Xenicola xukrixi Fianco, Faria & Braun

Fianco, Marcos, Preis, Hemanueli, Szinwelski, Neucir, Braun, Holger & Faria, Luiz R. R., 2019, On brachypterous phaneropterine katydids (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae: Phaneropterinae) from the Iguaçu National Park, Brazil: three new species, new record and bioacoustics, Zootaxa 4652 (2), pp. 240-264 : 253-260

Xenicola xukrixi Fianco, Faria & Braun

( Figures 7 , 8 A–C, 9E–H, 8D, 10D, 11D)

Diagnosis: This species can be recognized by the following characters: fastigium of frons at most a fourth of the scape width; vertex and apex of fastigium of the frons whitish; lateral lobes of pronotum with a semicircular sulcus in the middle, interrupting the ventral red strip; male subgenital plate longer than wide, median keel across most of its length; male cerci gradually tapering, not longer than subgenital plate; lower fold of ventral lobe of male genitalia not exceeding the ventral fold of the dorsal lobe. Females with same colouration as male, ovipositor three times as long as pronotal disc.

Etymology: The specific epithet xukrixi , from the Kaingang “xukrixí ”, meaning “little spider” ( Baldus 1947); the epithet refers to the long legs of this species in relation to its body, the highest proportion within the genus, giving a spider-like aspect to the species. Noun in apposition.

Description: Holotype male ( Fig. 7 A–F; 9E, G; 11D): Head ( Fig. 7C, D ): Fastigium of frons at most a fourth of the scape width. Median sulcus of fastigium of vertex only developed in the anterior portion. Antennal scape and pedicel cylindrical, antennae black. General colour green, with a whitish band between the eyes, above antennal sockets; vertex whitish; apex of fastigium of the frons whitish ( Fig. 1C ); a coloured band from eye towards the pronotum, with a red-white-red pattern ( Fig. 7D ). Thorax: Pronotum: Pronotal disc green with tiny red spots; posterior edge with a transversal black band, hourglass-shaped. Lateral lobes with red spots on inferior half and a prominent band below lateral carinae, with a red-white-red pattern, from anterior to posterior edge, continuous to head band; the ventral red strip interrupted in the middle by a semicircular sulcus ( Fig. 7D ). Wings: shape of tegmina resembling the head of a golf club ( Fig. 7E, G ); CuP yellow; stridulatory file almost straight, with size of teeth increasing as the inter-tooth distance increases, in direction to anal area ( Fig. 9E ). Legs: Genicular lobes of all femora with two spines. Legs brown, tibiae with dark apex; femur I and II with irregular dark spots; femur III with light yellow spots.

Abdomen: Tergites greenish (becoming yellowish in preserved specimens) with darker granulations; with a lateral band of the same colours as pronotal band, in a continuum. Tergite X with posterior edge concave; with depression at superior half, half as long as cerci. Subgenital plate elliptical, longer than wide ( Fig. 7E ); median keel across most of its length, absent at the base; posterior processes wider than long. Cerci curved, gradually decreasing in thickness, terminating in a dark tooth ( Fig. 7F ). Genitalia ( Fig. 11D ): Phallus symmetrical, almost rectangular; ejaculatory vesicles small, oval, in an almost median position; lower fold of ventral lobe cup-like, apex rounded, not exceeding the ventral fold of the dorsal lobe; upper folds of ventral lobe as long as its lower fold; ventral fold of dorsal lobe with several undulations in ventral view, edge almost straight; dorsal lobe in ventral view with a middle concavity; dorsal lobe, in dorsal view, with a mid-depression, tip rounded and with dot-like sclerotizations; dorsal lobe with two basal amorphous sclerotizations; dorsal fold narrow, at most half as wide as lower fold of ventral lobe.

Calling song ( Fig. 8 ): Males call intermittently, both during day and through the night. From the calling songs of five males, we randomly selected and analyzed a sequence of 52 syllables. The calling songs consist of a ticlike pattern, entirely in the ultrasound, inaudible to the human ear ( Fig. 8 A–C). Each syllable is composed by just a unique very low pulse, a hemisyllable, that probably corresponds only to the closing stroke of the tegmina. This hemisyllable, with 2,7 ms ± 2 (0.3–5 ms), presents a rapidly growing impulse that after maximum intensity is followed by a slowly decaying impulse as shown in figure 8B. The calls show spectrum with a peak at 73.1 kHz±3.6 (60.8–85.5 kHz), and a bandwidth of 11.5 kHz ± 1.7 (7.9–16.1 kHz) ( Fig. 8C, D [red line]). The hemisyllables are not grouped in echemes or echeme sequences and calls are separated by a totally silent pause of about 3.54s ± 3.15 (1.1– 9.5s) ( Fig. 8A ).

Female ( Fig. 7 G, H ; 9F, H ; 10D ): larger than male ( Fig. 10D ). Morphological details of head and pronotum as in males. Tricolor band on head, thorax and abdomen as in male. Spatula-like tegmen ( Fig. 9F ); the right one with just one straight line of conical stridulatory teeth, which are as wide as long, this line curving in an angle of ca. 60º and forming an F-like vein with several long teeth ( Fig. 9H ). Femora dark brown, with the same pattern as in male; tibia III yellowish green ventrally and light brown dorsally. Abdomen golden yellow with red granulations. Tergite X at least half as long as IX; posterior edge concave, light yellow; with red granulations next to cerci articulations. Cerci conical, slightly longer than epiproct. Subgenital plate triangular, with obtuse tip; its base three times as wide as the apex ( Fig. 7G ). Ovipositor three times as long as pronotal disc, almost straight and acuminate; serrulations beginning on distal fifth of dorsal valves and distal sixth of ventral valves ( Fig. 7H ).

Type material: Holotype male “ BR, PR, Céu Azul\Parque Nacional do Iguaçu\ 03–09.I.2018 \Coleta ativa noturna\ Fianco, M. col.”. Deposited at “Coleção Entomológica Padre Jesus Santiago Moure” ( DZUP), Curitiba, Brazil . Paratypes 1 female, same data as holotype ; 1 male and 1 female, “ BR, PR, Foz do Iguaçu \ Parque Nacional do Iguaçu \ 14–18.XI.2017 \Coleta ativa noturna\ Fianco, M. col.” ; 1 male and 1 female, “ BR, PR, Foz do Iguaçu \ Parque Nacional do Iguaçu \ 06–09-XI.2017 \Coleta ativa diurna\ Fianco, M. col.” ; 1 male “ BR, PR, Foz do Iguaçu \ Parque Nacional do Iguaçu \ 05–09.I.2018 \Coleta ativa noturna\ Fianco, M. col.” ; 2 males and 2 females, “ BR, PR, Foz do Iguaçu \ Parque Nacional do Iguaçu \ 10–14.X.2018 \Coleta ativa noturna\ Fianco, M. col.”. Deposited at “Coleção Entomológica Padre Jesus Santiago Moure” ( DZUP), Curitiba, Brazil .

Measurements (mm): Holotype: BL: 12.58; TegL: 1.56; HW: 2.66; PrL: 2.3; PrH: 1.57; FLiii: 17.91; TLiii: 20.89; SPL: 2.05; CL: 1.9. Male paratypes: BL: 13.55 (12.2–14.26); TegL: 1.61 (1.45–1.69); HW: 2.69 (2.48–2.82); PrL: 2.25 (2.19–2.35); PrH: 1.56 (1.47–1.65); FLiii: 17.83 (17.31–18.11); TLiii: 21.11 (20.65–21.83); SPL: 2.13 (2.00–2.30); CL: 1.95 (1.83–2.05); SFL: 0.61 (0.23–0.67); TN: 62 (61–64). Female paratypes: BL: 15.27 (13.37– 16.80); TegL: 1.44 (1.25–1.68); HW: 3.08 (2.80–3.23); PrL: 2.75 (2.51–2.98); PrH: 1.66 (1.62–1.72); FLiii: 19.15 (17.53–19.99); TLiii: 23.30 (21.59–25.25); SPL: 1.59 (1.21–1.85); CL: 1.04 (1.01–1.07); SFL: 0.31 (0.28–0.34); TN: 12 (11–13); OL: 8.73 (7.77–9.29).

Remarks: Once again, we were able to study the holotypes of both Xenicola dohrni and Xenicola superba through photographs kindly provided by Dr. P.D. Szymroszczyk, curator of MZPW. The new species presents a stunning colour pattern, with a continuous tricolour stripe, from head to last abdominal tergite, contrasting to a plain greenish overall colour. Overall, the new species is very similar to X. dohrni and X. taroba sp. n. differing from X. dohrni and X. taroba sp. n., by: the coloration of antennae, black in the new species; presence of a tricolour band behind the eyes; the width of the white stripe in pronotum increasing towards metazona, whereas in X. dohrni and X. taroba sp. n., the strip has the same size; the bottom red strip in pronotum interrupted by an semicircular sulci in the new species, not interrupted in X. dohrni and X. taroba sp. n.; the bottom red stripe is narrower than the white stripe both in X. taroba sp. n. and X. xukrixi sp. n., and, while wider than the white stripe in X. dohrni ; both new species of Xenicola described here present a slightly curved posterior margin of lateral lobes of pronotum, compared to a straight one in X. dohrni and X. superba .

The black hourglass-shaped band on posterior margin of pronotal disc is only present in X. xukrixi sp. n.; X. dohrni also presents a black posterior margin of pronotal disc, however it is smaller and without this particular hourglass appearance. The male cerci have almost the same size of subgenital plate in X. xukrixi sp. n., and longer than subgenital plate both in X. dohrni and X. taroba sp. n. The tergite X are very constricted medially both in X. xukrixi sp. n. and X. taroba sp. n. Additionally, X. xukrixi sp. n. have a smooth pronotal disc, compared to a crenellated one in X. superba . Females of X. xukrixi sp. n. differentiate from females of another Xenicola species, mostly by the ovipositor size, almost four times longer than the length of pronotum, compared to a two times longer in X. superba and three times longer in X. taroba sp. n., and by colouration, with the same pattern of males, the presence of a tricolour band across head, pronotum and abdomen in X. xukrixi sp. n., plain colour in X. superba , and a white band across the entire body of X. taroba sp. n.

Stridulation performed by males of X. xukrixi sp. n. is unusual for brachypterous phaneropterines of South America. First, the carrier frequency is much higher than in other species of the brachypterous phaneropterine katydids. The highest known carrier frequencies for Tettigoniidae remains within the genus Supersonus Sarria-S., Morris, Windmill, Jackson & Montealegre-Z., 2014 ( Meconematinae : Phisidini ), whose frequencies reach from 117 to 148.3 kHz. These remarkable stridulation frequencies within Supersonus and allied genera seem to be generated by squamiform tegmina (but see the exceptions presented in the Table S1 of Sarria-S et al. 2014 and references herein). The high carrier frequency produced by X. xukrixi sp. n. also supports the suggestion of Sarria-S et al. (2014) stating that the tegmina of flightless katydids could function as specialized deflectors, where the plesiomorphic dipole radiator of overall Tettigoniidae could in fact operate as a monopole radiator. This could be a convergent process, since Supersonus spp. and X. xukrixi sp. n. are placed in subfamilies regarded to be in different lineages of Tettigoniidae ( Mugleston et al., 2018) . Remarkably, the isolated hemisyllables of X. xukrixi sp. n. calling songs, without forming echemes, are not found in related species.

The male genitalia are very similar to X. taroba sp. n., especially in relation to the shape of lower fold of ventral lobe, dorsal fold and ventral fold of dorsal lobe. X. taroba sp. n. presents a smooth ventral fold of dorsal lobe, whereas in X. xukrixi sp. n. the fold is undulated. The lower fold of dorsal lobe is larger in X. taroba sp. n. and the upper fold of dorsal lobe is larger in X. xukrixi sp. n. The position of ejaculatory vesicles is also different, on middle of dorsal fold in X. taroba sp. n. and in medial edge of dorsal fold in X. xukrixi sp. n. The sclerotizations on tip of dorsal lobe of both species resembles scale-like microstructures already described for Phaneropterinae (Chamorro- Rengifo & Lopes-Andrade 2014).

Additional examined material: 1 female, same data as holotype ; 2 females, “ BR, PR, Foz do Iguaçu \ Parque Nacional do Iguaçu \ 14–18.XI.2017 \Coleta ativa noturna\ Fianco, M. col.” ; 2 females, “ BR, PR, Serranópolis do Iguaçu \ Parque Nacional do Iguaçu \ 1–02.XII.2017 \Coleta ativa noturna\ Fianco, M. col.” ; 4 females, “ BR, PR, Foz do Iguaçu \ Parque Nacional do Iguaçu \ 05–09.I.2018 \Coleta ativa noturna\ Fianco, M. col.” ; 9 females, “ BR, PR, Foz do Iguaçu \ Parque Nacional do Iguaçu \ 10–14.X.2018 \Coleta ativa noturna\ Fianco, M. col.” (all specimens deposited at UNILA) .

Figures

FIGURE 1. Anisophya melanochloris general morphology.A: male habitus; B: male habitus in dorsal view; C: male head, frontal view; D: male pronotum, lateral view; E and F: male subgenital plate in ventral view and cercus in dorsal view, respectively; G: female subgenital plate, ventral view; H: ovipositor. Scale bar, A and B: 1 cm; C–H: 1 mm.

FIGURE 7. Xenicola xukrixi sp. n. general morphology. A: male habitus; B: male habitus in dorsal view; C: male head, frontal view; D: male pronotum, lateral view; E and F: male subgenital plate in ventral view and cercus in dorsal view, respectively; G: female subgenital plate, ventral view; H: ovipositor. Scale bar, A and B: 1 cm; C–H: 1 mm.

FIGURE 8. Calling song of Xenicola xukrixi sp. n. and power spectra of brachypterous phaneropterinae from Iguaçu National Park. A: sonogram of 5.5 seconds of stridulation. B: sonogram of one hemisyllable; C: the respective spectrogram of B, where red = 0 dB, yellow = -15 dB, green = -25 dB and blue = -35 dB. D: Power spectra of Anisophya melanochloris (green line), A. una sp. n. (blue line) and X. xukrixi sp. n. (red line).

FIGURE 9. Wings and stridulatory files of Xenicola taroba sp. n. and X. xukrixi sp. n. A and B: X. taroba sp. n. male and females tegmina, respectively; C and D: X. taroba sp. n. male and female stridulatory files; E and F: X. xukrixi sp. n. male and female tegmina, respectively; G and H: X. xukrixi sp. n. male and female stridulatory files. Letters folowed by a ‘ indicate left, while simple letters indicate right forewings. Scale bar; 0.5 mm.

FIGURE 10: Females. A: Anisophya melanochloris; B: A. una sp. n.; C: Xenicola taroba sp. n.; D: X. xukrixi sp. n. Scale bar: 1 cm.

FIGURE 11. Male genitalia. A: Anisophya melanochloris; B: A. una sp. n.; C: Xenicola taroba sp. n.; D: X. xukrixi sp. n. The left drawings indicate dorsal view of the genitalia whereas right drawings indicate the ventral view. Abbreviations: as, amorphous sclerotization; df, dorsal fold; dl, dorsal lobe; ddl, dorsal fold of dorsal lobe; ejd, ejaculatory duct; ejv, ejaculatory vesicles; lw.vl, lower folds of ventral lobe; up.vl, upper folds of ventral lobe; vdl, ventral fold of dorsal lobe. Scale bar: A, 2 mm; B-D: 1.6mm.