Saga cappadocica Werner, 1903

Şirin, Deniz, Taylan, Mehmet Sait, Sevgili, Hasan & Mol, Abbas, 2019, Bioacoustics review of Anatolian species of the predatory bush-cricket genus Saga (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae: Saginae) with the description of a new species, Zootaxa 4664 (1), pp. 83-102 : 85-86

Saga cappadocica Werner, 1903

Distribution: This species is endemic to Anatolia ( Ramme 1951; Kaltenbach 1964, 1967). It was recorded from inner Anatolia ( Figure 1A ) of it ( Uvarov 1934; Ramme 1951: Karabağ 1958; Kaltenbach 1964, 1967; Karabağ et al. 1971, Şirin et al. 2014; Heller 2016; Mol et al., 2016).

Song recording: Male specimens are collected from Turkey, Niğde, Çamardı, Üçkapılar dağı, N 37°50.39’, E 034°58.19’, 1981 m, 24.VII.2017, leg.: H. Sevgili, D. Sirin, A. Mol & M. S. Taylan and the calling songs are recorded from two males at 28 ˚C in the room conditions (by D. Şirin and M.S. Taylan).

Description of song: Totally 13 records from two males were examined. The calling song consists of phrases ( Figure 1B, C ), which have quite variable durations. Phrases structure is different from all other species in the genus and comprises approximately triple syllables group series. Phrase duration varies between 1.59 and 17.12 s (4.35 ± 1.86) and each phrase contains 29–121 (62.44 ± 8.7) triple syllable groups. However, phrases generally begin with double syllable group and last with quadruple syllable group. In a triple syllable group, syllable durations are quite similar, but have different amplitudes (low-middle-high amplitudes; in first, second and third syllable, respectively). Oscillographic analyses show that triple syllables group periods durations vary between 43.92 and 82.88 ms (52.81 ± 1.16). The first, second and third syllables durations in group last for 12.76–17.87 ms (15.11 ± 1.16), 13.68–18.81 ms (15.66± 1.02) and 12.49–17.47 ms (15.67 ± 1.05), relatively. Each syllable shows almost a standard structure which is formulated as soft opening hemisyllable + loud closing hemisyllable ( Figure 1D ). Each closing hemisyllable begins with low amplitude, reaches the maximum level at the midpoint, and at this point it ends by decreasing.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Distribution map (A) and male calling song of Saga cappadocica (B—phrase series, C—two phrases and D—a group of syllables, black arrow is the hypothetic opening hemisyllable movement and grey arrow is the hypothetic closing hemisyllable movement).