Araneagryllus, Heads, 2010

Heads, Sam W., 2010, The first fossil spider cricket (Orthoptera: Gryllidae: Phalangopsinae): 20 million years of troglobiomorphosis or exaptation in the dark?, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 158 (1), pp. 56-65 : 58

GENUS ARANEAGRYLLUS GEN. NOV.

Etymology: The new genus-group name is formed from a combination of the Latin words aranea , meaning ‘spider’, and gryllus, meaning ‘cricket’: literally ‘spider cricket’, in reference to the vernacular name of phalangopsines. The gender is masculine.

Type species: Araneagryllus dylani sp. nov.

Diagnosis: Female: head with comparatively small fastigium, protruding only slightly beyond the antennal fossae and in line with the vertex; subocular furrow prominent, distally curved, meeting weak frontal costa near frontoclypeal suture/anterior tentorial pit; compound eyes suboval; ocelli absent; pronotum wider than long, saddle-shaped, with prominent dark band near pleural margins and rows of long marginal setae; procoxa markedly more robust than mesocoxa; mesotibia with two apical spurs; metatibia with two parallel rows of between ten and 12 small dorsal spines, four long and robust subapical spurs, and three apical spurs (median one markedly longer than the others); subgenital plate broadly triangular, with a small but distinct median notch in the posterior margin. Male: unknown.