Madagascarantia, Massa, Bruno, 2017

Massa, Bruno, 2017, New taxa of Orthoptera (Insecta Tettigoniidae Phaneropterinae) from Madagascar, Zootaxa 4242 (2), pp. 299-312 : 306-309

Madagascarantia new genus

( Figs 5 A–5D, 6G– 6I)

Type species. Madagascarantia bartolozzii new species, here designated

Description. Large size, short head wide round eyes, fastigium of vertex sulcate, as large as scapus of antennae, separated from fastigium of frons and protruding a little above it ( Figs 6 G, 6H); face rather large ( Fig. 6 G). Pronotum just shorter than high, lateral carinae just evident, lateral lobes rounded, prozona hardly narrower than metazona ( Fig. 6 H); anterior margin of pronotum hardly concave, posterior margin rounded, with evident lateral excisions. Tegmina much wider than pronotum length, 3.0 times longer than wide in the male, 2.5 times longer than wide in the female, leathery, with the apical margins obliquely cut; hind wings longer than tegmina ( Figs 5 A, 5B). Stridulatory area of the left tegmen just curved.

Fore coxae armed. Tympana on fore tibiae open on outer and inner sides. Ventral margins of fore and mid femora furrowed, fore femora with spines on ventral margins, ventral margins of hind femora with some spines. Fore tibiae superiorly flat, not furrowed, fore and mid tibiae with 1 spur on each side, hind tibia with 3 spurs on each side. Hind tibiae longer than femora. Accessory spine of lower margin of hind genicular lobe much reduced. Meso and metasternum rounded. Supra-anal plate of the male triangular and rounded. Cerci of the male stout, in- and up-curved. Subgenital plate of the male long, rectangular, and apically just concave, styli very small. Ovipositor short, gently curved and toothed at the apex of ventral and dorsal valves, valves of similar length, apically rounded ( Fig. 6 I). Subgenital plate of the female short, triangular and apically pointed.

Etymology. Suffix from the name of the isle of Madagascar, where it has been found attached to Arantia , vaguely similar, but probably not related genus.

Remarks. Madagascarantia n. gen. is vaguely similar to Holochlora Stål, 1873 , Arantia Stål, 1874 (both subgenera Arantia and Euarantia Heller, 2014) and Goetia Karsch, 1891 , from which may be separated by the differences listed in Table 1 . See also Figs. 5 A–5D, 6G– 6I

Differences do not allow to include Madagascarantia n. gen. within neither Holochlorini Brunner von Wattenwyl, 1878 nor Arantiini Brunner von Wattenwyl, 1878; in particular open tympana ( Ragge 1980) suggest to consider it related to Symmetroraggea Massa, 2015 and tentatively to include it to the tribe Phaneropterini Burmeister, 1838 ; however, the dorsal margin of fore tibiae not furrowed, in common with Symmetroraggea , and Parapyrrhicia puts in doubt this choice.

Figures

FIGURE 5. Madagascarantia bartolozzii n. gen. n. sp., male (A) and female (B) habitus, male stridulatory file (C), dorsal view of last abdominal segments and cerci (D).

FIGURE 6. Arantia, Holochlora and Madagascarantia: face (A, D, G, respectively), fastigium of vertex and pronotum (B, E, H, respectively), ovipositor (C, F, I, respectively).

Tables

TABLE 1. Comparison of main morphological characters of Madagascarantia n. gen., Arantia Stål, 1874, Euarantia Heller, 2014 and Holochlora Stål, 1873.

Character	Madagascarantia	Arantia /Euarantia	Goetia	Holochlora
Fastigium of vertex	wider than scapus	as large as scapus	as large as scapus	as large as scapus
Compound eyes	round	round	round	Semi-spherical
Spine fore coxae	yes	no	yes	yes
Dorsal margin fore tibiae	flat	furrowed	furrowed	furrowed
Inner tympanum	open	closed	closed	closed
Outer tympanum	open	open or closed	open	open
Stridulatory vein of left tegmen	normal	normal	normal or elevated above wing plane	elevated above wing plane
Stridulatory file	normal	normal	normal	bulging in middle
Last tergite	not modified	not modified	not modified	modified
Ovipositor	robust, wide, apically rounded	small, reduced, valves of different length	small, reduced, valves of different length	robust, wide, apically tipped