Leptophyes sicula

Kleukers, Roy M. J. C., Odé, Baudewijn & Fontana, Paolo, 2010, Two new cryptic Leptophyes species from southern Italy (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae), Zootaxa 2506, pp. 26-42 : 29-33

Leptophyes sicula nov. spec.

Figs 3 , 6 a–g, 7a–j, 8a–c, 9h, 10h, 12g, 13d, 14d, 15d, 16h, 17d.

Material: Holotype: male, 30-V-1998, Italy: Sicily, Cava Grande del Cassabile, reared from nymph, P. Fontana, col. RMNH Leiden. Paratypes: 4 males and 1 female, same data, col. Fontana.

Recordings: Paolo Fontana, PF1998-2A: 11-13 (BF, holotype); PF1998-2B: 4 (AF, paratype).

Diagnosis: The male can be distinguished easily from L. albovittata , L. boscii , L. discoidalis and L. laticauda , by the shape of the cercus and, in the first three species, the length of the elytra. Of the remaining European Leptophyes species it is morphologically similar to L. lisae of Greece. The song, however is different, the syllable being unfragmented, while the syllable of L. lisae is broken into three fragments. It can be recognized from both L. punctatissima and L. calabra by the shape of the cercus, bulge at the hind edge of the elytron, form of the stridulatory file and the number of stridulatory teeth. The song is useful for the distinction with L. calabra (similar to the song of L. lisae ), but the song of L. punctatissima is similar tot that of L. sicula . A summary is given in table 1 and figure 13–16.

The female is different from L. boscii and L. discoidalis in the absence of the notch at the base of the ovipositor. The ovipositor is clearly longer than in L. albovittata and shorter than in L. laticauda . We found no clear distinguishing characters with L. punctatissima and L. lisae (the female of L. calabra is unknown). Heller & Willemse (1989) mention the size of the lateral pit of the ovipositor, body colour and the shape of the hind margin of the pronotum to separate L. lisae from L. punctatissima , but they also conclude that the distinction is often difficult.

Description. Male: Head with fastigium narrow. Pronotum quite flat, slightly upturned at the hind margin ( Fig. 6 a). Elytron more or less round, with a strong bulging at the hind margin ( Fig. 6 e), visible part of the elytron approximately the length of the pronotum ( Fig. 6 a). Stridulatory file with 110–124 teeth. In the basal part of the file the teeth are narrow and irregularly spaced, in the distal 2/3 part the teeth are broad and regularly spaced ( Fig. 6 g). Cercus slender and evenly curved, tapering into a sharp, dark point. The cercus somewhat constricted at 1/2 of its length ( Fig. 6 c). Subgenital plate long and narrow, extending beyond the tip of the cerci.

General colour in living animals light green, with numerous reddish-brown spots ( Fig. 3 ). Pronotum dorsally greenish with creme coloured margins. Elytron dorsally mostly brownish, with black stripe and green foremargin. In some specimens the region around the stridulatory file lighter than the surrounding area. Abdomen dorsally with red brown stripe.

Measurements (n = 5): body 13.7–15.2 mm, pronotum 2.4 mm, visible part elytron 2.7–3.2 mm, hind femur 13.6–15.1 mm.

Female: Head with fastigium narrow. Pronotum quite flat, not upturned at the hind margin ( Fig. 8 a). Visible part of the elytron approximately half of the length of the pronotum ( Fig. 8 b). Ovipositor evenly curved ( Fig. 8 c). General colour in living animals light green, with numerous reddish-brown spots ( Fig. 8 c). Pronotum dorsally greenish with crème coloured margins. Elytron dorsally mostly yellow-brown, with black stripe and green foremargin. Abdomen dorsally with red brown stripe.

Measurements (n = 1): body (without ovipositor) 17.6 mm, pronotum 3.2 mm, visible part elytron 1.9 mm, hind femur 16.8 mm, ovipositor 7.2 mm.

Sound: The song is a more or less regular repetition of a ticking sound, exceptionally broken in two fragments in close distance ( Fig. 7 ). Analogous to other species of the genus it has to be regarded as a simple syllable, lasting about 40–50 ms. These syllables are repeated every 0,5–3 s. Although the resolution of the available recordings is not sufficient, it is clear that the syllable consists at least of about 8–15 pulses. A reliable frequency spectrum could not be established, as the available recordings do not include frequencies above 20 kHz.

Distribution: The species is only known from the type locality Cava Grande del Cassabile in the southeast of Sicily, south of the town of Siracusa in the Monti Iblei ( Fig. 17 d). Possibly all records of L. punctatissima of Sicily (summarized in Fontana et al. (2006)) refer to L. sicula , but this has to be investigated further.

Habitat: Many nymphs were observed on small shrubs and large herbs in dense Mediterranean macchia in the upper part of the deepest and largest gorge in Sicily (cava meaning gorge in Sicily).

Etymology: A noun in apposition. The species is named after the island Sicily where the only known locality is situated.

Figures

FIGURE 3. Male Leptophyes sicula, reared from nymph. Cava Grande del Cassabile, Sicily (1998). Photo Paolo Fontana.

FIGURE 6. Leptophyes sicula male, a. pronotum and elytron (lateral view), b. supra-anal plate and cerci, c. cercus, d. elytron (dorsal), e. elytron (ventral), f. stridulatory file. All detailphoto’s by R. Kleukers.

FIGURE 7. Oscillograms (200 ms) of calling song of Leptophyes sicula. a – d: Specimen AF: Rec. Paolo Fontana, 5. VII. 1998 at 16 bits / 44.1 kHz, 27 ˚ C, tape PF 1998 - 2 B: 4; e – j: Specimen BF: Rec. Paolo Fontana, 3. VII. 1998 at 16 bits / 44.1 kHz, 27 ˚ C, tape PF 1998 - 2 A: 13.

FIGURE 8. Leptophyes sicula female, a. habitus (lateral view), b. pronotum and elytron (dorsal), c. ovipositor.

FIGURE 17. Distribution of the European Leptophyes species, a. L. albovittata, b. L. boscii and L. discoidalis (asterisk), c. L. laticauda, d. L. punctatissima, L. lisae (upturned square), L. calabra (asterisk) and L. sicula (square). Sources: Baur et al. (2006), Fontana et al. (2006), Harz (1969), Heller & Willemse (1989), Kleukers et al. (1997), Maas et al. (2002), Schmidt (1989, 1990), Voisin (2006).