Phasmagryllus elegans Desutter-Grandcolas

Desutter-Grandcolas, Laure, 2015, Phalangopsidae crickets from Tropical Africa (Orthoptera, Grylloidea), with descriptions of new taxa and an identification key for African genera, Zootaxa 3948 (3), pp. 451-496 : 477

Phasmagryllus elegans Desutter-Grandcolas , n. sp.

( Figs 8–11 )

Type locality. Tanzania, Eastern Usambara mountains, Amani .

Type material. Holotype. Tanzania, Eastern Usambara mountains, Amani, 1000m , talus milieu herbacé, 20.v.1995, 1 male, nuit, fn8 (L. Desutter-Grandcolas), MNHN-EO-ENSIF3598. Allotype. Same locality, habitat and collector as the holotype, 1 female, 19.v.1995, nuit, fn 45, MNHN-EO-3599.

Etymology. Species named after its ghostly appearance and delicate movements.

Description.

In addition to the characters of the genus. TIII serrulation lacking between first subapical spurs and apical spurs, and between subapical spurs; above subapical spurs, outer spines: one to two in male (mean 1.5) and five to six (mean 5.5) in female; inner spines: no spine in male, one to two (mean 1,5) in female. Basitarsomeres III serrulation: zero to one (mean 0.5) inner spine in male, no inner spine in addition to apical one in female; outer spines: two in male, and two to three (mean 2.5) in female.

Coloration. Figs 8 , 11 . Head (vertex, fastigium, face) light orange in living specimens (light yellow in dried specimens), cheeks dark brown. Scapes light orange. Palpi dark brown. Antennae dark brown, yellowish at base, with some yellow articles every six to 10 brown articles, and a wide white ring of eight to twelve articles. Pronotum LL brown; DD dark brown and light orange, with lightly coloured median part and posterior half; anterior margin orange, distal margin brown. Legs: FI, FII dark brown; TI orange; TII light brown; FIII brown with orange basal half on both inner and outer sides; TIII light brown, slightly orange dorsally; spurs and tarsomeres light yellow.

Male. FWs reaching distal margin of tergite 5; light ochre brown, with concolor venation, only the strong veins close to inner and outer margins largely light yellow. Venation not strong, except the file, chords and diagonal vein. Stridulatory file with about 40 picots on outer side, and 110 small and tightly set teeth (n=1).

Male genitalia. Fig. 10 . Rami broadly triangular. Dorso-lateral pseudepiphallic structures: left structure with the outer lobe very elongate, inner lobe short, narrowed regularly toward its rounded apex; right structure with a very short outer lobe, acute distally, the inner lobe abuptly narrowed before apex. Pseudepiphallic parameres with a membranous, laterally flattened projection dorsally; distally and ventrally sclerotized. Ectophallic apodemes with flat and rounded, wide apex.

Female. FWs reaching tergite 1 only; hardly overlapping ( Fig. 11 A, B). Venation: four longitudinal veins, very strong and convex; areas between the veins concave; lateral field very narrow with only one longitudinal vein ( Fig. 9 G, H). Subgenital plate transverse, much wider than long; distal margin bisinuate ( Fig. 9 I). Ovipositor very short ( Fig. 11 B), a little more than half TIII length; apex as on Figure 11 D.

Female genitalia. Copulatory papilla having the shape of a circular sclerite, which membranous center is prolonged by a short and wide, plicated duct ( Fig. 9 J).

Figures

FIGURE 8. Phasmagryllus elegans Desutter-Grandcolas, n. sp., male holotype. A, dorsal view, scale 1 mm; B, head and pronotum, dorsal view; C, face and maxillary palpi; D, hindtibia, dorsal view; E, right forewing, dorsal view; F, metanotum and tergite structures, dorsal view; G, subgenital plate, ventral view; H, subgenital plate and right forewing, lateral view; I, supra anal plate, dorsal view. Arrows point to the left pseudepiphallic distal process, which is extremely long.

FIGURE 9. Phasmagryllus elegans Desutter-Grandcolas, n. sp. A, maxillary palpus, female allotype; B, C, venation of dorsal and lateral fields of male holotype FWs; D-F, male holotype subgenital plate, ventral (D), right side (E) and left side (F), with projections of asymmetrical pseudepiphallic processes; G, H, venation of dorsal and lateral fields of female allotype right FW; I, female allotype subgenital plate, ventral view; J, female allotype copulatory papilla. Scale bars 1 mm.

FIGURE 10. Phasmagryllus elegans Desutter-Grandcolas, n. sp., male holotype, genitalia in dorsal (A), ventral (B) and lateral (C) views. Abbreviations see page 3.

FIGURE 11. Phasmagryllus elegans Desutter-Grandcolas, n. sp., female allotype. A, dorsal view, scale 1 mm; B, lateral view; C, pronotum and FWs, dorsal view; D, ovipositor, lateral view.