Pteropera karschi zenkeri Ramme, 1929

Yetchom Fondjo, Jeanne Agrippine, Nzoko Fiemapong, Armand Richard, Tindo, Maurice, Duressa, Tarekegn Fite, Ivković, Slobodan & Husemann, Martin, 2024, Taxonomic review of the grasshopper genus Pteropera Karsch, 1891 (Orthoptera, Acrididea, Catantopinae) with description of three new species and a preliminary phylogeny of the Cameroonian species, ZooKeys 1216, pp. 219-264 : 219-264

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.3897/zookeys.1216.130270
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:1221A319-03DC-4157-A7F9-F5A18E20E1FF
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13993536
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/689C1039-EF94-52E3-A987-D1FF6F883AA4
treatment provided by	ZooKeys by Pensoft
scientific name	Pteropera karschi zenkeri Ramme, 1929
status

Treatment

Pteropera karschi zenkeri Ramme, 1929 View in CoL

Figs 4 I, J View Figure 4 , 9 G, H View Figure 9

Type material examined.

Holotype. Cameroon • ♂; Bipindi, “ Urwald ”; 3 ° 4.657 ' N, 10 ° 24.607 ' E; Sep. 1898; G. Zenker leg.; MfN, BA 000178 S 01 - DORSA. GoogleMaps

Other material examined.

Cameroon • 2 ♂♂, 1 ♀; Koukoué , on shrubs in palm plantations; 4 ° 2.400 ' N, 10 ° 7.002 ' E; 19 Sep. 2018; J. A. Yetchom Fondjo leg.; SMNK GoogleMaps .

Redescription.

Male: medium size; generally greenish; tegument weakly granular; head conical and oblique; fastigium of vertex short with obtuse apex; interocular space narrow; pronotum rugous, without lateral carinae, with straight median carina crossed by three furrows and with rounded posterior margin slightly indented in the middle, anterior margin incised in the middle; longitudinal median band of the pronotal disc darker and wider than the adjoining clear bands; prozona longer than the metazona; prosternal tubercle short conical and flattened at the base, forming an outline of a collar with the prothoracic presternite; mesosternal space open and longer than its wide; dorsal carina of hind femur finely toothed, distal end pointed; arolium large; outer area of hind femora with three pale spots; inner areas of hind femora with a median pale spot; inner and lower areas of hind femora, hind tibiae orange; middle area of male supra-anal plate with a transverse groove and tubercles on the sides; basal area with two digital tubercles; male subgenital plate conical, with a short tubercle at the apex; male cerci long conical, extending beyond the end of the supra-anal plate, with a wide internal pre-apical lobule. Epiphallus (Fig. 15 I View Figure 15 ): bridge short and arched, convex; ancorae well developed, curved inwards and with an obtuse apex; anterior projections narrow, triangular; lophi broadly lobiform, slightly curved anteriorly; lateral plates broad, subparallel; oval sclerite large. Phallic complex (Fig. 15 J – L View Figure 15 ): dorsal arch of cingulum U-shaped, closed, not rectangular; rami of cingulum not angular; apodemes thin and very short, reaching only the end of ejaculatory sac with incurved apices; endophallic apodemes short; aedeagus curved upward, straight, oblique in lateral view; lower ectophallic sheath not enveloping the base of rami.

Female: subgenital plate pentagonal; egg-guide short; anterior apodemes short, narrow, with projecting posterior margin; valves of ovipositor robust, curved towards the apex; external margins of the dorsal valves saw-toothed; spermatheca with medium-sized axial diverticulum; distal trunk, recurrent of the lateral diverticulum of the spermatheca 1.5 × longer than the proximal trunk.

Remarks.

Donskoff distinguished Pteropera karschi karschi from Pteropera karschi zenkeri on the basis of external morphology and described the genitalia structures of P. karschi karschi as representative of both subspecies. Pteropera karschi zenkeri resembles P. karschi karschi in several genitalia features but can easily be distinguished by a convex epiphallus bridge (concave in P. karschi karschi ), with the apex of the aedeagus curved upward, oblique in lateral view (horizontal, in line with valves in P. karschi karschi ), apodemes of the cingulum curved inwards in its apical part (straight in P. karschi karschi ); and the distal trunk of the lateral diverticulum of the spermatheca being 1.5 × longer than the proximal trunk (5–6 × longer than the proximal trunk in P. karschi karschi ). The juvenile of this species is unknown.

Distribution.

Cameroon; Equatorial Guinea; Gabon (Fig. 17 B View Figure 17 ).