Modicogryllus Chopard, 1961

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 : 229

Subgenus Modicogryllus Chopard, 1961

Type species: Gryllus conspersus Schaum, 1853: 776 ( Mozambique)

Included species: Modicogryllus algirius ( Saussure, 1877) , Modicogryllus beibienkoi (Chopard, 1938) , Modicogryllus brincki ( Chopard, 1955) , Modicogryllus conspersus ( Schaum, 1853) , Modicogryllus cyprius ( Saussure, 1877) , Modicogryllus dewhursti Otte & Cade, 1984 , Modicogryllus frontalis (Fieber, 1844) , Modicogryllus guanchicus ( Krauss, 1892) , Modicogryllus kivuensis ( Chopard, 1939) , Modicogryllus latefasciatus ( Chopard, 1933) , Modicogryllus lefevrei (Chopard, 1938) , Modicogryllus meruensis Otte & Cade, 1984 , Modicogryllus minutus (Chopard, 1954) , Mirigryllus nigrus He, 2020 comb. nov., Modicogryllus ngamius Otte, Toms & Cade, 1988 , Modicogryllus nitidus ( Chopard, 1925) , Modicogryllus pallipalpis ( Tarbinsky, 1940) , Modicogryllus parilis Otte & Cade, 1984 , Modicogryllus perplexus Otte & Cade, 1984 , Modicogryllus pseudocyprius Gorochov, 1996 , Modicogryllus segnis Otte & Cade, 1984 , Modicogryllus smolus Gorochov, 1988 , Modicogryllus vicinus (Chopard, 1938) and Modicogryllus zolotarewskyi (Chopard, 1954) .

Remarks. This subgenus was proposed according to features of head and male genitalia ( Gorochov, 1986). The species of the subgenus should possess a rather strongly angularly curved clypeal suture and a wider gap between antennal cavities, which is no less than 2 times the width of the cavities themselves; and their epiphallus in the form of a narrow transverse sclerite with a pair of posterior lateral processes and ectoparameres with a fully developed arcuate sclerotized ribbon that secondly connects the middle lobe with an ectoparameter ( Gorochov, 1986). When established this subgenus, Gorochov (1986) included three species, Gryllus frontalis Fieber, 1844 , Gryllulus pallipalpis Tarbinsky, 1940 , Gryllulus truncatus Tarbinsky, 1940 , within this taxon. And Orthoptera species files (OSF) listed all the species of the genus Modicogryllus under the name of this subgenus except three species of the subgenera of Amodicogryllus and Promodicogryllus (Cigliano, et al., 2021). Referring to illustrations of regarding species ( Chopard, 1961; Gorochov, 1978; Gorochov, 1996; Gorochov & Llorente, 2001; Otte & Cade, 1984; Otte, et al., 1988), we considered 24 species as listed above should be included in this subgenus. We included a species, Mirigryllus nigrus He, 2020 , recently reported from China. Although the name of Modicogryllus has often appeared in many Chinese species lists, the species bearing this name were finally removed from the lists as their genus status changed. Thus, this species was almost the first true Modicogryllus species recorded in China. Then, Modicogryllus cyprius ( Saussure, 1877) and Modicogryllus pseudocyprius Gorochov, 1996 was arranged into the subgenus Amodicogryllus of the genus, we found, however, they are rather resembling with the species of subgenus Modicogryllus although Gorochov (1996) indicated the hind species armed with distinct and large spermatophore sac ( Gorochov, 1996). Finally, according to male’s genitalia, Modicogryllus vaturu Otte & Cowper, 2007 possesses features of the genus Mitius and Modicogryllus abrictos Otte, 2007 bears feature of the genus Loxoblemmus , thus, we think these two species should be moved out of the genus Modicogryllus and proposed new combinations of Mitius vaturu comb. nov. and Loxoblemmus abrictos comb. nov.