Acuscercus Cadena-Castañeda & Braun, 2020

Cadena-Castañeda, Oscar J., Prieto-Cristancho, Daniel S., Romero-Betancourt, Laura M., Braun, Holger & García, Alexander García, 2020, Studies in Neotropical Pseudophyllinae: A new genus of Cocconotini from the ColombianAndes and new subfamily assignment of the Dominican genus Anacaona (Tettigoniidae: Pseudophyllinae: Cocconotini), Zootaxa 4885 (1), pp. 133-138 : 134-135

Acuscercus Cadena-Castañeda & Braun n. gen.

http://lsid.speciesfile.org/urn:lsid: Orthoptera .speciesfile.org:TaxonName:512019

Diagnosis. Of moderate size and with brown coloration ( Fig. 1 ); fore femur ventrally and dorsally unarmed. Tegmina exceeding widely the abdomen length, with conspicuous veins forming irregular cells ( Fig. 1A ). Male cerci with two branches, the dorsal branch simple and short, the ventral one pointed and elongated ( Fig. 2 A–D).

Type species. Acuscercus edualdoleondiazi n. sp. by monotypy and original designation.

Etymology. Referring to the ventral branch of the male cerci which is elongated and sharp like a thorn. Gender: masculine.

Description. Large (body length 38–40 mm) and moderately robust in comparison with other Cocconotini genera ( Fig. 1A ). Coloration. Ochre brown, the only known species with black vertical stripes on the face ( Fig. 1 A–B). Head. Vertex and face smooth, antennal scape and pedicel unarmed; fastigium of vertex erect and poorly elevated ( Fig.1B ). Thorax. Pronotum covered by numerous granules; lateral lobes quadrangular, with the lower border moderately thickened; humeral sinus developed ( Fig. 1C ). Wings widely surpassing abdomen; tegmina with cells formed by conspicuous longitudinal and transverse veins; Rs vein originating well behind the middle of the tegmina ( Fig. 1A ). Legs. Legs slender and moderately elongated, without dorsal spines on the fore and middle legs. Fore coxae armed with a conspicuous dorsal spine, ventrally without tubercles ( Fig. 1C ); mid coxae with two tubercles on the ventral margin, one at the base and another at the apex; hind coxae unarmed. Sternum typical of the tribe Cocconotini regarding the organization of furrows; mesosternum quadrangular with ovoid lateral lobes and rounded edges; metasternum with the lower margin of the lateral lobes with an erect tubercle on each side. Abdomen. Tenth tergite and epiproct unmodified ( Fig. 2 A–B). Male cerci with two branches, dorsal branch cylindrical, short and without spine; ventral branch elongated, thin and pointed ( Fig. 2 C–D). Subgenital plate rectangular, noticeably longer than wide ( Fig. 2E ).

Distribution. Only known from the eastern cordillera of the Colombian Andes.

Comparison. Acuscercus n. gen., is in habitus similar to Bliastes , but the new genus does not have the cuticular expansions on the lateral edges of the tympanic organ and on the dorsal margins of the fore tibia ( Fig. 1B ). It differs from Cocconotus and Helicocercus by its more robust habitus and larger size. The cells of the tegmina are well defined especially between the costal margin and the radial vein ( Fig. 1A ), whereas the other genera of the tribe do not have well-defined cells in that region of the tegmina. Cocconotus males have cylindrical cerci, robust, without modifications and usually armed with a spinule at the apex. The male cerci of Helicocercus are modified into a sharp spine, but they do not branch, in contrast to Acuscercus n. gen.

The structure of the male cerci of the new genus is similar only to that of the three species of Nastonotus Bolívar, 1890 , which do have a cylindrical dorsal branch and a longer, sclerotized and pointed ventral branch. Acuscercus n. gen. differs from Nastonotus by a smooth face, lack of the black dorsal lines on vertex and pronotum, the tegmina widely exceeding the abdomen (shorter than abdomen or projecting only slightly beyond its tip in Nastonotus ), and the absence of spinules or tubercles along both dorsal edges of the anterior tibia. The latter are characteristic of Nastonotus species. While the male cerci of both genera are quite similar, the ventral branch of the cerci of Nastonotus is dilated at the base and later modified into a thin prolongation. In Acuscercus n. gen. the base of the ventral branch is not dilated, this branch maintains its sharp shape from the base to the apex.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Acuscercus eudaldoleondiazi n. gen et n. sp. male. A. Habitus in lateral view. B. Frons. C–D. Head and thorax in lateral and dorsal view respectively.

FIGURE 2. Acuscercus eudaldoleondiazi n. gen et n. sp. male.A–B. Terminalia in dorsal and latero-dorsal view respectively. C–D. Cerci in dorsal and latero-dorsal view. E. Subgenital plate.