Parapyrrhicia leuca, Heller & Hemp & Massa & Rakotondranary & Krištín, 2019

Heller, Klaus-Gerhard, Hemp, Claudia, Massa, Bruno, Rakotondranary, Jacques & Krištín, Anton, 2019, Notes on a small collection of phaneropterine bush-crickets (Insecta: Orthoptera: Tettigonioidea) from Central and Southern Madagascar with the description of two new species, Zootaxa 4563 (2), pp. 297-310 : 307-309

Parapyrrhicia leuca n. sp. Hemp & Heller

( Fig. 11–12 )

MADAGASCAR: 16 km north of Beloha , 300 m a.s.l., - 25.131933° S, 45.075445° E ; 17 iii 2015, leg. Anton Krištín, CH 8603 ( MfN), female .

Description. Holotype female: Color uniformly dark shiny green except for shiny white patch on left tegmen and tawny to pinkish area around tympana of fore tibiae ( Fig. 11 ). Head and antennae: Antennae green, thin, markedly longer than total length of insect. Fastigium as typical for genus. Eyes circular, prominent, greenish with lighter upper part when alive. Thorax: Pronotum without lateral carinae, broadly rounded to lateral lobes, surface of disc slightly wrinkled. Anterior margin almost straight with small median indentation, posterior margin broadly rounded. Tegmina and wings: As for genus, both pairs of wings fully developed, alae surpassing tegmina. Fore femora with anterior ventral ridge with three tiny spinules, posterior side rounded and unarmed. Mid and hind femora unarmed. Fore and mid tibiae without dorsal spurs, only with one small spur ventrally on inner side. Hind tibiae dorsally and on inner ventral side unarmed; on outer side one thick spur and a smaller located on opposite side to the other one; remaining part of hind tibia with four edges giving the tibiae a quadrangular shape especially towards its end; densely armed with numerous black-tipped spines.

Abdomen: Posterior margin of tenth abdominal tergite with median slack. Supra-anal plate evenly curved, slap-like. Ovipositor as in Fig. 12B . Subgenital plate broad, in caudal half continuously narrowing into a tip, in the frontal part incised ( Fig. 12C ).

Measurements (in mm). Female. Body length: 17; median length of pronotum: 4.3; height of pronotum 3.2; length of hind femur: 18.5; length of tegmina: 28; width of tegmina: 4.7; length of hind wing 27.5; ovipositor: 7.5.

Etymology. From Greek—λευκό, white, because of the conspicuous white patch on the left tegmen.

Diagnosis. The specimen differs from all Malagasy species of Parapyrrhicia with known females by the shape of the ovipositor which has a denticulate apex ( Fig. 12 B ), while those of the other Madagascan species have serrate apices. All Parapyrrhicia from African mainland, however, have also denticulate apices (see Hemp et al. 2016), a difference already noted by Massa (2017b). From these African species it differs at the first glance by the white markings on the base of the tegmina ( Fig. 11 ), known only in males of some African species. Females of at least some Malagasy species ( P. madagassa ), however, have also a white patch on the base of each tegmina. From P. longipodex , the only Malagasy species whose female is unknown, the specimen at hand differs clearly in the shape of the pronotum ( Fig. 12A ).

P. leuca is the first specimen of Parapyrrhicia found in the southern half of Madagascar, all others come from the northern part.

Habitat. Spiny dry bush with endemic Acacia sakalava , Alluaudia dumosa , A. humbertii, Baudouinia rouxevillei, Barleria alluaudii , Operculicarya decaryi , with small wetland and abandoned pastures and fields in surroundings.

Figures

FIGURE 11. Parapyrrhicia leuca n. sp., female, habitus; Beloha, 17 March 2015.

FIGURE 12. Parapyrrhicia leuca n. sp. A pronotum, B ovipositor, C subgenital plate (scale 1mm).