Paratettix subpustulatus (Walker, 1871)

Massa, Bruno, 2009, New and less known Orthoptera (Insecta) from the island of Socotra (Yemen), Zootaxa 2132, pp. 53-64 : 55

Paratettix subpustulatus (Walker, 1871)

Material examined. Socotra , Wadi Zerig 8.IV.2008, B.Massa (43, 3Ƥ, 1 nymph) (33, 2Ƥ in coll. H.Devriese).

Remarks. Krauss (1907) reported Paratettix scaber (Thunberg, 1815) from Socotra , but subsequently other authors did not identify Socotran specimens because of the difficulty in understanding the taxonomy of African Paratettix (see Uvarov & Popov 1957, who reported Paratettix sp. on Hadibou plain). Specimens here listed have been identified by Hendrik Devriese, who sent me the following considerations: “this is a very common species in Africa, but its status is not yet very clear. Indeed, this species, that was called Paratettix scaber by the late K.Günther in his revision of the African fauna, belongs to a complex of forms with a very high variability. In Paratettix , they are characterized by a frontal costa that is extending only slightly before the eyes and by unbanded tibia of the hind legs. There are at least three good species in the group: the real Paratettix scaber , which is restricted to the high grounds and mountains of Southern Africa, Paratettix royi (Günther, 1979) , which occurs in Western Africa and Paratettix subpustulatus . Probably the Asiatic Paratettix histricus (Stål, 1861) , sometimes placed in Euparatettix , belongs to the same group. The status of another taxon, Paratettix cinereus Bolivar, 1887 from Madagascar, is not clear. There are also animals with a short pronotum on the high mountanis of Eastern Africa ( Paratettix ruwenzoricus Rehn, 1914 ) of which it is not yet known if they are a separate species or a brachypronotal form of Paratettix subpustulatus . After having studied several hundred specimens from numerous places, I have concluded provisionally that Parattetix subpustulatus is a very variable and widespread species. There are populations with very small animals, like specimens from Socotra , and I have seen others from the Seychelles. Perhaps, the island populations have small specimens, but I have also seen small ones from some regions in Africa, and on Bioko, on the contrary, they are big. All this has to be analyzed by other methods (molecular or enzym analysis) before a definite conclusion can be drawn” (H. Devriese, pers. comm.).