Oxytauchira truncata Kumar & Chandra, 2018

Kumar, Hirdesh, Chandra, Kailash & Saini, Jagdish, 2018, A new species of genus Oxytauchira from India (Orthoptera: Acrididae), Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 58 (2), pp. 495-498 : 496-498

Oxytauchira truncata Kumar & Chandra sp. nov.

( Figs 1–2 )

Type material. HOLOTYPE: ♂, ʻIndia, Arunachal Pradesh, Changlang , Deban, N27.50611, E96.39611, Alt. 345.4m., 24.vi.2017 (Coll. by H. Kumar)ʼ. The holotype is deposited in the National Zoological Collection of Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata, India ( NZSI).

Description. Male (holotype). Coloration. Antennae brown. Frons dark brown; genae ivory white with a dark brown stripe running from compound eye to mandible. Vertex and pronotal disc blackish brown with light bands bordering the fastigium, then running along inner margin of compound eyes and straight back, bordering pronotal disc and continuing on tegmina. Lateral lobes of pronotum blackish-brown above, ivory white below middle. Tegmina dark brown with a whitish band along cubital veins.Abdomen dark yellow. Sternum greenish yellow. Fore and mid legs green. Hind femur green, about apical half red, hind knees dark brown. Hind tibia blue. Hind tarsus yellow.

Structure. Medium sized for the genus ( Figs 1A, G ). Face ( Fig. 1G ) slightly concave in profile. Fastigium of vertex ( Fig. 1B ) rounded. Frontal ridge ( Fig. 1C ) distinct up to clypeus. Interocular distance about 1.7 times broader than frontal ridge between the antennal sockets. Antennae ( Fig. 1E ) longer than head and pronotum together, filiform. Pronotum ( Fig. 1B ) rugose, almost flat, crossed by three transverse sulci; median carina weak, lateral carinae absent. Prosternal process ( Fig. 1F ) compressed and widened to apex; apex trilobate. Mesosternal lobes ( Fig. 1D ) broader than long; mesosternal interspace longer than wide; metasternal lobes separated. Tegmen ( Fig. 1A ) reaching up to the middle of third tergite; upper half of tegmen triangular with obtusely rounded apex. Hind femur ( Fig. 1G ) moderately slender; dorsal carina smooth and terminating in a small spine; ventral genicular lobes terminating in a spine. Hind tibia ( Fig. 1G ) slightly expanded apically; with 8 external and 9 internal spines; external apical spine present.

Genitalia. Tenth abdominal tergite ( Fig. 1H ) with furculae. Supra-anal plate ( Figs 1H , 2A ) triangular, almost as long as wide, medially grooved in basal half, apical half flat, apex obtusely rounded. Cerci compressed and conical with truncated apex; more than 3.5 times longer than wide near the base. Subgenital plate ( Figs 1I , 2B ) broadly triangular, much wider than long with obtuse apex. Epiphallus ( Fig. 2C ) with bridge broad and divided; anchorae short and hook-shaped with pointed apex; outer lophi large and bilobate while inner lophi small and rounded. Aedeagus ( Fig. 2D ) flexured, apical valve broad with acute apex, narrower and shorter than basal valve, connected with basal valve by a weak flexure, basal valve broad and cylindrical, narrowing towards its obtuse apex, gonopore process large with truncated apex.

Measurements (mm). Body length ‒ 17; length of antenna ‒ 11.13; length of fastigium vertex in front of eyes ‒ 0.87; eye length ‒ 2.03; width of frontal ridge between the antennal sockets ‒ 0.32; interocular distance ‒ 0.54; head length ‒ 3.22; pronotum length ‒ 4.17; length of tegmen ‒ 6.88; hind femur length ‒ 11.87; hind tibia length ‒ 10.35.

Female. Unknown.

Differential diagnosis. The male of the new species is similar to O. jaintia from Meghalaya in general appearance, but differs by its shorter tegmen (in O. jaintia tegmen length 10.2 mm), separated metasternal lobes, shorter supra-anal plate and truncated cercus. According to INGRISCH et al. (2004), the basic structure of the epiphallus, as well as the shape of the cerci and the color pattern of the hind femur are valuable diagnostic features. As the new species from the Himalaya differs in these characters, we reason that it is not conspecific with O. jaintia . The combination of coloration of the hind femora, trilobate prosternal process, truncated male cercus and very short tegmen make new species distinctly different from all other members of the genus.

Etymology. The new species name is Latin adjective truncatus (- a, - um) referring to its truncated male cercus.

Distribution. India: Arunachal Pradesh.

Figures

Fig. 1. Morphological details of the Oxytauchira truncata Kumar & Chandra sp. nov. male. A – dorsal view; B – head and pronotum, dorsal view; C – frontal ridge; D – sternum, ventral view; E – antenna; F – prosternal process; G – lateral view; H – supra-anal plate; I – subgenital plate.

Fig.2. Male genitalia of Oxytauchira truncata Kumar & Chandra sp. nov.. A – supra-anal plate; B – subgenital plate; C – epiphallus; D – aedeagus. Abbreviations: A – ancorae; AV – apical valve; B – bridge; BV – basal valve; C – cercus; GP – gonopore process; L – lophus.