Svercacheta semiobscurus ( Chopard, 1961 ) Ma & Zheng & Qiao, 2021

Ma, Libin, Zheng, Yanna & Qiao, Min, 2021, Revision of Chinese crickets of the tribe Modicogryllini Otte & Alexander, 1983 with notes on relevant taxa (Orthoptera: Gryllidae; Gryllinae), Zootaxa 4990 (2), pp. 227-252 : 242-244

Svercacheta semiobscurus ( Chopard, 1961) comb. nov.

( Figs. 12A, B ; 13A–C )

Gryllus semiobscurus Chopard, 1961: 273 ; Chopard, 1969: 67

Modicogryllus semiobscurus, Chopard, 1967: 81 ; Bhowmik, 1985: 186; Ingrisch, 1998: 339

Holotype information. Type locality: India, Assam, Ledo. Deposited at the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia , US (not examined).

Measurements. Male (n=5): BL 12.73±0.52, HL 2.09±0.12, HW 3.58±0.19, PL 2.32±0.13, PW 3.97±0.36, FWL 7.48±0.38, FWW 4.18±0.25, MTL 2.83±0.27, HFL 7.35±0.28

Description. Male. Body sized medium in Gryllinae species. Head almost as long as pronotum. Occiput broad and flatten, vertex weakly inclined. Frons rounded and convex, and slightly wider than antennal scape. Antennal scape transverse and somewhat rounded. Postclypeus (top portion of clypeus) band-like with anteclypeus (lower portions) depressed. Labrum shield-like, laterally convex and apically rounded. End section of maxillary palpus longer than the third; end section of labial palpus conspicuously longer than the total length of proximal two. Pronotum transverse, broad and flattened dorsally, slightly longer than the half of width, and laterally inclined and folding down; lateral lobes somewhat flattened with lower margins inward depressed. Elytra short and not reaching abdominal tip. Elytral surface tapering with lateral margins almost arched. Basal field small and short, which nearly as half-length of pronotum. Diagonal vein straight and almost fusing a line with the outer margin of mirror. Mirror longer than width and slightly shaped as rectangular, with bottom pointed round. Apical field very short and shorter than mirror. Hind wings present and long, but not longer than cercus. Cercus thin and long, and almost equal to hind femur. Outer tympana large and longitudinal ovoid; inner tympanum small and ovoid. Hind femur conspicuously longer than tibia. Subapical spurs six pairs, short and small, and the inner proximal one always absent but the corresponding one in outside present. Hind tarsus armed with two rows of dorsal spines and outside ones more than the inner ones.

Coloration. Body colored yellowish-brown and ornamented with dark brown patterns. Occiput yellowishbrown and ornamented with seven large brown spots.Area between eyes ornamented with a broad dark brown band, and a yellowish-brown line between lateral ocelli. Frons almost dark brown and only median ocellus and around portions yellowish-brown. The middle of postclypeus (dorsal part of clypeus) brown and gradually changing to yellowish-brown; anteclypeus (lower portion of clypeus), including labrum colored yellowish-brown. Mandible yellowish-brown and colored dark apically. Pronotum yellowish brown and ornamented with dark brown spots; pronotal lateral lobes dark brown and about 1/3 lower portions yellowish-brown. Elytra yellowish-brown and ornamented with brown stripes laterally. Abdomen dark brown dorsally and laterally, and yellowish brown ventrally. Subgenital plate colored brown and cercus yellowish brown. Legs yellowish brown and ornamented with few of dark spots, and hind femur ornamented with dark spots and stripes dorsally and outward.

Genitalia. Epiphallus without median lobe, and lateral lobes far away from each other and the gap between them somewhat shaped as rectangular. In lateral view, epiphallic lateral lobe obviously thick and short, and armed with a short and obtuse papillary. Ectoparamere sheet-like and curved upward along with epiphallic lateral lobes.

Female unknown.

Materials examined. 1 male, Guangdong, Nanling , viii-23-2010, Wang, Manqiang coll. ( SNNU) ; 5 males, Hainan, Wuzhishan , 690m, viii-2-2009, Ma, Libin coll. ( SNNU) ; 1 male, Yunnan, Mengla, Yaoqu , 794m, vi-11- 2009, Ma, Libin coll. ( SNNU) ; 1 male, Yunnan, Mengla, Yaoqu , 794m, v-31-2009, Ma, Libin coll. ( SNNU) ; 1 male, Yunnan, Mengla, Yaoqu , 794m, v-29-2009, Ma, Libin coll. ( SNNU) ; 3 males, Yunnan, Mengla, Shangyong, Longmen , 870m, v-18-2013, Ma, Libin coll. ( SNNU) ; 1 male, Yunnan, Mengla, Shangyong, Longmen , 870m, v- 16-2013, Ma, Libin coll. ( SNNU) ; 1 male, Yunnan, Mengla, Yaoqu , 794m, v-22-2013, Ma, Libin coll. ( SNNU) ; 1 male, Yunnan, Jinping, Mengla, Xinmeng , 450m, v-3-2013, Ma, Libin coll. ( SNNU) .

Remarks. Coloration of this species varied from light to dark. The specimen we describe here is colored light and those darker possess similar patterns with but distinct in ground color. Type locality of M. semiobscurus is India. Chopard (1969) described the holotype and Ingrisch (1998) identified specimens from Thailand as M. semiobscurus and noted differences between specimens from India and Thailand. These differences are mainly in the angle between epiphallic proximal part and lateral lobe, and features of basal part of epiphallus and lateral lobes of epiphallus. According to description and illustration from Chopard (1969) and Ingrisch (1998), we compared male’s genitalia of our specimens with them, epiphallic lateral lobes of the ours are somewhat shorter and thicker (lateral viewed), and the angle between the basal of epiphallus and lateral lobe as well as degree of bending of epiphallic lateral lobes are slightly different.

Figures

FIGURE 12. Bodies of S. semiobscurus comb. nov. A. male with hindwings; B. male with reduced hindwings. Scale bar: 10 mm.

FIGURE 13. Genitalia of S. semiobscurus comb. nov.. A. dorsal view; B. lateral view; C. ventral view.