Taphronota calliparea dimidiata Bolívar, 1904

Felix, Rob P. W. H. & Massa, Bruno, 2016, Orthoptera (Insecta: Tettigonioidea, Pyrgomorphoidea, Acridoidea) of Kafa Biosphere Reserve, Bale Mountains National Park and other areas of conservation interest in Ethiopia, Zootaxa 4189 (1), pp. 1-59 : 37

Taphronota calliparea dimidiata Bolívar, 1904

http://lsid.speciesfile.org/urn:lsid: Orthoptera .speciesfile.org:TaxonName:36870 Figure 31

Material examined. ETHIOPIA: SNNPR, Bench Maji, Dembi Forest (1260 m), 14.IV.2015, R.P.W.H. Felix (2Ƌ, RFPC), B. Massa (1♀, BMPC) ; Keffa , Guesthouse Bonga (1760 m), 22.IV.2015, R.P.W.H. Felix (1Ƌ, RFPC) .

Distribution. T. calliparea is distributed throughout Africa south of the Sahara. Two ssp. are recognised, at the extremes of their geographical ranges, and for considerable parts of the intervening areas, are readily recognisable. On the other hand, northern and southern populations tend to be on a series of clines, rather than to constitute distinct entities with a narrow band of intermediate characters ( Kevan 1974). Ssp. dimidiata, with its type described from Ethiopia (Bolivar 1904), is the northern representative, known from western Africa to northern Angola eastwards to Ethiopia and Kenya. The nominate species is found in the area of southern Angola, northwards throughout central and eastern Africa, to include most of Tanzania ( Kevan 1974).

Remarks. The description of ssp. dimidiata in Kevan (1974) fits our specimens with respect to body size, the reddish base of the hind wing, the distinctly infumated anterior and apical part of the hind wing and the absence of a whitish lateral pronotal lobe. Contrary to Kevan (1974) is the underside of the femur, which is yellow, instead of red ( Figure 31 ). This variation in colour is mentioned by Rowell et al. (2015).

Figures

FIGURE 31. Taphronota calliparea dimidiata, Dembi Forest (1260 m), Ethiopia (same specimen). Scale bar represents 1 cm.