Criotettix Bolívar, 1887

Deng, Wei-An, Chen, Dan-Ni, Sheng, Qin, Zhao, Cong-Lin & Wu, Fei-Peng, 2019, An annotated catalogue of the pygmy grasshoppers of the genus Criotettix Bolívar 1887 (Orthoptera: Tetrigidae) with two new Criotettix species from China, Zootaxa 4629 (4), pp. 498-518 : 499

Criotettix Bolívar, 1887

Criotettix Bolívar, 1887 , 31:222; Hancock, 1915,11: 82; Günther, 1938, 99: 131; Shishodia,1991, 140:35; Jiang and Zheng, 1998, 290; Liang and Zheng, 1998, 78; Zheng, 2005, 76; Deng, Zheng & Wei 2007, 64; Wei, Zheng & Deng, 2007, 1423: 39; Deng, Zheng, Wei, Lin & Lin, 2015, 44(4):449; Gupta, & Chandra, 2018, 4375(1):144.

Type species: Criotettix bispinosus ( Dalman, 1818) = Acrydium bispinosum Dalman, 1818

Redescription. Body size small to large (pronotum length of ♂ =7.0–20.0, ♀ =8.0–23.0 mm), elongated and slender. Head not exserted above upper level of pronotum. Width of vertex narrower than or equal to or wider than width of one eye (about 0.8–2.0 times), anterior margin of vertex straight or slightly arched in dorsal view, lateral margins slightly folded upwards, with median carina; in lateral view, frontal costa before eyes straight or sometimes obtuse round and protruding as an arch between antennae. In frontal view frontal carinae diverged above lateral ocelli, width of longitudinal furrow of frontal ridge narrower than or equal to or wider than width of diameter of antennal socket. Antennae filiform, 14 to 15-segmented, inserted between lower third anterior margin of eyes or between lower margin of eyes. Eyes globose. Lateral ocelli placed in slightly above middle or middle of inner margin of eye.

Disc of pronotum flat, smooth or sometimes with coarse tubercles, anterior margin of pronotum truncate, median carina of pronotum completed or sometimes interrupted and elevated between anterior transverse sulcus and posterior transverse sulcus. Lateral carinae of prozona constricted backwards, humeral angle obtuse or nearly arched, abbreviated carinae between shoulders conspicuous or absent; caudal end of pronotum narrow, long coneshaped, apex not reaching, reaching or extending far beyond the apex of hind femora; posterior angles of lateral lobes of pronotum produced into sharp spines, straight or directed backwards, posterior margin of each lateral lobe of pronotum with two concavities. Tegmina long, ovate. Hind wings not reaching or reaching or surpassing apex of posterior process of pronotum. Upper and lower margins of fore femora and midfemora almost straight or sometimes undulated. Hind femur stout, upper and lower carinae slightly finely serrated; first segment of posterior tarsi longer than the third.

Differential diagnosis. The morphology of Criotettix spp. is relatively homogeneous. Criotettix Bolívar can be easily distinguished from other genera of the subfamily Scelimeninae by head not exserted above upper level of pronotum; disc of pronotum flat, smooth or sometimes with finely tubercles; upper and lower margins of fore femora and midfemora almost straight or sometimes undulated, but without large tooth. Criotettix Bolívar is morphologically similar to the genus Eucriotettix Hebard. In Criotettix Bolívar , head not exserted above upper level of pronotum; but in Eucriotettix Hebard , head exserted above upper level of pronotum.