Dinarippiger Skejo, Kasalo, Fontana et Tvrtković, 2023

Skejo, Josip, Kasalo, Niko, Fontana, Paolo, Ivković, Slobodan, Tvrtković, Nikola, Rebrina, Fran, Adžić, Karmela, Buzzetti, Filippo Maria, Ćato, Sebastian, Deranja, Maks, Gomboc, Stanislav, Scherini, Roberto, Škorput, Jadranka, Veenvliet, Paul, Vuković, Marijana, Lemonnier-Darcemont, Michèle, Darcemont, Christian & Heller, Klaus-Gerhard, 2023, Dinarippiger gen. nov. (Tettigoniidae: Bradyporinae: Ephippigerini), a new saddle bush-cricket genus for Ephippiger discoidalis Fieber, 1853 from the Dinaric karst, Zootaxa 5271 (1), pp. 49-90 : 53-54

Genus Dinarippiger Skejo, Kasalo, Fontana et Tvrtković gen. nov.

Etymology. The generic name Dinarippiger derives from the words “ Dinara ”, the mountain between Croatia and Bosnia & Herzegovina after which the Dinaric Alps were named, and “ Ephippiger ”, the name of the genus type species has belonged to hitherto. The word “ ephippiger ” originates from the Ancient Greek word ἐφίππιον (ephippion), meaning saddle, and suffix “-ger, -gera, -gerum” meaning “-bearing”, originating from the Latin verb “gero” meaning “to carry”. The word for “saddle” also originates from two words, the adjective ἐπῐì (epí, meaning “on”) and ἵππος (híppos, meaning “horse”). The genus name is of the masculine gender.

Type species. Ephippiger discoidalis Fieber, 1853 , here designated; type species by original designation, but also by original monotypy.

Diagnosis. The new genus is similar to Ephippiger (type species Gryllus ephippiger Fiebig, 1784 = Ephippiger ephippiger ) and Uromenus (type species Ephippiger rugosicollis Serville, 1838 = Uromenus rugosicollis ) and is intermediate in certain characters. From Ephippiger taxa, Dinarippiger gen. nov. can be separated by the following characters: 1) Red coloration of occiput directly adjacent to the prozona of the pronotum (black coloration in Ephippiger ). 2) Basal color of the tegmina black, with a wide white line just anterior to the caudal margin of the tegmen (basal color uniformly brown in Ephippiger ). 3) Cerci with bilobate tip, inner lobe almost as developed as the outer one (outer one ostensibly more developed in Ephippiger ). 4) Metazona of the pronotum shorter and less elevated than in Ephippiger . From Uromenus taxa, Dinarippiger gen. nov. can be distinguished by the following set of characteristics: 1) Bright red coloration of the occiput (in Uromenus blue, yellow, orange, or reddish, but never vivid red). 2) Large part of the tegmina is visible (in Uromenus tegmina are mostly covered by the pronotum). 3) Tegmina with numerous small black dots on the dorsal margin forming a continuous black line (in Uromenus there are large black dots separated by white areas). 4) Ovipositor is typically long and straight (short and decurved ovipositor in Uromenus ), but its length is highly variable among different populations. Furthermore, Dinarippiger gen. nov. males have trapezoidal and bilobate epiproct, while Uromenus and Ephippiger males have rounded or square epiproct, rarely weakly bilobate. In addition to the above-mentioned differences, it is important to note that abdominal tergites in Dinarippiger gen. nov. typically have black and white markings, which are not present in Uromenus and Ephippiger . Visually similar to Dinarippiger gen. nov. is Uromenus annae (Targioni-Tozzetti, 1881) endemic to Sardinia, in which males also have red occiput (in females, however, occiput coloration is dark), short metazona, ornamented abdomen, but short and decurved ovipositor typical of Uromenus , and distinct cerci (compare Buzzetti et al. 2019).

Composition and distribution. The new genus includes a single species to date, Dinarippiger discoidalis ( Fieber, 1853) comb. nov. inhabiting the karst of Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Albania. The genus inhabits the area between the distribution areas of the genera Ephippiger and Uromenus . Uromenus inhabits the area south of Dinarippiger gen. nov. distribution, with the closest populations in southern Italy, and a single isolated population in Albania ( Fig. 3 ). The distribution area of Dinarippiger gen. nov. borders/ overlaps with that of E. ephippiger in the central part of the Dinaric Alps (nearest known localities of Ephippiger are shown in Fig. 10 ). In Slovenia and Croatian Istria, the distributions of E. ephippiger or E. persicarius and D. discoidalis comb. nov. may overlap due to the mosaic composition of Mediterranean and continental habitats ( Fig. 10 ).

Figures

FIGURE 3. Distribution of the newly described genus Dinarippiger gen. nov. in the context of Ephippiger genus diversity. The distributions of all European Ephippiger species are shown on the map. The genus Ephippiger has likely originated in the Apennine peninsula and subsequently spread into the Pannonian lowland, the Balkans, Eastern and Western Europe. However, it is absent from the Iberian Peninsula, where it is replaced by many endemic genera, as well as from the Western Balkans, where it is replaced by Dinarippiger gen. nov. The distribution map follows the IUCN Red List (Hochkirch et al. 2016). Ephippiger ephippiger photographed by Slobodan Ivković.

FIGURE 10. Distribution map showing all known records of the genus Dinarippiger gen. nov., currently all assigned to a single species, D. discoidalis comb. nov., the Dalmatian Saddle Bush-cricket. Dots represent literature data (white—before 1905, grey between 1906 and 1975, and black after 1975), while squares represent new records (green—iNaturalist and Observation, red— Facebook groups “Koji je ovo pauk/kukac?” and “Insekti Srbije”, orange—Biologer.ba, purple—authors’ observations and unpublished museum data). Records of Ephippiger ephippiger and E. ephippiger or E. persicarius, falling within Dinarippiger gen. nov. distribution, are represented by red triangles and red triangles with a question mark, respectively.