Sathrophyllia femorata (Fabricius, 1787)

Sultana, Riffat, Panhwar, Waheed Ali, Wagan, Muhammad Saeed & Khatri, Imran, 2014, Systematic status of true katydids Sathrophyllia (Orthoptera, Tettigonioidea, Pseudophyllinae) from Pakistan, with description of two new species, ZooKeys 466, pp. 1-11 : 3-6

Taxon classification Animalia Orthoptera Tettigoniidae

Sathrophyllia femorata (Fabricius, 1787) Fig. 2 a–h

Sathrophyllia orientalis (Rehn, 1909) 200: figs 22, 23.

Sathrophyllia punctifrons Karny, 1927, p. 8.

Diagnostic features.

Generally brown in color, suffused with drab at tegmina at the base of costal field and to a lesser degree on the distal half (Fig. 2a, b); nodes on the veins of the distal half of tegmina brown; eyes brown, antennae annulate with dark brown, median limbs irregularly spotted and caudal tibiae incompletely annulate with brown coloration; genicular part of caudal femora brown; abdomen blackish brown (Fig. 2c, d, e). Size medium, with a slightly depressed form; head smooth, depressed with dorsal length nearly two thirds of the pronotum. Pronotum strongly tuberculate (Fig. 2b, h); occiput slightly descending to very broad intraocular region. Fastigium of vertex sharply and considerably produced, moderately tapering, proximal width slightly exceeding half the width of the compound eyes; dorsum of fastigium deplanate, with a slight medial longitudinal sulcus. Lateral carina indicated by pair of rows of tubercles. Tegmina of peculiar texture, with low nodes of short cross-veins. Wings extended to tip of closed tegmina; mesosternum strongly transverse. Ovipositor without tooth on its apex. Cerci nearly reaching tip of subgenital fig, straight, robust, tapering at proximal two thirds. Subgenital fig produced into pair of depressed styliform processes of fig, slightly broader, apices bluntly acute (Fig. 2 f–g).

Length measurements.

♂ pronotum, 9 mm; tegmina, 41 mm; femur, 16 mm; tibia, 15 mm; total body length, 30 mm. ♀, pronotum, 11 mm; tegmina, 46 mm; femur, 18 mm; tibia, 16 mm; ovipositor, 20 mm; total body length, 32 mm.

Material examined.

Rawalakot 1 ♂ & 1♀, 11.ix.2013, 33.51°N, 73.45°E (leg. Riffat S & Waheed AP).

Remarks.

Earlier, Brunner (1893) provided a revision of the genus Sathrophyllia from Italy and reported that Sathrophyllia femorata occurs in maximum numbers in Genova. At present we have reported 1♂ & 1 ♀ of this species from Pakistan, which are also new records for Rawalakot. The present study recommends that more detail surveys are needed to explore areas in order to improve the knowledge of this genus.

Ecology.

During the field surveys, it was observed that Sathrophyllia femorata fed exclusively in the cultivated field habitats occurring near valleys. These valleys were dominated by the grasses Cynodon dactylon and Desmostachya - Brachiaria . Present study suggests that most probably they feed on these grasses but our later study with more specimens will confirm this fact. Marini et al. (2010) also stated that as grasses having favorable of moisture level that attract species for their essential activities e.g breeding, feeding and overwintering. Possibly the grasses accumulate more visiting species to these habitats by providing appropriate environment for foraging and reproduction.