Anepitacta Brunner

Naskrecki, Piotr, 2008, New species of arboreal predatory katydids from West Africa (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae: Meconematinae), Zootaxa 1732, pp. 1-28 : 11

Anepitacta Brunner von Wattenwyl, 1891

Type species: Anepitacta inconspicua Brunner von Wattenwyl, 1891: 178.

Members of this genus are characterized by a strong modification of the 10th abdominal tergite of the male. Gorochov (1993) divided this genus into two subgenera based on the type of this modification as well as the shape of the female subgenital plate. In the nominal subgenus Anepitacta Br. -Watt (9 species) the posterior margin of the male 10th tergite is divided into two distinct lobes, ranging from small and shallow ones (as in A. scrofina Beier , although this SE African species should probably be excluded from Anepitacta ) to nearly complete division of the 10th tergite into two separate parts (as in A. bicaudata Beier ); in some cases the 10th tergite is strongly bent caudally and overhangs the abdominal apex. The subgenital plate of the female is rounded or acute apically, but does not have sharp projections at the base. In the subgenus Teratacta Gorochov, 1993 (3 species) the male 10th tergite is not divided medially, but instead has two pairs of processes (a large, lobe-like median pair, and small lateral ones), which are fused with the epiproct. The female subgenital plate has three sharp projections on its posterior margin.

The coloration of Anepitacta spp. is less uniform than in most West African Meconematinae , and many species have distinct dark markings on the occiput, pronotum, and the basal portion of the tegmina. The antennal scape and the antennae also frequently have darker markings.