Roeseliana brunneri Ramme, 1951

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 : 367

Roeseliana brunneri Ramme, 1951

Figs. 2b , 3a , 5a, 5b , 7a , 9a, 9b , 11 , 22c , 23c

Ramme, 1951. Mitt. Zool. Mus. Berlin, 27: 260 ( Roeseliana brunneri ); type locality and depository: Italy, Chioggia near mouth of Po River ( NMW, Vienna) .

Material examined. Italy, Veneto, Chioggia (1♀ holotypus) ; Italy, Laguna Veneta , Isola Certosa 25.VI.1977, P. Canestrelli (1♁) ; Italy, Veneto, Laguna Veneta, Casse Colmata 7.VII.1979, P. Canestrelli (1♀) ( NMW); same data 23.VI.1979, P. Canestrelli (3♁, 3♀) ( MSNG) ; Italy, Veneto, Chioggia 30.VI.1997, P. Fontana (1♁, 1♀) ; Italy, Laguna di Chioggia ( VE) 29.VII.1997, P. Fontana (6♁) ; Italy, Laguna media di Venezia, Barene del Lago dei Pantani 21.VIII.1984, G. Rallo (1♀) ( MCR, coll. P. Fontana) ; Italy, Friuli, Monfalcone , biotopo F. Cavana ( UD) 22.VII.2001, F. Buzzetti & A. Cogo (5♁) ( MCR, coll. F. Buzzetti) ; Italy, Friuli, Monfalcone , biotopo F. Cavana ( UD) 22.VII.2001, F. Buzzetti & A. Cogo (2♁, 1♀) ; Italy, Valli di Chioggia 19.VI.2001, A. Cogo (2♁) ( ACPC) ; Italy, Laguna di Chioggia ( VE) 23.VI.2016, P. Fontana & B. Massa (1♁, 1♀) ( BMPC) ; Italy, Emilia-Romagna, Valle dell’Ortazzo ( Ravenna ) 7.VII.2021, E. Rivalta (1♁) (Coll. Rivalta, Bologna) .

Remarks. R. brunneri was described by Ramme (1951) based on a single holotype female, collected by Brunner von Wattenwyl and mentioned in his Prodomus. Nadig (1961) supposed that it could be a long-winged female of R. azami . Ĝtz (1969) considered R. brunneri much related to R. azami , but hypothesized also that it could be synonym of R. ambitiosa or an endemic Italian species. Nevertheless, he considered it a subspecies of R. fedtschenkoi . Based on comparative, partly morphometric research, also Canestrelli (1981) was not able to find taxonomic characters to separate R. azami from R. brunneri . Nadig (1987), after additional comparison did not hesitate to synonymize R. brunneri with R. azami , highlighting that the range separation of the populations in southern France and Venice could not be a reason to treat them as separate species. Later Fontana (2001) and Fontana & Kleukers (2002) reinstated it as a valid species, followed by Fontana et al. (2002), Massa & Fontana (2011) and Massa et al. (2012).

Massa & Fontana (2011) invoked some reasons for which R. brunneri must be considered as a valid species, not related to R. fedtschenkoi , but eventually to ‘ azami-minor group’; now we reiterate this opinion, adding new morphological and biometrical characters ( Tables 2 and 3 , Figs. 7a , 9a, 9b ). R. brunneri has male titillators with spines from the base to apex ( Figs. 5a, 5b ) and the female subgenital plate is laterally more rounded than that of related taxa, R. azami and R. azami minor ( Figs. 9a, 9b ). However, the proposed synonymy with R. fedtschenkoi , whose description has been unknown to most authors, is inexplicable.

The female holotype of R. brunneri is fully-winged, but it remained the sole fully-winged specimen till now collected. See also Tables 2 and 4 .

Distribution. R. brunneri occurs only in humid zones of Venice and Chioggia lagoons ( Italy, Veneto and Friuli) and Po Valley (Emilia-Romagna) ( Canestrelli 1981, Fontana 2001, Buzzetti et al. 2011, Tami 2007, Tami et al. 2011, Tami & Fontana 2018).

Figures

FIGURE 2. Ovipositor of three other taxa of Roeseliana (different populations) in lateral view. In 2a the method to measure the angle between the base of the ovipositor and a line intersected between it and the ovipositor tip (named “ovipositor angle” 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 9. Ventral view of the female subgenital plate of other two taxa of Roeseliana (different populations).

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

FIGURE 22. Roeseliana females. 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, Marche, Italy (photo: G. Carotti); f) R. azami minor, Lombardy, Italy (photo: R. Scherini); g) R. azami minor, Lombardy, Italy (photo: F. Leandri); h) R. roeselii, Lombardy, Italy (photo: R. Scherini).

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).