Diponthus porphyreus (Gerstaecker, 1873)

Pocco, Martina E., Lange, Carlos E. & Cigliano, María Marta, 2023, Relationships and taxonomy of the genus Diponthus Stål (Orthoptera: Acridoidea Romaleidae), Zootaxa 5336 (1), pp. 33-81 : 80

Diponthus porphyreus (Gerstaecker, 1873)

Redescription. Medium-sized insects ( Fig. 4g, h ). Male: fastigium excavated, apex slightly concave. Interocular distance as or slightly wider than the apex of fastigium. Eyes prominent, sub-circular, exceeding the level of vertex in lateral view. Frons oblique; union frons-fastigium rounded. Antennae very long. Mid-dorsal longitudinal carina obsolete, cut by three well-marked and deep transverse sulci. Anterior margin of pronotum emarginate, posterior margin of disc angulate, lateral edges of metazona disc elevated. Integument of prozona strongly rugose on dorsum; faveolated on sides; metazona reticulate. Meso and metapleuras strongly rugose, tending to reticulate. Prosternal tubercle straight, with rounded apex. Metazona slightly longer than prozona. Tegmina and hind wings reaching the end of abdomen, or just exceeding it. Tegmina with transverse veins delimiting irregular cells. Anterior and middle legs with robust femora and tibiae. Hind femur thin. Cerci long, with wide and blunt apex, slightly incurved, widely surpassing the tip of epiproct. Epiproct oval, with pointed tip and tubercles on distal half; furculae lobed, with pointed apex. Phallic complex ( Figs. 10p , 11p , and 12a, b ): dorsal valves of aedeagus short and wide. Valves of cingulum similar to D. salvadorii sp. nov. with less expanded distal portion. Epiphallus with small lophi, parallel to the bridge, with acute apex, extended but without reaching the posterior processes of lateral plates.

Chromatic characters. Body color greenish brown with tan color ( Fig. 4g, h ). Head greenish-brown, with a wide mid-dorsal light brown band. Antennae purple, escape and pedicel greenish. Pronotum greenish brown, sometimes with light burgundy tints, with a wide mid-dorsal light brown band, delimited by thin dark brown bands ( Fig. 7a, b ). Meso and metapleurae greenish brown. Tegmina light burgundy with discal area yellow and dark veins ( Fig. 8p ). Hind wings with remigium light burgundy and anal area hyaline to very light green. Anterior and middle legs tan colored. Hind femur tan with a thin longitudinal band dark burgundy on the outer face; inner face dark burgundy except for the apical tip which is tan. Hind tibiae with outer surface tan colored and inner burgundy. Abdomen tan colored; subgenital plate and epiproct tan colored with the tips of cerci and furculae, and tubercles black colored.

Females. Similar to males but more robust.

Material examined. BRAZIL: 1 male and 1 female, Corupá ( Hansa Humbolt ), Santa Catarina, 01/1946, A. Maller, Frank Johnson leg., MLP ; 1 male and 1 female, Corupá ( Hansa Humbolt ), Santa Catarina, 11/1944, A. Maller, Frank Johnson leg., MLP ; 1 female, Corupá ( Hansa Humbolt ), Santa Catarina, 01/1945, A. Maller, Frank Johnson leg., MLP ; 1 female, Corupá ( Hansa Humbolt ), Santa Catarina, 12/1960, A. Maller leg., MNHN ; 1 male, Corupá ( Hansa Humbolt ), Santa Catarina, 01/1962, A. Maller leg., MNHN .

Figures

FIGURE 4. Diponthus species, as indicated. Males, habitus lateral views (a, c, e, g) and dorsal views (b, d, f, h). Scale bar= 1 cm. Numbers indicate characters and states used in the cladistics analysis.

FIGURE 7. Head and pronotum, in lateral views (a) and dorsal views (b). Diponthus species as indicated. Numbers indicate characters and states used in the cladistics analysis.

FIGURE 8. Tegmina, color pattern of venation. Diponthus species, as indicated. Numbers indicate characters and states used in the cladistics analysis.

FIGURE 10. Distal portion of aedeagal valves, lateral view. Diponthus species, as indicated.

FIGURE 11. Distal portion of aedeagal valves, dorsal view. Diponthus species, as indicated.

FIGURE 12. Epiphallus, dorsal views (a) and frontal views (b). Diponthus species, as indicated. Numbers indicate characters and states used in the cladistics analysis.