Amytta mramba, Hemp, Claudia & Heller, Klaus-Gerhard, 2017

Hemp, Claudia & Heller, Klaus-Gerhard, 2017, Revision of the genus Amytta (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae, Meconematinae) and new species from East Africa, Zootaxa 4263 (2), pp. 295-317 : 307-310

Amytta mramba n. sp. Hemp

( Figs. 9 , 10 )

http://lsid.speciesfile.org/urn:lsid: Orthoptera .speciesfile.org:TaxonName:496657

Holotype male, Tanzania, North Pare Mountains , Mramba Forest, montane forest 1600 m, January 2016, -3.615422 37.606829. Depository MfN.

Paratypes. 1 female, same data as holotype; Depository MfN.

Further paratype material: 7 males, 7 females, same data as holotype and February 2015. Collection C. Hemp.

Description. Male. General body shape and colour: Flightless, small, uniformly light yellowish-green. Behind eyes two lateral yellow lines, which continue along the whole length of pronotum. Eyes brown-reddish. Tegmina abbreviated covering about half of dorsal abdomen; green with reddish margin ( Fig. 9 A). Head and antennae: Fastigium of vertex smooth conical, conus between eyes about half the size of first antennal segment. Antennae thin, longer than body length and whitish. Eyes circular, prominent. Cuticle of pronotum shiny without hairs on surface, but with short hairs along pronotal margins. Tegmina shortened with reduced venation. Stridulatory area hidden under pronotum. Alae about length of tegmina. Thorax and legs: Fore and mid tibiae with open tympanum, with 4 outer and 4 inner spines, apical with a minute pair of spurs. Abdomen: Last abdominal tergite undifferentiated, broad ( Fig. 10 A). Cercus long, laterally expanded forming hollow space along its length interrupted by constriction about halfway and then expanding again forming three-dimensionally lobe-like apices ( Fig. 10 A, B). Complicated structure or titillator protruding at apex with umbrella-like expansion apically. Subgenital plate elongate with lobe-like compressed styli (10 B).

Female. General habitus and colour as in male but with generally longer tegmina and alae. Spination as male. Ovipositor of female slender and smooth, only slightly up-curved. Subgenital plate broad roundish as in Fig. 9 D, supra-anal plate with deep median groove similar to A. judithae n. sp. ( Fig. 11 B).

Measurements

males (n = 6)

Body length 12–14 mm Median length of pronotum 4.7–5.0

Length of hind femur 8.0–8.5

Visible median length of elytra 3.7–4.5

females (n = 6)

Body length 11.5–12.5 Median length of pronotum 4.0–4.3

Length of hind femur 9.1–10.2 Visible median length of elytra 5.5–6.0

Length of ovipositor 8.0–9.5 Habitat. Canopy dweller of submontane to montane forest, 1450–1650 m.

Distribution. Tanzania, North Pare Mountains, Mramba Forest.

Diagnosis. An alate Amytta species with tegmina shorter than body length. Only A. judithae n. sp. also has tegmina and wings covering about 2/3 of the abdomen. However, A. judithae n. sp. has a strongly differentiated 10th abdominal tergite forming a strongly down-curved process while the 10th abdominal tergite is undifferentiated in A. mramba n. sp. Delimitation of females see at A. judithae n. sp.

Etymology. Named after Mramba Forest in the utmost west of the North Pare Mountains.

Figures

FIGURE 9. Male (A) and female (B) of Amytta mramba n. sp., endemic to the utmost western part of the North Pare Mountains.

FIGURE 10. Morphological details of Amytta mramba n. sp. Abdominal apex of male, dorsal view (A) and ventral view with subgenital plate (B). Female ovipositor (C) and female subgenital plate (D). Scale bars 1 mm.

FIGURE 11. Abdominal apices of female Amytta species. Arrows point at supra-anal plate. A. A. mramba n. sp. with bi-lobed supra-anal plate B. A. judithae n. sp. with deep median groove on supra-anal plate.