Entomotropica Sociedad Venezolana de Entomologia ISSN: 1317-5262 Vol. 23, Num. 1, 2008, pp. 37-41

Entomotropica, Vol. 23, No. 1, Abril/April, 2008, pp. 37-41

A new species of Incanotus Beier from Ecuador (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae: Pseudophyllinae)

Una nueva especie de Incanotus Beier de Ecuador (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae: Pseudophyllinae)

Fillippo Maria Buzzetti

Univiersità degli Studi di Padova. Email: filippomaria.buzzetti@unipd.it

Code Number: em08002

Abstract

Incanotus mariaelenae n. sp. from Ecuadorean Amazon is described. The male is characterized by having globular cerci with a basal portion hemispherical and a latero-distal tooth. Female subgenital plate with wide lobes. An updated identification key for the genus is provided.

Additional key words: Ensifera, katydids, neotropical.

Resumen

Se describe Incanotus mariaelenae n. sp. de la Amazonia Ecuatoriana. El macho se caracteriza por los cercos globulares, con parte basal hemisférica y con un diente latero-distal. La placa subgenital de la hembra con lóbulos amplios. Se presenta unna clave actualizada para separar las espécies del género.

Palabras clave adicionales: Ensifera, neotropical, taritasas.

Introduction

The Neotropical genus Incanotus Beier, 1960 belongs to the tribe Cocconotini of the subfamily Pseudophyllinae. It was established to include two species previously assigned to other genera, Incanotus amorii (Bolivar, 1881) and Incanotus inca (Saussure & Pictet, 1881), plus a new species, Incanotus atricoxatus Beier, 1960. The genus is characterized by the following combination of characters: pronotum surface densely spinose-granulated, male supra-anal plate cupola-shaped.

Recent collecting expeditions to the Ecuadorean Amazon resulted in material of a previously unknown species of the genus, here described.

Incanotus mariaelenae n. sp.

Diagnosis. Colour dominantly green, with occiput, dorsal surface of pronotum and stridulatory apparatus black. Pronotum finely spinose dorsally, rogulose laterally. Male cerci aberrant for genus, very short, with basal portion hemispherical and laterodistal tooth, almost completely concealed between supraanal and subgenital plate.

Type material. Holotype ♂: Ecuador, Napo province, Yasuni Scientific Station, 219 m, S 00°40’26.6’’ W076°23’51.5’’, 22/26.XI.2004, legit F. M. Buzzetti & G. Carotti. Allotype ♀: Ecuador Morona Santiago province, Wisuy, NE of Macuma, 664 m, S02°06’52.1’’ W077°44’23.3’’, 25/28.IV.2006, legit F. M. Buzzetti, G. Carotti & A. Marzotto. Types deposited in Natural History Museum of Vienna (Austria), 2nd Zoological Department, Entomology, Orthoptera Collection.

Description. Holotype ♂. Body (Fig. 1 A-B) green with light brown-green appendages, face green, occiput, pronotum dorsal surface and stridulatory apparatus black.

Head. Frons smooth, broader than long. Fastigium of vertex produced in a small spine sulcated above and preceded in the vertex by one small tubercle on each side of sulcus. Frontal fastigium separated from fastigium of vertex, weakly produced in a blunt tubercle. Fastigia separated from the antennae by a laminar projection longer than fastigium of vertex. Antennal scape with a dorso-apical tooth. Face light green. Occiput black.

Thorax. Pronotum wrinkled, finely spined on black dorsal surface and granular on green lateral lobes, intersected by two sulci that almost join on lateral lobe. Prosternum armed with two well developed, straight spines. Mesosternal grooves (Fig. 1E) meeting at single point; mesosternal pit transverse, lateral lobes forming blunt triangles. Metasternal grooves reaching backward almost circular metasternal pit, lateral lobes obliquely truncated.

Tegmina and wings. Tegmina green with main venation paler and stridulatory apparatus black, surpassing body by about one fourth. Wings hyaline, folded under tegmina.

Legs. Light green. Fore femora with 3 dark spinules, on inner ventral margin of distal half, distal one largest. Fore tibiae with 6 dark spines on both ventral margins. Mid femora with 3 dark spines on outer ventral margin of distal half. Mid tibiae with 7 dark spines on both ventral margins. Hind femora armed with 6 dark spines along outer ventral margin. Hind tibiae with 9 to 11 dark spines on inner dorsal and outer ventral margins, 3 to 5 on other margins.

Abdomen. Light green or yellowish-brown. Supra-anal plate (Fig. 1D) cupola-shaped, almost completely covering genital cavity, with dense pilosity in distal half and with median longitudinal groove. Cerci (Fig. 1D) very short, with basal hemispherical portion and latero-distal tooth, almost completely hidden between supra-anal and subgenital plate. Subgenital plate (Fig. 1C) with hind margin deeply emarginated for about 1/3 of the entire plate length, styli converging backward.

Allotype ♀. Colour and structure as male holotype except for: general colour darker, pronotum with hind ventral corner and fore coxae black, tegmina completely green, ovipositor blackish brown. Size larger than male holotype (see tab.1). Ovipositor (Fig. 1A) with smooth dorsal and ventral margins, the dorsal distal margin bearing minute serrulation. Subgenital plate (Fig. 1B) with hind margin incised, forming two wide lobes.

Table 1. Measurements in mm of the type material studied.

Derivatio nominis. This species is dedicated to Maria Elena Cisco.

Comparative notes. I. mariaelenae n. sp. differs from the three congeneric species in many features, especially the male cerci and the female subgenital plate.

It differs from Incanotus amorii in having the coxae and pleurae partly black, female subgenital plate wider. I. mariaelenae and I. amorii are the only species of the genus with the pronotum dorsally entirely black. .

Similar to I. inca in the female subgenital plate, but is distinct from this species because of the colouration on pronotum dorsal surface that in I. mariaelenae covers the whole dorsal surface, while in I. inca only the prozona and metazona are black. The male terminalia are very similar in I. mariaelenae and I. inca, differing for the sides of subgenital plate that are concave in the species here described, while are parallel in inca.

It differs from I. atricoxatus in having the dorsal surface of pronotum entirely black, female subgenital plate wider.

Updated identification key for the genus Incanotus Beier 1960.

1 Coxae and pleurae partly black.......................2

Coxae and pleurae concolour............................ ....................................I. amorii (Bolivar, 1881)

2 Pronotum dorsal surface entirely black............. ...........................................I. mariaelenae n. sp.

Pronotum dorsal surface only partly black or entirely green..................................................3

3 Pronotum partly (pro- and metazona) black.... .......................I. inca (Saussure & Pictet 1898)

Pronotum entirely green................................... ....................................I. atricoxatus Beier 1960

Fig. 2

Acknowledgements

I thank prof. Giovanni Onore (PUCE, Quito, Ecuador) for his kind hospitality in Quito, Giovanni Carotti for accompanying me during collecting expeditions in Ecuador, and the anonymous referee for precious comments and suggestions on the manuscript.

References

• Beier M. 1960. Orthoptera Tettigoniidae (Pseudophyllinae II), 396 pag In: Mertens R, Hennig W, Wermuth H [eds] Das Tierreich, vol 74.

© 2008, Sociedad Venezolana de Entomología

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