Amblycorypha tallapoosa Forrest, 2023

Forrest, Timothy G., Scobie, Micaela, Brueckner, Olivia, Bintz, Brittania & Spooner, John D., 2023, Geographic variation in the calling songs and genetics of Bartram's round-winged katydid Amblycorypha bartrami (Tettigoniidae, Phaneropterinae) reveal new species, Journal of Orthoptera Research 32 (2), pp. 153-170 : 153

Amblycorypha tallapoosa Forrest sp. nov.

Figs 3 , 4 , 7 -15 , 18

Material examined. -

Holotype: USA • ♂; Alabama, Cleburne Co., Heflin, Talladega Nat Forest , CR 548; 33.78012°N, 85.52666°W; 2 Jun. 2007; T.G. Forrest leg.; Ambar-M05j-2007; DNA (MS-030) NCBI accession SAMN31929312; REC (2007 Tape03 PGM 10); UNCA to be transferred to FSCA.

Allotype: USA • ♀; Alabama, Cleburne, Pinhoti Trl, Coleman Lake ; 33.78624°N, 85.56705°W; 2 Jun. 2007; T.G. Forrest leg.; Ambar-F02j-2007; DNA (MS-144) NCBI accession SAMN31929311; REC (2007 Tape03 PGM 05 duet with AmuGA-M01j-2007), REC (2007 Tape03 PGM 07 duet with Ambar-M04j-2007), REC (2007 Tape03 PGM 10 duet with Ambar-M05j-2007); UNCA to be transferred to FSCA.

Paratypes: (6♂, 4♀) USA • 1♂; Alabama, Cleburne Co.; 2 Jun. 2007; T.G. Forrest leg.; UNCA to be transferred to FSCA • 1♂ Alabama, Cleburne Co.; 3 Jun. 2007; T.G. Forrest leg.; UNCA to be transferred to FSCA • 2♂; Georgia, Gordon Co.; 9 Jul. 2005; J.A. Hamel and T. Richardson leg.; UNCA to be transferred to FSCA • 2♀, 1♂; Georgia, Gordon Co.; 5 Jul. 2006; T.G. Forrest leg.; UNCA to be transferred to FSCA • 2♀, 1♂; Georgia, Gordon Co.; 1 Jun. 2007; T.G. Forrest leg.; UNCA to be transferred to FSCA .

Other specimens:-

One specimen from Walker et al. 2003 •1♂; Alabama, Cleburne Co.; 29 Aug.1964, T.J. Walker leg.; FSCA.

Size measurements (mm). -

Holotype: PrnL: 4.9, PrnW: 3.4, TegL: 24.3, TegW: 7.7, HwEx: 3.3, FemL: 23.7, TibL: 25.5mm ( Fig. 18 ). Allotype: PrnL: 5.3, PrnW: 3.7, TegL: 24.1, TegW: 7.3, HwEx: 2.2, FemL: 26.5, TibL: 26.2, OviL: 9.2mm.

Common name. -

Tallapoosa round-winged katydid

Etymology. -

This species is named for its geographic location, with populations north of the Tallapoosa River and within the boundaries formed by its confluence with the Coosa River.

Differential diagnosis. -

Although most of the size measurements of this species are smaller than the other eastern species we studied in this project (Table 2 ), calling songs are the best way to determine members of A. tallapoosa . The syllable rates as a function of temperature for A. tallapoosa males (~13s-1 at 25°C) are the fastest among the species we studied ( Fig. 8 ). Additionally, the main syllable series of the songs of A. tallapoosa have fewer syllables (7.5 ± 1) than the other species we studied ( Fig. 7 ).

Description. -

Individuals have all the characteristics typical of the Amblycorypha rotundifolia complex ( Walker et al. 2003). Size is generally small for the Amblycorypha rotundifolia group. On average males’ sizes are (x -̄ ± SE in mm, N) PrnL: 5.08 ± 0.14, 7; PrnW: 3.64 ± 0.08, 7; TegL: 25.4 ± 0.70, 7; TegW: 7.83 ± 0.21, 7; FemL: 23.3 ± 0.11, 7; TibL: 25.1 ± 0.20, 7 and females are on average PrnL: 5.99 ± 0.23, 5; PrnW: 3.86 ± 0.13, 5; TegL: 26.0 ± 0.67, 5; TegW: 8.07 ± 0.34, 5; FemL: 25.9 ± 0.49, 5; TibL: 26.6 ± 0.59, 5; OviL: 10.7 ± 0.38, 5 (Table 2 ). The main portion of the calling songs of males are series of about 8 syllables produced at rates of about 13s-1 at 25°C ( Figs 3 , 4 , 8 ). Preceding the sustained portion of the song, males produce 1-6 shorter bouts of 3-8 syllables ( Fig. 7 ). During the steady portion of the song, the relationship of syllable rate with changes in temperature (°C) is rate=0.750(temp)-5.86 ( Fig. 8 ).

Future work. -

More data from other geographic locations would help resolve several interesting questions. For example, why do populations of A. carolina differ so much genetically among the three sites we sampled in South Carolina? Also, it would be important to sample katydids on each side of the major rivers to determine the degree of isolation and reduction of gene flow. This would be particularly interesting around 1) the Pee Dee River where the doublet songs of A. peedee are found north of the river (Hoke Co., Richmond Co., Moore Co., NC) but not south of the river (Stanley Co., NC), 2) on either side of the Savannah River where song rates of A. carolina are much slower to the north (Edgefield Co., Aiken Co., and Georgetown Co., SC) than they presumably are to the south in GA, and 3) in AL where the calling songs of A. tallapoosa have fast rates in the region between the Coosa and Tallapoosa Rivers (Cleburne Co.) but have rates similar to FL A. bartrami farther south and west (Perry Co., AL see pink in Fig. 8 ).

Figures

Fig. 3. A-C. Oscillograms (30 s) of calling songs of 1 male A. bartrami from Gordon Co., Georgia. The long-duration sustained, main series of syllables are rarely preceded by shorter series as found in the songs from other supposed populations of A. bartrami; D. The yellow highlighted portion of C; E. Oscillogram and spectrogram of 3 syllables highlighted in D.

Fig. 4. A-C. Oscillograms (30 s) of calling songs of 3 male A. bartrami from Cleburne Co., Alabama. Syllable rates of sustained main series are similar to those of males from north Georgia (Figs 3, 7); D. Oscillogram of 17 syllables highlighted in C; E. Yellow highlighted portion of D showing detailed temporal structure and spectral composition of 3 syllables.

Fig. 7. Mean (+ / - SE) number of syllables as a function of the temporal relationship between series in male calling song from populations of supposed Amblycorypha bartrami (GA & AL: green, NC: blue, FL: red, SC: orange) and A. parvipennis (black). Triangles (X = 0) represent the mean number of syllables in the sustained main series of songs averaged over the number of males shown in parentheses. Circles are the means for each series preceding the main series with the number of males contributing to the average indicated in parentheses.

Fig. 8. Syllable rate as a function of temperature for populations of Amblycorypha bartrami (GA & AL: green, NC: blue, FL: red, AL: pink, SC: orange) and A. parvipennis (black). Solid symbols are recordings from our research and open symbols are recordings from other published work (Walker et al. 2003 for A. bartrami and A. parvipennis, Shaw et al. 1990 for A. parvipennis).

Fig. 15. Phylogeography of ' A. bartrami '. Phylogenies were determined by a Bayesian multi-locus multi-species coalescent model using a Markov Chain Monte Carlo process. A. Phylogeographic distribution of sampled populations of supposed A. bartrami (AL, FL, GA, NC, and SC) and A. parvipennis; B. Phylogeographic distribution of song morphs that differed in syllable rates as a function of temperature. Plots were constructed using plot. to. map function of the R package phytools (Revell 2012).

Fig. 18. Holotype of Amblycorypha tallapoosa, Tallapoosa round-winged katydid. A. Dorsal view; B. Lateral view. Scale bars: 5 mm.