Pternoscirta pulchripes Uvarov, 1925

Huang, Jianhua, Storozhenko, Sergey Yurievich, Mao, Benyong & Zheng, Zhemin, 2013, Taxonomic notes on Pternoscirta pulchripes Uvarov, 1925 (Orthoptera: Acrididae: Oedipodinae) with proposal of new synonyms in the genera Flatovertex and Mioscirtus, Zootaxa 3718 (6), pp. 545-560 : 550-554

Pternoscirta pulchripes Uvarov, 1925

(Figs. 14–38)

Pternoscirta pulchripes Uvarov, 1925: 326 ; Zheng, 1993: 192; Zheng & Xia, 1998: 4; Jiang & Zheng, 1998: 195; Mao et al, 2011: 157.

Flatovertex rufotibialis Zheng,1981: 64 ; Zheng, 1993: 216; Otte, 1995: 429; Zheng & Xia, 1998: 114; Wang & Yang, 2005: 64; Mao et al, 2011: 169. Syn. Nov.

Type locality: CHINA (Yunnan, Shuan-dang-chong).

Location of type: British Museum of Natural History (BMNH), London.

Male. Body length: 20.0– 21.5 mm; pronotum length: 4.2–4.5 mm; tegmina length: 18.0– 19.5 mm; hind femur length: 10.5–13.5 mm.

Body medium-sized, slightly robust. Head and pronotum rugulose, with a few coarse punctures and dense short carinae and tubercles.

Head. Head large and shorter than pronotum. Face slightly oblique or nearly straight, roundly connected with vertex in profile view. Frontal ridge broad and flattened, nearly twice as broad between antennal sockets as at the fastigium, slightly constricted below median ocellus, and then feebly widened near the clypeus; its surface rugosely foveolate at the fastigium, punctured above the ocellus, deeply depressed below median ocellus and near anterior margin. Lateral facial keels complete, genae with an oblique carina diffusing from anteroventral corner. Vertex short, moderately sloping forwards, broadly flattened dorsally with truncate anterior margin and roundly curved carinate lateral margins, forming a pyriform shape; its surface rugose, with a quite short median longitudinal carinula (or rather an elongate tubercle) at the back of vertex and some small and rounded tubercles elsewhere; foveolae small and triangular. Occiput with a few small tubercles. Antenae filiform, exceeding the posterior margin of pronotum, median segments one and three-fifths times as long as broad. Eyes oval, with vertical diameter about one and two-fifths times as horizontal diameter. Interocular distance distinctly larger than vertical diameter of the eyes and width of the frontal ridge between antennal sockets.

Thorax. Pronotum slightly short, trapezoid in dorsal view, moderately constricted in the prozona, scabrous with short carinae and tubercles; anterior margin slightly broadly bisinuate; posterior margin angularly protruding with apex bluntly rounded or almost straight, not at all attenuate; median carina complete, straight in profile view, distinctly raised into low lamelliform and crossed by posterior transverse sulcus forming a distinct incision in profile view; lateral carina absent or weakly visible in metazona; anterior and middle transverse sulci present or distinct, strongly sinuate backwards but not crossing with median carina; posterior transverse sulcus practically straight, situated much before the middle; prozona irregularly tumescent, slightly shorter than metazona, with two short oblique sharp lateral ridges at anterior margin; metazona about one and two thirds times as long as prozona, shallowly and broadly depressed sideways of the median carina in the front part, and distinctly broadened posteriorly in dorsal view, with sparse irregular short longitudinal rugosities and round tubercles. Lateral lobes of pronotum deeper than long, rugulose and punctured, especially in metazona; anterior margin moderately sinuate, somewhat oblique; anteroventral corner obtusely angulate; lower margin straight and oblique backwards anterior to the middle, then broadly rounded together with the posteroventral corner; posterior margin slightly broadly concave.

Sternum with small, but very distinct scattered punctures; prosternum flat between precoxae; lateral lobes of mesosternum transverse, interspace between lateral lobes nearly as broad as or slightly narrower than one of the lobes; interspace between lateral lobes of metasternum about twice as broad as long.

FIGUES 14 – 21. Pternoscirta pulchripes Uvarov, 1925 , holotype male. 14. Dorsal view. 15. Lateral view. 16. Ventral view. 17. Head and pronotum in dorsal view. 18. Hind femur. 19. Hind tibia. 20. Tegmen and hind wing. 21. Labels.

Tegmina and hind wings developed. Tegmina subcoriaceous, narrow and long, slightly exceeding metafemoral apices, sometimes by about fifth of its full length, apices broad circular; stigmatic arch in the middle, discoidal vein very distinct, approaching the radial vein near the apex; medial area with distinct median intercalary vein which is closer to anterior cubitus basally and closer to media apically, and have stridulating files; cubital area wider than medial area, with intercalary and irregular reticulate veins; cross-veins oblique to longitudinal veins in apical part of tegmen and arranged in zig-zag, cells parallelogrammic.

Hind femora stout, upper median carinae with extremely fine denticles ( Figs. 25–26, 30–31 , 37–38 ). Hind tibiae with eight to ten spines in the outer side and ten to eleven spines in the inner side (observed from seven males and seventeen females), external apical spine absent. Arolium large, nearly reaching half of the claws. Tympanum developed, aperture oval and tympanic membrane small. Supra-anal plate triangular, with a median longitudinal sulcus in the basal half and a transverse carina in the middle, apex narrowly or broadly rounded. Cerci short conical, slightly exceeding the apex of the supra-anal plate. Subgenital plate short conical with apex bluntly rounded.

Coloration. Body yellowish brown to dark brown with scattered blackish spots, ventral surface and legs covered with sparse pubescence. Pronotum with X-shaped pale stripe. Tegmina with a transparent (pale yellowish brown) pre-radial maculation in the basal quarter to third, and a pale oblique post-radial maculation beyond the middle; the apical third transparent to translucent, tessellated with hyaline, and with brown small spots in some cells. Hind wings with anterior, external and apical area infumated and veins blackish brown, the rest area transparent to yellowish and the veins yellowish. Hind femora brown; upper surface with three sharp black maculation; outer surface without or sometimes with indistinct fasciae; inner surface yellowish brown, with a large long rectangular black maculation in the basal half and a much smaller one in the middle of the apical half which expands to the inner side of the lower surface; knees blackish. Hind tibiae orange in the apical three-fifths and dark brown in the basal two-fifths, with a distinct or indistinct broad yellowish annulation near the base; apices of spurs and metatibial spines black. Hind tarsi yellowish brown. Abdomen yellowish, with brown narrow band apically in each segment.

Female. Body length: 24.0– 28.3 mm; pronotum length: 5.0– 5.4 mm; tegmina length: 19.0–22.0 mm; hind femur length: 14.0– 15.1 mm.

Similar to male. Body larger and more stouter. Cerci short conical, not reaching the apex of supra-annal plate. Supra-anal plate subtriangular, with posterior margin broadly rounded. Subgenital plate long rectangular with posterior margin slightly rounded. Ovipositor short and stout, both upper and lower valves with outer margins smooth.

Materials examined. Pternoscirta pulchripes : holotype male (BMNH), CHINA: Shuan-dang-chong, Yunnan, 4 June 1922, collected by J. W. Gregory (Figs. 14–21); one male (DU), CHINA: Xueshanhe, Yangbi, Yunnan Procince, 2000 m, 6 June 2004, collected by Rui Fang ( Figs. 22–26 ); one male (DU), CHINA: Xueshanhe, Yangbi, Yunnan Province, 2000 m, 6 June 2004, collected by Xiaoxia Li; one female (DU), CHINA: Eryuan County, Yunnan Province, 2300 m, 25 May 1999, collected by Benyong Mao ( Figs. 27–31 ); one male and four females (DU), CHINA: Cangshan, Dali City, Yunnan Province, 25º 35' N, 100º 13' E, 2200 m— 2300 m, 29 May 1999, collected by Benyong Mao; three females (14528182, 14528183, 14528184) (IMS), CHINA: Yanyuan, Sichuan Province, 8 May 1981, collected by Fengming Lin; two males (14504760, 14504765) and four females (14504761, 14504762, 14504763, 14504764) (IMS), CHINA: Yanyuan, Sichuan Province, 3 April 1981, collected by Fengming Lin. Flatovertex rufotibialis : holotype male (SNU), CHINA: Huahongdong, Yu’anshan, Kunming City, Yunnan Province, 17 April 1974, collected by Sumin Zheng ( Figs. 32–38 ); one male (SNU), CHINA: Heilongtan, Kunming City, Yunnan Province, 10 March 1981, collected by Zhang Zheng. Heteropternis sp (misidentified as Pternoscirta pulchripes ): one male (10466208) and two females (10466205, 10466206) (IMS), CHINA: Yuping, Pingbian, Yunnan Province, 20 May 2009, collected by Xianwei Liu; one male (10466207) (IMS), CHINA: Yuping, Pingbian, Yunnan Province, 21 May 2009, collected by Xianwei Liu; two females (14022913, 14022940) (IMS), CHINA: Wuyanling, Taishun, Zhejiang Province, August 1987, collected by Xianwei Liu. Tristria sp: one female nymph (14007779) (IMS), CHINA: Guanxian, Sichuan Province, 2 August 1987, collected by Tianqi Wang. Pternoscirta caliginosa (misidentified as Pternoscirta pulchripes ): one male (14020904) and one female (14020665, hind tibiae pale yellowish) (IMS), CHINA: Yanshan, Guilin, Guangxi Province, 29 November 1979, collected by Xianwei Liu; one female nymph (14502280, hind tibiae reddish) (IMS), CHINA: Dongshanqiao, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, 11 September 1982, collected by Xingbao Jin.

Distribution. CHINA (Yunnan, Sichuan).

Remarks. Uvarov (1925) discussed in his original description that “A remarkable feature of its pronotum is the notch of the median keel opposite the first sulcus; this is in the disagreement with generic diagnosis, but I am not at all sure whether this is not an individual abnormity. The highly characteristic reticulation of the elytra leaves no doubt as to correctness of generic assignment of the new species”. We examined the types of Flatovertex rufotibialis and some additional materials identified as Flatovertex rufotibialis by Mao et al (2011) and found that they highly agreed with each other morphologically except the notch of the median keel opposite the first sulcus in holotype male of Pternoscirta pulchripes . This result obviously confirmed Uvarov’s suspicion about the abnormal notch of the median keel of pronotum. Since no morphological difference was found between Pternoscirta pulchripes and Flatovertex rufotibialis , we propose herein Flatovertex rufotibialis as a junior synonym of Pternoscirta pulchripes .

Figures

FIGURES 22 – 31. Pternoscirta pulchripes Uvarov, 1925. 22 – 26. Male from Yangbi, Yunnan Province. 22. Dorsal view. 23. Lateral view. 24 – 26. Outer surface of hind femur and closeups of the premedial and posterior portions of hind femur showing the extremely fine denticles on the upper median keel. 27 – 31. Female from Eryuan, Yunnan Province. 27. Dorsal view. 28. Lateral view. 29 – 31. Outer surface of hind femur and closeups of the premedial and posterior portions of hind femora.

FIGURES 32 – 38. Flatovertex rufotibialis Zheng, 1981, holotype male. 32. Dorsal view. 33. Lateral view. 34. Labels. 35. Inner surface of hind femur. 36. Outer surface of hind femur. 37 – 38. Closeups of the premedial and posterior portions of hind femur showing the extremely fine denticles on the upper median keel.