Paxilla Bolívar, 1887

Silva, Daniela Santos Martins, Cadena-Castañeda, Oscar J. & Pereira, Marcelo Ribeiro, 2021, Batrachideinae (Orthoptera: Caelifera: Tetrigidae): an overview of the most diverse tetrigids of the Neotropical region, Zootaxa 4946 (1), pp. 1-84 : 20

7. Genus Paxilla Bolívar, 1887

Paxilla is a North American endemic genus, known only from the southeastern part of the United States ( Fig. 38 ), with an unique species, Paxilla obesa (Scudder, 1877) ( Fig. 24 ) ( Rehn & Grant, 1961; Grant, 1962; Cigliano et al., 2021). This genus is characterized by anterior margin of the pronotum (lateral and dorsal view) not hook-like; body fusiform; antennae with 22 to 23 segments; dorsal pronotal outline arcuate; tegmina elongate and moderately exposed; wings vestigial; mid femur apical spine absent; hind femur very robust; brachypronotal ( Rehn & Grant, 1961; Grant, 1962).

This genus can be distinguished from brachypronotal Tettigidea species in North America by body fusiform, anterior margin of the pronotum (lateral and dorsal view) not hook-like; tegmina visible and dorsal pronotal outline arcuate throughout its length. According to the diagnostic characters mentioned for this genus, three species are transferred here from Tettigidea to Paxilla : Paxilla mexicana (Hancock, 1915) comb. nov., Paxilla tecta (Morse, 1900) comb. nov., and Paxilla nigra (Morse, 1900) comb. nov. ( Fig. 25 ). An original key to species is given below.

Key to species of the genus Paxilla

1. Body black, except the face below the eyes and the apex of the pronotum......................................... 2

1’. Body brown with other combinations of colors parts......................................................... 3

2. Pronotal disc with prozonal carina, interhumeral carinae and internal lateral carinae not visible or poorly developed; apex of male subgenital plate truncate............................................................. P. obesa ( Fig. 24 )

2’. Pronotal disc with prozonal carina, interhumeral carinae and internal lateral carinae visible and well developed apex of male subgenital plate rounded.......................................................... P. nigra comb. nov. ( Fig. 25 )

3. Vertex with distance between the eyes equal to one-fourth its width, tegmina without any mark........ P. tecta comb. nov.

3’. Vertex not as above, tegmina with a subapical white mark.................................. P. mexicana comb. nov.

Figures

FIGURE 24. Paxilla obesa (Scudder, 1877) (lectotype Tettigidea obesa Scudder, 1877) (A) left lateral view, (B) dorsal view, (C) frontal view and (D) labels. Scale bar = 5 mm. Photo of type: Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, Philadelphia/ Daniela Silva and Marcelo Pereira.

FIGURE 25. Paxilla nigra (Morse, 1900) comb. nov. cotype (A) left lateral view, (B) dorsal view, (C) frontal view and (D) labels. Scale bar = 5 mm. Photo of type: Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, Philadelphia/Daniela Silva and Marcelo Pereira.

FIGURE 38. Map of approximated occurrence of the genus Paxilla Bolívar, 1887 and some Tettigidea Scudder, 1862 species.