Acanthacara acuta Scudder, 1869

Braun, Holger & Morris, Glenn K., 2022, New species of awl-head katydids, Cestrophorus and Acanthacara, from the Andes of Ecuador (Orthoptera, Conocephalinae, Cestrophorini), Journal of Orthoptera Research 31 (2), pp. 143-156 : 143

Acanthacara acuta Scudder, 1869

Figs 9A , 10A

Material examined. -

ECUADOR • 1 ♂; Rio Aliso , nr San Isidro Resort, 2000 m; 2-6 Jul. 2003; G.K. Morris leg.; MLP • 1 ♂; Baeza ; 10 Jul. 1985; ANSP • ♂; Cosanga ; 10 Feb. 1988; G.K. Morris leg.; ANSP .

Diagnosis. -

Tegmina slightly longer than pronotum; venation at costal margin sometimes greenish. Pronotum sparsely pubescent and with contrasting coloration: lateral lobes dark, dorsal portion light with dark median markings on front and rear margin, sometimes separation of dark lobes and lighter dorsal portion developed as light medially restricted lateral stripes on disc. Last tergite shallowly emarginate. Cerci in dorsal portion elongate, inward-curved, and pointed; below that, another, slightly stronger and also inward-directed pointed branch, with dorsally slightly more sclerotized ridge, so the cerci look bifurcate in caudal view. Styli very short but distinctive, 1-2 times as long as wide.

Measurements. -

Pronotum 4.2 mm, tegmina 5.1 mm, hind tibiae 9.1 mm.

Notes. -

Our three males are so similar to the female holotype of A. acuta that we consider them conspecific. Fastigium shape and coloration details of the body match very well (the type is unfortunately lacking all legs except its right middle leg). The female was collected by the naturalist James Orton somewhere between Quito and the Napo region ( Scudder 1869). His expedition spent time in Baeza and then camped at a locality about 6 km further south on the banks of the Cosanga River ( Orton 1870). This is the very area where our specimens have been found, as well as the ones of the following two new species, which differ in coloration. According to measurements of pronotum and hind femora in the original description, the holotype appears to be adult, not a last-instar nymph as Gurney (1972) suspected.

Figures

Fig. 9. Acanthacara spp. male genitalia compared.

Fig. 10. Acanthacara adult males compared in dorsal aspect.