long horn which reaching middle of eyes or completely covered head; median carina of pronotum in profile low, almost straight or weakly arch-like elevated, not toothed or sawed; prozonal carinae distinct, weak or vestigial; tegminal sinus usually absent (in Yunnantettix , the sinus shallow, almost vestigial); infrascapular area widened; tegmina and hind wings absent (rare, in Yunnantettix , tegmina very short and narrow); fore and mid femora with straight or weakly sinuate and finely serrate lower and upper carina, lappets absent; first tarsal segment of hind legs considerably longer than 3rd segment (without claws).

COMPARISON. New tribe is most similar to Cladonotini but easy recognizable from latter by the shape of frontal ridge, which forming in true Cladonotini wide, subsquare or trapezoid scutellum with lateral carinae of the frontal ridge distinctly incurved near the median ocellus; the surface of scutellum always smooth, without furrow. Moreover, in Cladonotini usually the pronotum is leaf-like, anterior margin of pronotum in dorsal view triangle and completely covered head or at least reaching middle of eyes, and lower side of the fore and mid femora with distinct lappets.

COMPOSITION. The new tribe consists of 27 species in five genera: Epitettix Hancock, 1907 (21 species from South China, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, and New Guinea), Devriesetettix Tumbrinck, 2014 (1 species from New Guinea), Ingrischitettix Tumbrinck, 2014 (1 species from New Guinea), Pseudohyboella Günther, 1938 (1 species from New Guinea), and Yunnantettix Zheng, 1995 (3 species from India, South China and Thailand).

REMARKS. Based on the results of DNA-analysis Cladonotinae is considered as a polyphyletic group; within this subfamily some genera were closely related to Tetriginae , while some another genera showed a close relationship to Scelimeninae (Zhang et al., 2020) . Recently two genera of Cladonotinae were transferred to Tetriginae and Metrodorinae (Skejo et al., 2019) . While Epitettigini trib. n. is here placed in Cladonotinae but shows some traits similar to Tetriginae , such as the absent of true scutellum, the present of median furrow between lateral carinae of the frontal ridge, and the third tarsal segment of the hind legs very short. Undoubtedly, the future studies of Tetrigidae should concentrate on separating it into good evolutionary units, with combined morphological and molecular phylogeny.