Roeseliana azami (Finot, 1892)

Massa, Bruno, Tagliavia, Marcello, Buzzetti, Filippo Maria, Fontana, Paolo, Carotti, Giovanni, Bardiani, Marco, Leandri, Fausto, Scherini, Roberto & Verde, Gabriella Lo, 2023, A taxonomic revision of the Palaearctic genus Roeseliana (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae: Tettigoniinae: Platycleidini): a case of ongoing Mediterranean speciation, Zootaxa 5270 (3), pp. 351-400 : 363-364

Roeseliana azami (Finot, 1892)

Figs. 1b , 3d , 5e, 5f , 7e , 8c , 11 , 23h

Finot, 1892. Bull. Soc. entomol. Fr., 61: xxxv ( Platycleis azami ); type locality and depository: France, between Cogolin and La Foux, Var ( MNHN, Paris) .

Material examined. France, Var VI.1888, Azam (1♁, 1♀ syntypes) ( MNCN) ; France, Var , Azam (1♁, 1♀) ( NMW) ; France, Crau , Bouches du Rhone VI.1967, M. Descamps (1♁, 1♀) ( MCR, coll. P. Fontana) ; France, Cogolin 14.IX.1906 (1♁, 1♀) ( NMP) ; France, La Foux , Var, Delmas (1♁, 1♀) ( MSNG) ; France, Gard , Le Cailar 5.VI.1993, A. Foucart (2♁, 3♀) ; France, between St. Gilles and Arles 5.VII.1987, Ponel (1♁) ( CBGP) ; France, Lattes (Montpellier) 23.VI.2019, B. Nabkolz (2♁) ( BMPC) .

Remarks. R. azami is characterized by the incision of the female subgenital plate. Nadig (1961), Harz (1969) and Massa et al. (2012) considered R. azami the nominate subspecies with minor as other subspecies, while Ĝtz (1969) moved it to subspecies of R. fedtschenkoi, Defaut (1999, 2001 ) followed Ĝtz’s opinion, Puissant & Voisin (1999), Voisin (2003) and Massa & Fontana (2011) considered it as a valid species.

Male titillators have only few large spines in their half apical apex and their tip is less curved and stouter than that of R. azami minor and R. brunneri ( Figs. 5e, 5f ), the supragenital plate and the cerci of the male and the subgenital plate of the female are reported in Figs. 7e and 8c . The 10 th tergite of the male has a very long, broad and triangular processes (in R. brunneri processes are very large and separated by a wide incision), tooth of cerci short, rounded and placed in the last fourth (as in R. brunneri ; in R. roeselii they are longer, placed in the last third and are more pointed); titillators of R. azami are similar to those of R. brunneri (folded as a hook), while those of R. roeselii show a very different shape (straight with apical spines) (cf. Fig. 5 ); in addition, the female subgenital plate of R. azami is as large as long, incised for half the length and its lobes are rounded (similarly to that of R. brunneri ), while that of R. roeselii is laterally enlarged and its lobes are pointed (cf. also Massa & Fontana 2011). Fully-winged specimens are unknown. See also Tables 2 and 4 .

Distribution. Region du Var (Mediterranean France). Bardiani & Buzzetti (2010) recorded it from Liguria, but see below R. azami minor .

Figures

FIGURE 1. Ovipositor of five taxa of Roeseliana in lateral view. In 1c the method to take three measures of the depth of the ovipositor (named “ovipositor depth” in the text) is explained.

FIGURE 3. Stridulatory file under the left tegmen of some taxa of Roeseliana.

FIGURE 5. Male titillators of different taxa/populations of the genus Roeseliana.

FIGURE 7. Dorsal view of the male supragenital plate and cerci of other four taxa of Roeseliana and three different populations of R. azami minor.

FIGURE 8. Ventral view of the female subgenital plate of six taxa of Roeseliana.

FIGURE 11. Habitus of other five taxa of the genus Roeseliana.

FIGURE 23. Roeseliana males. a) R. ambitiosa, Macedonia (photo: M. Lemonnier-Darcemont); b) R. ambitiosa, Greece (photo: F. Rutschmann); c) R. brunneri, Friuli, Italy (photo: F. Tami); d) Roeseliana n. sp. Lemonnier-Darcemont & Darcemont, in press, Greece (photo: M. Lemonnier-Darcemont); e) R. azami minor, Lombardy, Italy (photo: R. Scherini); f) R. azami minor, Marche, Italy (photo: G. Carotti); g) R. oporina, Spain (photo: R. Kleukers); h) R. azami, France (photo: V. Derreumaux).