Svistella malu He, 2021

Li, Shi-Yu, Peng, Hui-Ling & He, Zhu-Qing, 2021, Two new species of genus Svistella Gorochov, 1987 from China (Orthoptera Trigonidiidae: Trigonidiinae), Zootaxa 4949 (1), pp. 173-183 : 179-181

Svistella malu He sp. nov.

Figs. 1D , 3G&H , 5

Holotype: male, CHINA, Yunnan Prov., Kunming, E 102.84, N 24.90, altitude 2000 m, 18-viii-2019, coll. He Zhu-Qing. (depository: East China Normal University , China)

Paratype: 1 male, same data as holotype ; 1 male, 22-ix-2016, other data same as holotype ; 2 males & 2 females CHINA, Yunnan Prov., Tengchong, Houqiao , E 98.28, N 25.33, altitude 2000 m, 5-ix-2018, coll. Bi Wen-Xuan.

Male: Body medium-sized for this genus ( Fig. 3G ). Head: head little wider than anterior margin of pronotum ( Fig. 1D , 3G , 5B ), vertex not flattened, frontal rostrum as wide as 1st antennal joint ( Fig. 5A ), 3rd–4th segments of maxillary palpi elongated, 5th segment triangular. Pronotum: pronotum pubescent and posteriorly widened ( Fig. 5B ), no lateral carina, anterior and posterior margin straight, fore tibia with oval tympanum on outer side ( Fig. 5C ), but concave on inner side ( Fig. 5D ), hind tibia with three pairs of dorsal spurs and five apical spurs, tegmen elongate and narrow, almost extending to apex of abdomen, mirror large and oval. Genitalia: Epiphallic lateral lobe long with one reverse tooth on outer side, and two minute teeth on the apex of each lateral lobe ( Fig. 5E&F ).

Female: Similar to male, ovipositor straight and little curved.

Coloration: Overall color yellow. Frons brown with two red longitudinal bands from head to posterior margin of pronotum, one short red stripe behind each eye; lateral lobes of pronotum red. No mark on hind femur, but a small black spot on the ventral side of hind femur near apex.

Variation: Individuals from Kunming is larger than those from Tengchong. Two females were only collected from Tengchong, and they were all long wing type (2.5 times as long as forewing).

Comparison: This species can be distinguished from other species by the combination of the lack of black stripes on the hind femur, red bands on the lateral lobes of pronotum, and a small black spot on the ventral side of hind femur near apical part.

Measurements (in mm): Male: SZ 7.0–7.3, PR 1.1–1.2, FW 4.5–5.6, HF 4.4–4.9; female: SZ 5.9–6.0, PR 1.0–1.1, FW 5.4–5.5, HF 4.3–4.6, OV 2.0–2.1.

Distribution: China (Yunnan).

Etymology: The specific epithet malu is for the Chinese phonetic alphabet, which is the abbreviation of. It means “deliberately confuse”. The new species was misidentified as S. dubia previously by He Zhu-Qing.

Song: The song was stereotyped with 80 chirps/minute. Each chirp contained 17.4±0.55 pulses, and continued 0.45±0.015 s ( Fig. 6 ).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Svistella males in live.A, S. bifasciata; B, S. argentata; C, S. wuyong; D, S. malu; E, S. anhuiensis; F, S. rufonotata; G, S. fallax; H, S. fuscoterminata. (photos by He Z.-Q.)

FIGURE 3. Dorsal view of body and lateral view of hind femur. A&B, S. bifasciata; C&D, S. argentata; E&F, S. wuyong; G&H, S. malu; I&J, S. anhuiensis; K&L, S. rufonotata; M&N, S. fallax; O&P, S. fuscoterminata; Q&R, S. dubia (Holotype), different species in same scale bar for body and hind femur, respectively.

FIGURE 5. Morphological features of Svistella malu sp. nov. A, front view of face; B, dorsal view of head and pronotum; C, outer side of fore tibia; D, inner side of fore tibia; E, male genitalia in dorsal view; F, male genitalia in ventral view.

FIGURE 6. Oscillograms of Svistella calling song.