Colpolopha minuta, Mariño-Pérez & Pocco, 2023

Mariño-Pérez, Ricardo & Pocco, Martina E., 2023, A new species of Colpolopha Stål, 1873 (Orthoptera: Romaleidae) from Brazil, Zootaxa 5264 (3), pp. 381-392 : 383-387

1. Colpolopha minuta sp. nov. Mariño-Pérez & Pocco

(figs. 1–3)

Diagnosis. A unique combination of small size (males average about 25 mm, females average about 32 mm), short fastigium, as long as the eye, slightly longer than the interocular distance, pronotum in lateral view with transverse sulci deep, delimiting three lobes at prozona, metazona shorter than prozona, pronotal crest slightly crenulated on its posterior part; tegmina short, not surpassing the second abdominal segment, bilobed (in some male and female specimens, slightly trilobed), uniformly colored. Aedeagal valves simple, slightly transversally grooved; epiphallus rectangular with posterior projections rounded.

Male description. Medium-sized grasshoppers. Body brownish colored. Antennae with 17–18 segments, without exceeding the end of the pronotum. Fastigium of the vertex in lateral view projecting beyond scape and pedicel, rounded and smoothly curving towards rostrum, until connecting at frontal costa; in frontal view with pointed apex and delimited by a groove on each side. Central ocellus located under the vertex, frontal costa originating from the central ocellus in the form of an inverted “v”, reaching the fronto-clypeal suture. Furrows that delimit the frontal costa and fronto-clypeal suture with granules. Prosternal tubercle straight, spiniform, forwardly inclined. Anterior margin of pronotum with an apical projection, extended over occiput; median dorsal carina cut by deep transverse sulci, delimiting three lobes at prozona; metazona shorter than prozona and mesozona together, triangular in shape, posterior margin ending in a projection; pronotal crest slightly crenulated on its posterior part. Lateral carinae in “v” in lateral view, well-marked and with granules. Anterior and middle femora with some granules dorsally and ventrally unarmed, anterior tibia with 7-8 distal spinules on both ventral margins, middle tibia with 6–8 spinules on each ventral margin. Typical posterior femur of the genus (serrulated dorsally and smooth ventrally), posterior tibia with 8–9 spines on each dorsal margin, the spines of the inner margin being larger. Tegmina short, slightly bilobed, and barely reaching the second abdominal segment/ the first quarter of the hind femur (in four males, the tegmina was very slightly trilobed); uniformly colored. Tergites armed with a single spine close to their posterior border (but not at their end) at the midline. Dorsal margin of the tenth tergite divided, furculae present with blacktips, triangular epiproct. Cerci conical without exceeding the length of the epiproct and with a pointed apex. Subgenital plate with pointed apex. Phallic complex. Epiphallus. Lophi rounded, with an apical protuberance, posterior projections broad and semicircular, bridge narrow and bent (dorsal view), ancorae triangular, anterior projections reduced and square in shape, lateral plates ovoid. Ectophallus and endophallus. Aedeagus apical valves reduced and simple, slightly grooved transversally, covered almost entirely by the cingulum; cingulum anteriorly cloven, apodemes of cingulum short, barely covering the apodemes of endophallus and partially covering the endophallus from lateral view. Apodemes of endophallus widened and subovoid.

Female description. Larger and stouter than males. Antennae with 17–18 segments, without exceeding the apex of the pronotum. Fastigium of the vertex in lateral view projecting as much as scape and pedicel, rounded and slightly curving towards rostrum, until connecting at frontal costa; in frontal view with the pointed apex and delimited by a groove on each side. Central ocellus located under the vertex, frontal costa originating from the central ocellus in the form of an inverted “v”, reaching the fronto-clypeal suture. Furrows that delimit the frontal costa and fronto-clypeal suture with granules. Prosternal tubercle straight, spiniform, forwardly inclined. Pronotal disc with three clearly cut grooves. Anterior margin of the pronotum with an apical projection more pronounced here than in the male; metazona shorter than prozona and mesozona together, triangular in shape, posterior margin ending in a projection. Lateral carinae in “V” from a lateral view, well-marked and with granules. Anterior and middle femora with some granules dorsally and ventrally unarmed, anterior tibia with 6–7 distal spinules on both ventral margins, middle tibia with 4–7 spinules on each ventral margin. Typical posterior femur of the genus (serrulated dorsally and smooth ventrally), posterior tibia with 8–10 spines on each dorsal margin, the spines of the inner margin being more prominent. Tegmina short, slightly bilobed (in five females, the tegmina was very slightly trilobed), and barely reaching the second abdominal segment/the first quarter of the hind femur. Tergites armed with a single spine close to their posterior border (but not at their end) at the midline, here in females less pronounced than in males and sometimes very reduced in the last tergites. Dorsal margin of the tenth tergite divided. Triangular epiproct. Cerci conical without exceeding the length of the epiproct and with a pointed apex. Ovipositor valves short, triangular, more sclerotized at the tips and pointed outwards.

Male measurements in mm (n=9). Total length 23.3–27.5 (24.92; 1.14); pronotum length 6.9–9.0 (7.72; 0.68); tegmina length 5.0–6.0 (5.42; 0.32); hind femur length 11.1–13.1 (12.30; 0.56).

Female measurements in mm (n=8). Total length 30.3–33.6 (31.73; 1.02); pronotum length 11.5–12.6 (11.98; 0.35); tegmina length 7.0–7.6 (7.25; 0.27); hind femur length 15.1–16.3 (15.66; 0.46).

Type Material. Male holotype: Brazil. Ceará, Crato ( Serra do Araripe ) 850 m. May 1969. M. Alvarenga. Paratypes 8 males and 8 females from the same locality. Deposited at UMMZ .

Geographic distribution (fig. 9). This species has only been recorded from the type locality.

The collector’s name came to our attention, and we found on the website of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln State Museum—Division of Entomology, the information below, which we consider pertinent to share here.

Moacyr Alvarenga (1915–2010) collected a large number of Brazilian insects that are now represented in museum collections worldwide. He has six genera (one of which is the basis for Anobiidae subfamily Alvarenganiellinae , and another is the basis of the melolonthid tribe Alvarengiini ) and more than one hundred species named after him (including plants as well as scarabaeoids (lucanids, scarabaeines, bolboceratids, melolonthines, rutelines, and dynastines), blattarians, hemipterans, homopterans, dipterans, orthopterans, mantids, hymenopterans, araneans, nematods, and one amphibian). He was a Brazilian Air Force officer, permitting him to travel around Brazil collecting in numerous places never collected before or since. He worked on Neotropical Erotylidae and published several papers on this group. He published one paper on scarabs, the description of the dynastine Agaocephala margarida e, named after his wife. Most of his beetle collection is in the Museu Nacional in Rio de Janeiro and in the Museu Paranaense in Curitiba (https://unsm-ento.unl.edu/workers/MAlvarenga.htm).

Etymology. The specific epithet refers to its small size among all the known species of Colpolopha .