Zvenella geniculata (Chopard, 1931)

Zheng, Yanna, Xin, Zhixia, Xie, Lingde & Ma, Libin, 2021, - Revision-of-the-cricket-subfamily-Podoscirtinae-Saussure, - 1878 - (Orthoptera: - Gryllidae) - from-China, Zootaxa 4995 (3), pp. 401-424 : 408-410

Zvenella geniculata ­(Chopard,­1931)

(Figs. 6A; 3C, F; 7A–F)

Madasumma geniculata Chopard, 1931: 143 , Gorochov, 1985: 20

Zvenella geniculata Gorochov, 1988: 13, 2002: 339 ; Ingrisch, 1997: 61, 63, 64; Ma & Zhang, 2012, 59

Zvenella nigrotibialis Liu, Yin & Wang, 1993: 96–98 , synonymized by Gorochov, 2002: 339

Zvenella decussatus Ma & Zhang, 2012: 63 , 66, syn.­nov

Examined­materials.­ 2 males. China: ­ Yunnan, Mengla, Yaoqu , May 24, 2013, Ma, Libin coll. ( SNNU) ; 2 males. China: ­ Yunnan, Mengla, Menglun or Wangtianshu , Oct. 23–24, 2014, Zhang, Tao coll. ( SNNU) .

­ Measurements­(mm).­Male: ­ BL 16.89±1.34; HL 5.27±0.98; HW 3.65±2.02; PL 2.83±0.24; PW 4.03±0.54; FWL ­ 12,76±0.45; HFL 6.87±0.02; HTL 15.98±0.43.

FIGURE­6.­ Bodies of Z. geniculata and P. planidorsalis . A. Z. geniculata ; B. P. planidorsalis . Scale bar: 10 mm.

Description.­Male:­ Vertex broad and flattened, slightly inclined. Frontal rostrum slightly convex in front view, inclined dorsally and ventrally, and apically setose; almost as wide as antennal scape in dorsal view. Antennal armed with setose. Median ocellus transversely ovoid; lateral ocelli rounded. Eyes small, about 1/4 length of head. Postclypeus shaped as narrow band; anteclypeus shape as broad shield. Labrum shaped as rhombus, lateral margins angle-like and the apical concave medially. End section of maxillary palpi almost equal to the length of the third; end section of labial palpi depressed and widened, about two times longer than the second.

Pronotum broad and flattened, anterior margin concave and the posterior convex; posterior margin slightly wider than the anterior. Anterior margin of metanotal gland narrowed and straight, posterior margin slightly concave at the middle. Keels slightly U-shaped, but rather narrowed. Gland less pubescent; short setae distributed along basal margin and the posterior of keels.

Tegmina about 2/3 length of body. Oblique veins five. Diagonal vein apically bifurcated and both branches connected to CuA vein. Chord veins three, linked to mirror by two transverse veins. Mirror shield-like, longer than width; dividing vein straight. Apical field armed with regular reticulate veins. Hindwings longer than tegmina, uncovered portion about two times longer than hind femur.

Outer tympanum larger than the inner, the outer one oval-like and the inner shaped as elongate oval. Hind tibiae equipped with spines armed with spurs distally (numbered 5:5); outer apical spurs three (the dorsal one longest, the ventral one shortest and about 1/3 length of the longest one, the middle one about 2/3 length of the longest) and the inner apical spurs two (equal in length) and about 1/2 length of the longest. Supra-anal plate shaped as trapezoid, the anterior margin slightly concave and the posterior straight; the anterior two times wider than the posterior margin.

Genitalia. Middle lobes of epiphallus long and acute apically; outside of epiphallic middle lobes apically acute and inside obtuse in caudal view. Lateral lobes of epiphallus short, included angle between middle and lateral lobes form a right angle. Epiphallus ventrally possessing two lateral projections, the anterior one short, rod-like, apically rounded and slightly shorter than epiphallic middle lobes; caudal one sheet-like (ventrally concave and armed with dense and sharp denticles). Ectoparamere apically bifurcated with upper branch apically rounded (about 1/2 length of lower) and lower branch apically acute. Guiding rod shovel-like, centrally furrowed, proximally widened and apically somewhat acute.

FIGURE­7.­ Genitalia of Z. geniculata . A. dorsal view; B. lateral view; C. ventral view; D. caudal view; E. inside of male genitalia, lateral view; F. guiding rod, ventral view; G. guiding rod, lateral view.

Coloration.­ Body brown or dark-brown. Occiput yellowish brown or dark brown; ocelli yellowish; eyes yellowish brown; antennal scape brown; clypeus and labrum white, maxillary palpi yellowish; labial palpi yellowish brown. Pronotum dark brown, with axe-shaped pattern yellowish brown. Tegmina brown. Leg brown or dark brown.

Female unknown.

Remarks.­ Chopard (1931) established this species placing it in the genus Madasumma . Gorochov (1988) moved it into Zvenella ( Gorochov, 1988) . Z. geniculata first recorded in China by Ingrisch (1997). Ma and Zhang (2012) identified some Yunnan specimens as Z. decussatus , which is resemble to Z. geniculata . The authors argued that they were different based on the metanotal gland, ventral projections of ectoparamere and characters of supraanal plate. After examining our specimens, we found these differences represent intraspecific variation. Thus, we consider that Z. decussatus should be a junior synonym of Z. geniculata .