Phalangopsis arenita Mews & Sperber, 2008

Junta, Vitor Gabriel Pereira, Castro-Souza, Rodrigo Antônio & Ferreira, Rodrigo Lopes, 2020, Five new species of Phalangopsis Serville, 1831 (Orthoptera: Phalangopsidae) from Brazilian caves in the Amazon Forest, Zootaxa 4859 (2), pp. 151-194 : 187

Phalangopsis arenita Mews & Sperber, 2008

( Figures 136–139 and 148 )

Ecological Remarks: Phalangopsis arenita was described in 2008, based on specimens collected in Maroaga cave, which is a sandstone cave located in Presidente Figueiredo municipality, Amazonas state, Brazil (Mews & Speber 2008). Despite the good morphological species description, the authors unfortunately did not provide any data on its ecology or habitat (as well as photos of living specimens), only mentioning, in the original description, information on the lithology, cave extension and the presence of a stream inside the cave. Since we are providing information of the habitat and conservation status of the species herein described, we decided to present this topic for this previously described species, considering that one of the authors (RLF) visited the Maroaga cave few years ago. Specimens of P. arenita were observed in almost all the cave extension, excepting the entrance area ( Fig. 136 ). The cave main conduit is trespassed by a stream ( Fig. 138 ), and many lateral chambers are connected to the main chamber. The crickets are mainly observed on the cave’s walls ( Figs 137 and 139 ) and sometimes are concentrated in some spots. The main organic resources are guano produced by bats of distinct diets, especially insectivorous and frugivorous bats. At the deeper potion of the cave, there is a voluminous chamber where a big guano pile occurs. This chamber presents a high density of P. arenita . Predators include especially the whip-spiders ( Heterophrynus sp.). Maroaga cave is inserted within the limits of a State park, so the external area surrounding the cave is highly preserved. There are other caves in the area, but most of them are smaller. However, in some of those caves, specimens of P. arenita were also observed, always in the aphotic areas. Maroaga cave is a touristic cave, but visitors are only allowed to visit the areas close to the entrance; hence, humans do not disturb the deepest chamber, where the higher density of crickets was observed.

Figures

FIGURE 148: Pictorial key for the species of Phalangopsis Serville, 1831, based on known adult male specimens (some images were modified from Desutter-Grandcolas, 1992, page 129, figs 42, 43, 46 and 47; Mews & Sperber, 2008, page 649, fig. 1-C, page 650, fig. 2-A, page 652, figs A, C and D, page 653, fig. 5-A; dorsal pic of P. flavilongipes available in https://science. mnhn.fr/ (Credit - Guy Le Corvec 2016).

FIGURES 136–139. Study area and habitats of Phalangopsis arenita Mews and Sperber, 2008. 136—Maroaga cave’s entrance; 137—Maroaga cave; 138 and 139—♂ of Phalangopsis arenita Mews and Sperber, 2008 from Maroaga cave.