Taxonomic and biogeographic revision of the genus Lamellitettigodes (Orthoptera: Tetrigidae) with description of two new species and additional notes on Lamellitettix, Probolotettix, and Scelimena
Author
Tumbrinck, Josef
text
Journal of Orthoptera Research
2019
28
2
167
180
http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/jor.28.34605
journal article
http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/jor.28.34605
1937-2426-2-167
CA0FD29D-1EE9-4176-9E1F-2EACBFFB68F1
Genus
Lamellitettigodes
Guenther
, 1939
Lamellitettigodes
Guenther
, 1939: 123;
Yin et al. 1996
: 878;
Otte 1997
: 46.
Type species.
-
Paratettix contractus
(
Bolivar
, 1887), by original designation.
Taxonomic placement and justification.
-
Guenther
(1939)
assigned the genus
Lamellitettigodes
to the subfamily of
Metrodorinae
because of the lateral lobes: they are almost, but not completely, attached as in
Paratettix
Bolivar
, 1887. This was the main character used when the subfamily was established by
Bolivar
(1887)
, and
Guenther
also adopted it. Today, typically
Metrodorinae
are mainly characterized by having the median ocellus and the antenna placed below the eyes, a relatively small divergence of the rami of the frontal costa not forming wide scutellum, and a similar length of the first and third segments of the hind tarsus (
Pavon-Gonzalo
et al. 2012
). Many species of
Metrodorinae
also exhibit the posterior angles of the lateral lobes of the pronotum produced outwards, often becoming acutely spinose. These characters taken together separate the subfamily from the other eight subfamilies of
Tetrigidae
, although no single character is enough to characterize
Metrodorinae
by itself (
Tumbrinck and Skejo 2017
).
In contrast to
Metrodorinae
, in
Lamellitettigodes
the antenna is inserted at the lower margin of the eyes, and the first segment of the hind tarsus is longer than the third segment. The similarity of
Lamellitettigodes
species with
Paratettix
and
Euparatettix
is clear when comparing all morphological characters from most of the
Paratettix
and
Euparatettix
species of Southeast Asia.
Lamellitettigodes
species have typical characters of
Tetriginae
: rounded lateral lobes of pronotum close to pronotum (directed downwards, slightly sidewards; this character is somewhat similar to
Metrodorinae
), presence of posthumeral spots on the pronotum, L-shaped carinae of the vertex, pulvilli of the hind tarsus with apical teeth (absent in some
Lamellitettigodes
species), and hind wings exceeding the tip of the pronotum. Therefore,
Lamellitettigodes
is very close to
Tetriginae
and did not belong to
Metrodorinae
: I transfer this genus to the subfamily of
Tetriginae
.
Description.
-
Guenther
(1939)
gave a detailed description of the genus, which is no longer applicable in some of its parts and must be amended. An improved redescription based on his description is presented here.
Body of moderate size, slender. Head and pronotum smooth. Head and eye in lateral view not at all or slightly elevated above the pronotal discus. Antenna more than 1.5 times longer than fore femur, dorsal margin of antennal groove a little bit above the ventral margin of eye, between the eyes. Eyes small and in lateral view blunt and indistinctly conoidal. Antenna filiform, 14-segmented in male (including scapus and pedicel), 15-segmented in female. Fastigium of vertex in dorsal view as broad as or a little wider than the eye, fastigium in frontal view between the eyes slightly depressed. Fastigium in dorsal view with well-developed medial, lateral carinae, and fossula. Lateral carina clearly elevated, in lateral view weakly visible above the eyes and short, in dorsal view not converging towards the front, almost parallel, bending over at right angles to the medial carina (L-shaped). Transverse carina of the vertex in dorsal view slightly convex or straight. Frontal costa and facial carina in lateral view visible in front of eye (except in
L. novaeguineae
). Tip of fastigium and its frontal costa in lateral view protuberant. Facial carinae in lateral view concave in front of eye and slightly convex in front of antenna. Last segments of maxillary palps not foliaceous. Anterior margin of pronotum truncated. Pronotum slightly between shoulders. Prozonal carina and median carina clear, slightly elevated (lamellate in
L. cultratus
and
L. novaeguineae
), interhumeral carina absent, internal lateral carinae not clearly visible. Pronotum behind shoulders weakly depressed on both sides of median carina and here very often provided with black spots (posthumeral spots) on each side. Lateral lobes broadly rounded, not as close to body as in
Paratettix.
Tegmen almost as long as the fore femur, rather broad and at the end broadly rounded. Macropterous and macropronotal. Alae clearly exceed the pronotum apex. Hind femora with very small antegenicular and especially genicular teeth, with some sharply tuberculate raised slants of their middle outer surface. Posterior tibia distally not or slightly widened, with a few small spines on upper edges. First segment of the hind tarsus not longer than the third, pulvilli acute, in three species with apical teeth (
L. sagittatus
,
L. signatus
,
L. karwinkeli
). The coloration is highly variable and not a useful feature for either generic or specific diagnosis (as reported for
Tetriginae
in
Lehmann et al. 2017
).
Diagnosis
.
-
The genus
Lamellitettigodes
is characterized by a protuberant tip of fastigium and frontal costa (in lateral view); facial carinae in lateral view visible and clearly concave in front of eye and slightly convex in front of antenna. Only in
L. novaeguineae
is tip of pronotum not visible in lateral view, but present. Additional characters for the genus are: 1) lateral carina of the vertex in frontal view clearly elevated as small fastigial horns, but in lateral view weakly visible above the eyes (Plate
5Q, R, V, W
); 2) median carina continuous to the tip of the pronotum; 3) clearly keeled or lamellate median carina; and 4) keeled and more or less converging prozonal carinae.
The genus is close to
Euparatettix
and
Paratettix
(see above). In the typical representatives of mentioned genera, the tip of the fastigium is not protruding, but more or less rounded. Also, frontal horns are absent. In
Paratettix
the median carina is absent in the frontal margin of pronotum. A similarity exists also with
Lamellitettix
Hancock, 1904. The type species of the genus is
Lamellitettix acutus
Hancock, 1904
stat. nov.
Blackith (1988)
synonymized
L. acutus
and
L. pluricarinatus
Hancock, 1909 with
Lamellitettix insularis
(
Bolivar
, 1887), and
L. insularis
and
L. fletcheri
Hancock, 1915 with
Lamellitettix gallinaceus
(
Stal
, 1877) without giving evidence for the synonymy (
Blackith 1992
). Types of
L. gallinaceus
were examined by the author in NHRS and those of
L. pluricarinatus
in UMO.
L. acutus
and
L. pluricarinatus
are rather different from
L. gallinaceus
by the form of the pronotum, but it remains uncertain whether
L. acutus
and
L. pluricarinatus
are separate species. Further studies of the type of
L. acutus
and more specimens are needed.
Lamellitettix
, with its genotype
L. acutus
, is different from
Lamellitettigodes
by the tip of the fastigium which is, in lateral view, not protuberant, by the lateral carinae that are curved in dorsal view forward towards the medial carina and are not parallel, and by the lateral lobes that are acutely pointed sidewards. A similarity exists also to
Xistra
Bolivar
, 1887 and
Xistrella
Bolivar
, 1909. In the typical representatives of
Xistra
and
Xistrella
, the antenna is inserted in a considerable distance below the ventral margin of the eye. In
Lamellitettigodes
, the antenna is inserted as high as the ventral margin of the eye (Plate
5
Q-X
).
Composition and distribution.
-
Altogether seven species are now assigned to the genus
Lamellitettigodes
: one hitherto described species (widely distributed
L. contractus
from peninsular Malaysia, Singapore, Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Sulawesi, and Solomon Isl.) supplemented with a subspecies (
L. c. palawanicus
inhabiting Palawan archipelago of the Philippines) here elevated to the species level, two new combinations (widely distributed
L. sagittatus
from Vietnam, Thailand, peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Philippines, Moluccas Isl., Sulawesi, New Guinea, and Timor, and
L. signatus
from the Philippines) and two species described here as new to science (
L. novaeguineae
inhabiting SE New Guinea, and
L. karwinkeli
inhabiting Yunnan, PR China). One hitherto described species (
L. sumatrana
) and a subspecies (
L. contractus tricristatus
) are synonymized with
L. contractus
.