Haplogryllacris durgensis (Gupta & Chandra, 2017), 2018

Ingrisch, Sigfrid, 2018, New taxa and records of Gryllacrididae (Orthoptera, Stenopelmatoidea) from South East Asia and New Guinea with a key to the genera, Zootaxa 4510 (1), pp. 1-278 : 194

Haplogryllacris durgensis (Gupta & Chandra, 2017) comb. nov.

Gryllacris ( signifera group) durgensis Gupta & Chandra, 2017

Discussion. This species was recently described from Chhattisgarh, India. It was said to be similar to Gryllacris contracta Walker, 1869 . However, the wide face with a large median ocellus, venation of tegmen, and male and female abdominal structures speak against that this species belongs to the genus Gryllacris . Instead it belongs to the genus Haplogryllacris . The male ninth abdominal tergite has a pair of short teeth from apical margin typical for Haplogryllacris , and the female does not have the apical widening of the ovipositor that is found in Gryllacris . The pronounced dark cross veins speak also for Haplogryllacris . The species described by Gupta & Chandra (2017) is very similar to a pair of Haplogryllacris specimens from South India (Coimbatore) in NHM Wien labeled by Karny (in 1927?) as " Gryllacris frontalis det. Karny". Apart from overall shape and coloration, these specimens also have the long spine projecting from the ventral hind margin of pronotum. The pair certainly does not belong to Abelona frontalis ( Burmeister, 1838) from Central America but to Haplogryllacris . They might be identical with H. durgensis , but this has to be proven by further studies.