Saga ephippigera Fischer von Waldheim, 1846

Şirin, Deniz, Taylan, Mehmet Sait, Sevgili, Hasan & Mol, Abbas, 2019, Bioacoustics review of Anatolian species of the predatory bush-cricket genus Saga (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae: Saginae) with the description of a new species, Zootaxa 4664 (1), pp. 83-102 : 89-90

Saga ephippigera Fischer von Waldheim, 1846

Distribution: This species was recorded from Anatolia, Syria, Israel, Jordan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Caucasus and Iran ( Kirby 1906; Kaltenbach 1964, 1967, Ramme 1951; Bader & Massa 2001). The distribution of species in Anatolia is mostly in Eastern and South-Eastern parts ( Figure 6A ) of it ( Karabağ 1958; Kaltenbach 1967; Karabağ et al. 1971, 1980; Demirsoy 1975; Salman 1978; Sevgili & Çıplak 2000; Sevgili et al. 2012b; Mol et al. 2016)

Song recording: Male specimens are collected from Turkey; Adıyaman, Çelikhan road, Sürgü Village plateau, N 38°1.141’, E 038°1.439’, 1612 m, 02. VI.2010, leg.: D. Şirin, and the calling songs are recorded from one male at 27 ˚C in the room conditions (by D. Şirin), Erzincan, Kemaliye, Ocak Village, 1485 m, N: 39° 08.732’ E: 38° 35.296’, 03.VII.2012, leg.: D. Şirin & A. Mol, and the calling songs are recorded from one male at 25 ˚C in the laboratory conditions (by D. Şirin), Erzurum, between Oltu-Olur, N 40°38.27’, E 042°7.52’, 1214 m, 31.VII.2017, leg.: H. Sevgili, D. Şirin, A. Mol & M.S. Taylan, and the calling songs are recorded from one male at 25 ˚C in the laboratory conditions (by M.S. Taylan), Elazığ, Sivrice, near Hazarbaba Ski Centre, N 38°25.01’, E 039°18.53’, 1835 m, 28.VII.2017, leg.: H. Sevgili, D. Şirin, A. Mol & M.S. Taylan, and the calling songs are recorded from one male at 28 ˚C in the room conditions (by D. Şirin & M.S. Taylan).

Description of song: Totally, 28 records from six males were examined. The calling song consists of phrases ( Figure 6B ) with irregular intervals. Phrase durations vary between 0.15 and 0.42 s (0.21 ± 0.03) and each phrase contains 6–13 syllables (9.73 ± 1.14). The phrase begins with a characteristic and isolated first long hemisyllable, which has a longer duration and a higher amplitude according to remaining/ordinary hemisyllables in phrase. The isolated first long hemisyllable durations are variable within intra and inter-populations of species (Oltu: 14–33 ms; Ocak: 24–26 ms, Hazarbaba: 21–25 ms and Çelikhan: 25–30 ms). After isolate first long hemisyllable, the phrase continues with 6–9 lower amplitudes syllables (generally corresponds to 2/3 of phrase) and then continues with relatively higher amplitude syllables ( Figure 6C ). Oscillographic analyses show that syllable periods duration varies between 14.16 and 33.89 ms (23.11 ± 1.98), and each syllable shows approximately a standard structure which is formulated as soft and long opening hemisyllable + loud and short closing hemisyllable ( Figure 6D ). The opening hemisyllables duration varies between 12.00–19.06 ms (14.86 ± 1.33), while closing hemisyllable lasts for 5.00–16.30 ms (9.11 ± 1.58). The phrase ends with last hemi syllable, which has longer duration than the previous hemisyllables in phrase and its duration varies between 15.44 and 24.05 ms (20.97 ± 1.51).

Figures

FIGURE 6. Distribution map (A) and male calling song of Saga ephippigera (B—phrase series, C—two complete phrases and D—a group of syllables, black arrow is the hypothetic opening hemisyllable movement and grey arrow is the hypothetic closing hemisyllable movement).