Phyllopalpus nicolaita Figueroa, 2024

Figueroa, Jose Isaac, Ramos-Ortiz, Selene, Pineda, Samuel, Martínez, Ana Mabel & Palma-Castillo, Luis Jesús, 2024, A new species of Phyllopalpus Uhler (Orthoptera: Trigonidiidae) from Mexico, Zootaxa 5537 (4), pp. 596-600 : 597-599

Phyllopalpus nicolaita Figueroa , sp. nov.

( Fig. 1a–g )

Diagnosis. Body black, vertex with a red-orange spot between compound eyes; frons, clypeus, and mandibles shading from reddish-orange to dark brown; eyes silver; middle section of the antennae pale yellow, the rest dark; lateral margins of pronotum abruptly pale yellow; legs shading from pale yellow to yellow. Head slightly shorter than the pronotum, and pronotum slightly longer than wide, and narrower than the head in dorsal view.

Description. Female. Body length: 9.2 ± 0.3 mm. Tegmina length: 7.2 ± 0.1 mm. Hind femur length: 5.9 ± 0.07 mm. Hind tibia length: 6.1 ± 0.06 mm. Ovipositor length: 3.3 ± 0.02 mm. Cercus length: 2.3 ± 0.09 mm. Abdomen length: 4.6 ± 0.19 mm. Color: Body black except frontal area, between compound eyes, with a red-orange spot; middle section of the antennae pale yellow, the rest dark; pronotum with lateral margins pale yellow; rest of the frons, clypeus, mandibles, and tip of the ovipositor shading from reddish-orange to dark brown; eyes silver; distal section of cerci pale yellow; hind wing light brown and translucent; legs shading from pale yellow to yellow; second tarsal segment and tarsal claw in all legs, as well as the ventral area of the first tarsal segment in both front and middle legs dark brown; abdominal tergites shading from brown to black and pleural membrane whitish. Head and pronotum finely punctate; head slightly shorter than the pronotum (length: 1.7 ± 0.03 mm vs. 2.1 ± 0.05 mm) in dorsal view; head width from outer edge of eyes 2.4 ± 0.03 mm; anterior width of pronotum subequal to posterior width (2.0 ± 0.03 mm / 2.1 mm ± 0.03 mm); eyes slightly prominent not higher than vertex (in lateral view); antenna filiform with more than 208 antennomeres, very slender and longer than body (1.9 times); pronotum with lateral margins recurved; tegmina and hind wings extending beyond the apex of the abdomen, hind wings longer than tegmina.

Male. Body length: 8.0 ± 0.48 mm. Head length: 1.6 ± 0.06 mm. Head width from outer edge of eyes: 2.2 ± 0.04 mm. Pronotum length: 1.8 ± 0.02 mm. Tegmina length: 6.3 ± 0.08 mm. Hind femur length: 5.1 ± 0.17 mm. Hind tibia length: 5.1 ± 0.15 mm. Cercus length: 1.6 ± 0.07 mm. Abdomen length: 4.1 ± 0.23 mm. Color: Similar to females but it’s tegmina with hyaline portions. The same color pattern as in females except the right tegmen is almost black and the left tegmen brown with a hyaline central portion including mirror, harp, basal area, and a part of the chordal area. Stridulatory file with 70–73 teeth. Antenna with more than 199 antennomeres and its length twice as long as body.

DNA sequences. The fragments of the COI were successfully amplified for the specimens of P. nicolaita sp. nov. The COI sequences were 692 bp long. The obtained sequences of the mitochondrial gene of P. nicolaita sp. nov. proved to be sufficient to distinguish it from P. pulchellus , which is a unique species where a molecular characterization has been undertaken. The new sequence of P. nicolaita sp. nov. was deposited in GenBank (GenBank Acc. No. PQ179267). The COI of P. nicolaita sp. nov. was 93.61% similar to P. pulchellus (KF670975.1 and OR235176.1) from USA. The high similitude found in the same gene with P. pulchellus could indicate that this molecular marker separates the genus from other genera of the tribe Phylloscyrtini .

Material examined. Holotype, female. MEXICO, Michoacán, Tzitzio, 1.5 km south of Tzitzio locality , 19º 34’ 18.7’’ N 100º 55’ 24.7’’ W, 1465 m, 09-X-2020, José Isaac Figueroa . Allotype, male. MEXICO, Michoacán, Tzitzio , same data as holotype . Paratypes: 4 females and 10 males. MEXICO, Michoacán, Tzitzio, same data as holotype . 4 females and 2 males. MEXICO, Michoacán, Tzitzio, 1.5 km south of Tzitzio locality , 19º 34’ 11.1’’ N 100º 55’ 37.9’’ W, 1548 m, 13-X-2018, José Isaac Figueroa . 1 female. MEXICO, Michoacán, Tzitzio, 1.5 km south of Tzitzio locality , 19º 34’ 18.7’’ N 100º 55’ 24.7’ W, 1465 m, 25-X-2023, José Isaac Figueroa . 1 male and 3 females. MEXICO, Michoacán, Tzitzio, 1.5 km south of Tzitzio locality , 19º 34’ 11.1’’ N 100º 55’ 37.9’’ W, 1548 m, 29-IX-2017, José Isaac Figueroa .

Etymology. The specific epithet “ nicolaita ” is a noun in apposition to Phyllopalpus , which is a reference to the identity of the school community members of Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo.

Distribution. This species was collected at a mountain ecosystem 1.5 kilometers south of Tzitzio locality, in the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt, in the state of Michoacán, Mexico.

Remarks. Phyllopalpus is closely related to Phylloscyrtus , even though both genera remained as synonyms for some time ( Saussure 1874, 1878). According to Chopard (1956), they are easily recognizable morphologically since they share the following features: head short and pronotum a little longer than wide. The difference between both genera is related to the presence of setae spread over the pronotum, a character that is present only in Phylloscyrtus . As mentioned above, Phyllopalpus is a small genus restricted to the New World. While species-level identification keys are not available, it is currently possible to successfully diagnose species with morphological descriptions. The combination of characters presented below is sufficient to separate Phyllopalpus nicolaita sp. nov. from all other described species of Phyllopalpus for Mexico. Phyllopalpus brunnerianus differs in having the first segment of antenna reddish; head, pronotum, and legs orange; tegmina in resting position metallic bluish green to green; and body length of 6.5 and 7 mm for females and males, respectively ( Saussure 1874). Phyllopalpus caeruleus has an essentially dark metallic blue body ( Saussure 1874), although the legs are yellowish as in P. nicolaita sp. nov. Phyllopalpus caeruleus (body length of both females and males of 10 mm; Saussure 1878) also appears to have a slightly longer body than P. nicolaita sp. nov. Phyllopalpus nigriceps is extremely distinctive in having the body black with abdomen whitish above and legs whitish. Finally, we suggest increasing the knowledge of the gene pool of the group, exploring new morphological characters, and updating the species descriptions to advance the group’s knowledge. This will clarify the taxonomic status and the evolutionary relationships of Phyllopalpus species.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Phyllopalpus nicolaita sp. nov. Female: a. anterior view of head, b. dorsal view of the body, c. lateral view of body, d. ventral view of body. Male: e. lateral view of body, f. dorsal view of body, g. tegmina. Scale bars=1.00 or 5.00 mm.