Myrmeleomastax wideis Qiu, 2021

Qiu, Shaoting, Xu, Sheng-Quan & Huang, Huateng, 2021, A synoptic review of Gomphomastacinae (Orthoptera: Eumastacoidea) from the Qinghai-Tibet plateau with a description of new species, Zootaxa 4903 (2), pp. 296-300 : 298-300

Myrmeleomastax wideis Qiu , sp. nov.

Material examined. Holotype:1 Ƌ,paratypes:1 Ƌ, 5 ♀. China, Yushu (Qinghai), 4390m, (33°31’07’’N 96°29’94’’E), August, 2019. Coll. Ke-Yao Zhang, Zhi-Cuo Dan & Jun-Jie Ge; deposited in the Zoological and Botanical Museum, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an, China ( ZBM).

Description. Male ( Fig. 2 ). Body size larger, head shorter than the length of pronotum, slightly oblique in profile; antennae club-shaped, shorter than head and pronotum together, with 11 segments and distinctly wider in apical part; eyes larger, oval, almost of equal diameter with subocular furrow; Pronotum flat, crossed by three sulci, the ventral posterior margin of its lateral lobes rounded; the length of the mesosternum seven times width; wings absent; hind femur 5.4 times longer than its width, its lower basal lobes longer than upper ones, inner sides with three black spots; the lower lobes of hind knee rounded; hind tibia with ten apical spines on both inner and outer sides. epiproct slightly conical, posterior margin protrude with a promontory in the middle; cercus conical; extending to the tip of epiproct; Subgenital plate conical; Epiphallus bridged, ancora bud-shaped, anterior projection bend down; basal valves of penis conical, apex blunt.

Female ( Fig. 2 ). Similar to male but larger and more robust; width of vertex between two eyes 1.8 times wider than frontal ridge between the antennae; epiproct slightly conical, apex acute, with a longitudinal groove in the basal half; valves of ovipositor longer, with slightly obtuse apex, its outer margin serrated; cercus short conical, not reaching the middle of epiproct; subgenital plate subcylindrical, its posterior margin acute.

Coloration. Body and antennae yellowish-brown; eyes darkish-brown; hind femur yellowish-brown on both inner and outer sides, with three black spots on the inner side; hind tibia yellowish-brown; abdomen and subgenital plate yellowish-brown.

Habitat. Alpine desert steppe.

Measurement. (In mm) Body length: Ƌ 10.1-10.5, ♀ 15.1-18.9; pronotum length: Ƌ 1.5-1.7, ♀ 1.6-1.9; hind femur: Ƌ 5.0-5.4, ♀ 6.8-7.5.

Diagnosis. The new species Myrmeleomastax wideis sp. nov. is similar to Myrmeleomastax pulvinella Yin 1984 from Amdo (Tibet) region, China from which it differs by the characters presented in the Table 1 below.

Etymology. The specific epithet is named for a distinct character of this species, because the width of mesosternum of this species is distinctly wider than other species in this genus.

Figures

FIGURE.2: Myrmeleomastax wideis sp. nov. A. Ƌ Body, dorsal view; B. ♀ Body, dorsal view; C. Ƌ Body, Lateral view; D. ♀ Body, Lateral view; E. Ƌ End of abdomen, dorsal view; F. ♀ End of abdomen, lateral view; G. Ƌ Phallic complex; H. Ƌ Epiphallus.