Prionotropis willemsorum Massa et Ünal, 2015

Massa, Bruno, Ünal, Mustafa & Verde, Gabriella Lo, 2015, Revision of the genus Prionotropis Fieber, 1853 (Orthoptera: Pamphagidae: Thrinchinae), Zootaxa 4059 (3), pp. 499-524 : 517

Prionotropis willemsorum Massa et Ünal , new species

http://lsid.speciesfile.org/urn:lsid: Orthoptera .speciesfile.org:TaxonName:472690

Material examined. Greece, Epirus, Ioannina, 4 km W Aristi (700 m) 29.VI.1986, F. Willemse (1♂ holotype, 4♀ paratypes) (NBC); Greece, Epirus, Ioannina, Aristi 10.VI.1997, P. Ponel (1♂ paratype) ( MNHN).

Description. Male. General coloration brown with blackish spots, hind tibia reddish, inside hind femora blue. Cuticle of whole body granulate. Fastigium of the vertex projecting forward, rounded, dorsum of head concave with obtuse-angular anterior part, raised margins, so that a shallow groove is formed; frontal ridge with shallow sulcus, interrupted at the ocellus level. 17–18 antennal segments, apical longer than basal ones. Prosternal process reduced to a small collar. Pronotum laterally compressed, with a raised carina ( Fig. 11 ); anterior margin of carina elongated, projecting above part of the head. Carina arcuate and interrupted by two sulci. Tegmina reaching the epiproct, tips evenly rounded. Hind wings shorter than tegmina. Fore and mid femora unarmed. Upper margin of hind femur with 8–10 spines. Fore and mid tibiae ventrally with double rows of 6–8 yellow spines; hind tibiae with double rows of several stout spines and a pair of larger stout spurs on each side. Krauss’ organ with fine tubercles or transverse rows. Hind apex of abdominal tergites with a spine covering ca. 1/3 of the following tergite. Male epiproct rectangular, pointed on the hind margin and with a longitudinal furrow; cerci stout, pointed and longer than epiproct. Subgenital plate with sharp median concavity. Epiphallus with short posterior edge, penis valves long and divided into two portions ( Figs 43 , 50 , 57 ).

Female: Similar to male, but much larger and more stout, with shorter wings. Supra-anal plate elongate with median groove. Epiproct long with transverse suture and a longitudinal furrow. Cerci very short and thick with broadly rounded tips. Ovipositor valves cream coloured, stout with slightly curved black tips. Sub-genital plate rectangular, with a triangular lobe in the middle.

Etymology. This species is dedicated to the late Fer Willemse and to his son Luc Willemse, who have widely contributed to the knowledge of Orthopterofauna of Greece.

Morphological differences between P. appula and P. willemsorum n. sp. P. willemsorum is clearly related to P. appula and until now considered to belong to the same taxon (but see Uvarov 1923). The most evident difference between these two species is the longer metazona of the pronotum in P. willemsorum compared to P. appula , mainly in males; however, males of P. willemsorum have a more projecting fore margin of pronotum than P. appula , which in turn has a more projecting anterior margin of lateral lobes of the pronotum than P. willemsorum (compare Figs 10 , 18 with 11, 19). P. willemsorum is larger than P. appula ( Table 1 ); in addition tegmina of males of P. willemsorum are longer than those of P. appula , and reach the epiproct, while in P. appula they reach the 5th abdominal tergite, leaving exposed the terminal part of abdomen; tegmina of females of P. willemsorum have a more pointed apex than those of P. appula (compare Figs 26 , 34 with 27, 35). The epiphallus has a shorter posterior edge than in P. appula , while penis valves are very similar, long and divided into two portions (compare Figs 41 , 48 , 56 with 43, 50, 57).

Measurements. See Table 1 and Figs 65–68 .

Distribution. Greece, Epirus ( Foucart & Ponel 1999, Willemse & Willemse 2008, see material examined).

Figures

FIGURES 10 – 13. Lateral view of males of Prionotropis appula (10), P. willemsorum n. sp. (11), P. flexuosa (12) and P. maculinervis (13).

FIGURES 38 – 44. Lateral view of the epiphallus of Prionotropis hystrix (38), P. azami (39), P. rhodanica (40), P. appula (41), P. flexuosa (42), P. willemsorum n. sp. (43) and P. maculinervis (44).

FIGURES 45 – 51. Dorsal view of the epiphallus of Prionotropis hystrix (45), P. azami (46), P. rhodanica (47), P. appula (48), P. flexuosa (49), P. willemsorum n. sp. (50) and P. maculinervis (51).

FIGURES 52 – 58. Frontal view of penis valves of Prionotropis hystrix (52), P. flexuosa (53), P. azami (54), P. rhodanica (55), P. appula (56), P. willemsorum n. sp. (57) and P. maculinervis (58).

FIGURES 18 – 21. Dorsal view of males of Prionotropis appula (18), P. willemsorum n. sp. (19), P. flexuosa (20) and P. maculinervis (21).

FIGURES 26 – 29. Lateral view of females of Prionotropis appula (26), P. willemsorum n. sp. (27), P. flexuosa (28) and P. maculinervis (29).

FIGURES 34 – 37. Dorsal view of females of Prionotropis appula (34), P. willemsorum n. sp. (35), P. flexuosa (36) and P. maculinervis (37).

FIGURES 65 – 66. Biometrics of the genus Prionotropis. Ratio length of pronotum / length of hind femora (PL / HFL), length of hind femora / length of tegmina (HFL / TGL), length of pronotum / length of tegmina (PL / TGL) and total length of body / length of tegmina (TL / TGL) in males (65) and in females (66) of Prionotropis appula, P. willemsorum n. sp., P. rhodanica, P. azami, P. hystrix, P. flexuosa, and P. maculinervis.

FIGURE 67. Scatterplot of the first two factors resulting from the PCA analysis of biometrics of Prionotropis appula, P. willemsorum n. sp., P. rhodanica, P. azami, P. hystrix, its synonym P. sontiaca, P. maculinervis and P. flexuosa males (a) and females (b).

FIGURE 68. Length of tegmina of males and females of Prionotropis appula, P. willemsorum n. sp., P. rhodanica, P. azami, P. hystrix, P. flexuosa and P. maculinervis.