Episactus schusteri Cadena-Castañeda & Monzón, 2014

Cadena-Castañeda, Oscar J. & Monzón-Sierra, José, 2014, Studies in Guatemalan Caelifera: New grasshoppers and monkey grasshoppers (Orthoptera: Caelifera: Acridoidea & Eumastacoidea) and an updated checklist, Zootaxa 3857 (3), pp. 379-411 : 386-389

Episactus schusteri Cadena-Castañeda & Monzón , new species

(figs. 16–22, 69–70)

Diagnosis. Antennae with ten or eleven segments. Tenth tergite widely emarginated, latero-distal portion that connects with cercus armed with denticulate tubercule and sclerotized. Cerci curving inwards medially, apex truncated and armed with small dorso-apical prolongation.

Holotype. ♂. Huehuetenango, Barillas, San Ramón, Río Bravo. 600 m Latitude: 15.846620 Longitude: - 91.2322045. 20 July 2012. J. Monzón and F. Camposeco leg. (MUD).

Paratypes. 7 ♂, 9 ♀. Same data as holotype.

Description. Male: Live coloration: head capsule light blue, post-ocular band dark blue, abdomen and pronotal disc light green, lateral pronotal lobules red; eighth, ninth and tenth tergites light wine red, legs ochre. Head. Antennae with ten to eleven antennal segments; fastigium sharp not pronounced; eyes subcircular; central ocellus in the middle of the antennal base, between frontal suture. Thorax. Apterous. Pronotum rectangular, lateral lobule with the latero-posterior margin lower than the latero-frontal lobule, pronotal disc with medial carina smoothly elevated. Legs: anterior and middle tibiae ventrally armed with spinules, posterior femora with one ventro-basal spine. Posterior tibiae with 18 pairs of dorsal spines, variable in size. Abdomen fusiform; fourth abdominal sternite with one blister shaped prolongation of moderate size; terminalia expanding progressively from ninth segment; tenth terguite widely emarginated; distal region that connects to cerci with denticulate tubercle, sclerotized on both sides of tenth terguite; epiproctum lanceolate, as wide as long, apex narrow and curved; cerci not bifurcated, curving inwards from distal portion, apex truncate and with small prolongation on dorso-apical margin; subgential plate common for the genus, distal margin serrate and sclerotized. Phallic compex: epiphallus plate wide and flattened, posterior border with “v” shaped constricted incision; lophi elongated and hook shaped, longer than other species in same genus; dorsal shield partially covering ectophallic sclerites; internal ectophallic sclerite thick, spine shaped, with apex slightly sharp; external ectophallic sclerite plate shaped (in other species of the genus it is spine shaped) wide and rounded; ventro-apical sclerite plate shaped with one lateral spine, same as ventro-anteroapical sclerite, but larger; endophallic rod moving in ventral border of the phallic complex and connecting slightly with ejaculatory duct.

Female. Color and shape similar to male, it can be distinguished by the following characters: head conical, fastigium of vertex sharp, eyes ovoid and elongated (more elongated than males), ninth and tenth terguites light red, cerci conical and reduced, epiproctum triangular with slightly sharpened apex. Ovipositor with robust and crenulated valves. Subgenital plate subrectangular, meso-distal portion triangular, apex conical and not sharp. Etymology. We are very proud to name this species after Jack C. Schuster, Director of the Arthropod Collection of Universidad del Valle de Guatemala who has not only been the most important person in the modern study of insects in Guatemala but an example of a great scientist.

Measurements (mm) ♂/ ♀. Tl: 14–18/20–22, P: 2.5/3, Hf: 12/15, Ht: 12/16, Sp: 2/3.5, Ov: 3.