Gonatoxia

Hemp, Claudia, Heller, Klaus-Gerhard, Warchalowska-Śliwa, Elzbieta & Hemp, Andreas, 2016, Spotted males, uniform females and the lowest chromosome number in Tettigoniids recorded: Review of the genus Gonatoxia Karsch (Orthoptera, Phaneropterinae), Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 63 (2), pp. 271-286 : 271-272

Genus Gonatoxia stat. rev.

Gonatoxia Karsch 1889 [ 1888]. Berlin Ent. Z. 32: 423, 441.

Remarks.

Massa (2015) synonymized Gonatoxia with Dapanera since the males of Dapanera and Gonatoxia maculata have a similar outer appearance and genitalic morphology. Massa discussed that morphological differences between the genera Dapanera and Gonatoxia given by Karsch (1889) are too small to rectify genus status. Differences between the both genera referred to the fastigium of vertex not being sulcate in Gonatoxia , sulcate in Dapanera , the tegmina wider in Gonatoxia compared to Dapanera and the genicular lobes of the hind femora wearing a spine in Gonatoxia and are unarmed in Dapanera . Massa (2015) discussed that also Gonatoxia has a sulcate fastigium verticis and Dapanera species may have a small spine on the genicular lobes. The only distinguishing character between both genera remaining as given by Karsch (1889) was tegmina width.

Until recently little material was available in museum collections from the two known species of Gonatoxia . Now specimens of Gonatoxia maculata were collected on Mt Kilimanjaro ( Hemp 2013a), fair numbers of this species few months later in savanna habitats and deciduous dry forests around Mt Kilimanjaro and in the North Pare Mountains ( Hemp 2013b). Since many more specimens were collected now from various Tanzanian localities and compared to the types and each other it became clear that the females of Gonatoxia maculata and Gonatoxia immaculata are very similar and the majority of collected specimens were without maculae on the tegmina. Males of Gonatoxia maculata as well as of Gonatoxia immaculata have maculae on the tegmina, but clearly differing in their genitalic morphology. Thus the name given by Karsch (1889) referring to the maculae on the tegmina is misleading since in both species males have well developed maculae. A third species, Gonatoxia furcata sp. n. was detected in the Udzungwa Mountains clearly separated from the other species by a different colour pattern and the male genitalic system. Gonatoxia helleri sp. n. is very similar to Gonatoxia maculata and intensive studies on its acoustics were conducted to separate these two species which occupy different habitats. The four species exhibit a very uniform outer morphology, the females having stout, little serrated and strongly up-curved ovipositors while all species of the genus Dapanera also uniformely have a more elongated ovipositor (Fig. 1) strongly differing in shape from that in Gonatoxia . All Gonatoxia species are stout with a vivid yellow dorsal abdomen (Fig. 2B). The male genitalia of Gonatoxia are only superficially similar to those of the genus Dapanera . Thus genus status is justified by a very homogenous outer morphology of Gonatoxia species (Fig. 2) compared to Dapanera species. Therefore it is proposed to reinstate the genus Gonatoxia .