Agnotecous pinsula Robillard

Robillard, Tony, Nattier, Romain & Desutter-Grandcolas, Laure, 2010, New species of the New Caledonian endemic genus Agnotecous (Orthoptera, Grylloidea, Eneopterinae, Lebinthini), Zootaxa 2559, pp. 17-35 : 31-34

Agnotecous pinsula Robillard n. sp.

( Figs 6–7 )

Type material. Holotype male: New Caledonia. Île des Pins, sentier reliant Baie d’Oro et Upi, forêt sèche littorale sur calcaire, 22°35'21.7''S 167°31'19.4''E, 06.V.2009, T. Robillard ( TR 219), nuit, litière, enregistrement appel Take 43 (MNHN-ENSIF1327). Allotype female: same locality, collector and date as HT, 1Ƥ ( TR 215), nuit, litière (MNHN-ENSIF111). Paratypes (43): same locality, collector and date as HT, 13 ( TR 209), jour, litière, comportement furtif et chant de cour (MNHN-ENSIF2625); 13 ( TR 218), nuit, litière sur sentier, enregistrement appel Take 35 (MNHN-ENSIF2624); same locality and date as HT, R. Nattier, 13 (RN187), nuit, litière (MNHN-ENSIF2626); 13 (RN188), nuit, litière, enregistrement appel File 67 (MNHN- ENSIF 2627).

Type locality. New Caledonia, Île des Pins, sentier reliant Baie d’Oro et Upi, 22°35'21.7''S 167°31'19.4''E.

Etymology. Named after the type locality.

Other material examined. New Caledonia. Île des Pins, sentier reliant Baie d’Oro et Upi, forêt sèche littorale sur calcaire, 22°35'21.7''S 167°31'19.4''E, 06.V.2009, T. Robillard, 1 juvenile ( TR 214), nuit, litière.

Distribution. New Caledonia, Île des Pins.

Diagnosis. Species small, very close to A. brachypterus from which it differs by the shape the pseudepiphallus in male genitalia and by the calling song, male and female FW venation, female copulatory papilla and general colouration similar to A. brachypterus .

Description. Size small for the genus. Colouration contrasted mostly dark brown and orange brown. Head dorsum with 6 brown longitudinal bands more or less pronounced; dorsal eye margins yellow. Fastigium setose, quite homogeneously brown. Scapes yellow brown with dark brown patterns anteriorly, antennae yellow basally then black with yellow rings. Cheeks black, except a yellow band posterior to eyes and 2 ventral yellow lines and one yellow spot below the eyes. Face dark brown to black, with a median yellow line, sometimes very faint. Mouthparts yellow or whitish, more or less mottled with black. Palpi yellow with black rings. Pronotum: Dorsal disk homogeneously orange brown to dark brown, sometimes with darker spots, the posterior margin dark brown. Lateral lobes black. Legs I, II generally orange brown, femora mottled with dark brown, tibiae with dark brown or black rings; distal parts of tarsomeres I-1 and I-3 dark brown. FIII, TIII almost homogeneous orange brown, distal part of tarsomeres III-1 and III-3 and dark brown. TIII serrrulation: 4–6 (m=4.8, n=6) inner and 7–11 (m=9, n=6) outer spines above spurs; 2–5 (m=4.5, n=6) inner and 5–7 (m=6.2, n=6) outer spines between spurs. Tarsomeres III-1: 3–4 (m=3.3, n=6) spines on dorsal outer edges; 1 (n=6) outer lateral spine. Abdomen homogeneously dark brown dorsally; sternites yellowish brown. Cerci brown with thin dark brown rings.

Male: FW setose, not reaching abdomen mid length. Dorsal field shorter than lateral field. FW colouration: Cells and veins homogeneously brown, a dark area around basal parts of veins 3A and 4A; lateral field with orange longitudinal veins. FW venation ( Fig. 6 A) very close to that of A. brachypterus : CuP absent; harp triangular, raised at posterior angle, crossed by one incomplete faint transverse vein; CuA weak basally, stronger apically; c1 cell not crossed by a transverse vein, its posterior limit unclear; D alignment and mirror (d1) well differentiated, but mirror not rounded. Apical field restricted to a few cells in E alignment. Stridulatory file: 142–162 teeth (m=152, n=2). Lateral field: latero-dorsal angle made by MP; distal part of MP weak, fused to MA; R bifurcated once, strong until distal third, then faint and fused apically with MA; ventral part of lateral field with 5 longitudinal veins.

Male genitalia ( Figs 6 F–H): Close to that of A. yahoue Otte, 1987 and A. brachypterus . Pseudepiphallus widened preapically, apex with a short median process, but not in the same plane as the rest of the sclerite as in A. brachypterus and A. yahoue . Pseudepiphallic lophi forming lateral crests ventrally.

Female: FWs very short and not overlapping ( Fig. 6 B), posterior margin sinuate. Venation very close to that of A. brachypterus , with 5 main dorsal longitudinal veins, the second external one faint and bifurcate apically, and 3 parallel longitudinal veins in lateral field. Ovipositor slightly shorter than FIII.

Female genitalia ( Figs 6 C–E): Copulatory papilla triangular; plicate ventrally anterior to apex; basal sclerite with a median dorsal expansion.

Juvenile: Same contrasted colour pattern as adults.

Variation: Fore and median femora homogeneously brown in male paratype TR 209.

Measurements. See Table 6 .

Habitat and life history traits. A. pinsula lives discreetly in forested areas in the leaf litter. Males call at night from the top of the leaf litter and mating occurs at night and day within the leaf litter.

Behaviour. Mating behaviour not observed.

Calling song ( Fig. 7 ): At 19.7 °C, the calling song of A. pinsula consists of a succession of echemes of 3 ± 0.1 s emitted every 20.5 ± 1.3 s, with a duty cycle of 6.7 %; each echeme is made of 128 ± 5 syllables, with the following characteristics: syllable duration=14.5 ± 2.8 ms; syllable period = 24 ± 3 ms; syllable duty cycle = 60.6 %; the dominant frequency is 17 ± 1.7 kHz and corresponds to the second frequency peak of the song.

The field work in New Caledonia was done in collaboration with Philippe Grandcolas (CNRS), Hervé Jourdan (IRD) and Franck Muller and was funded by the ANR project BIONEOCAL (P. Grandcolas). We are grateful to Direction du Développement Economique et de l’Environnement, Province Nord and Province Sud, for permitting field work in New Caledonia. We thank Simon Poulain (CNRS) and Guy Lecorvec (MNHN) for preparation of the specimens. We also thank Geoff Monteith (QMF) for loan of New Caledonian material from the Queensland Museum, and Judith Marshall and George Beccaloni (BMNH), for their help during the study of Eneopterinae crickets in the Natural History Museum, London, funded by the SYNTHESYS European program (GB-TAF-531); and G.B. Monteith (QMF) for loan of specimens from the collections of Brisbane.

Figures

FIGURE 6. Agnotecous pinsula n. sp. Male FW venation (A); female FW venation (B); female copulatory papilla in ventral (C), dorsal (D) and lateral (E) views; male genitalia in dorsal (F), lateral (G) and ventral (H) views. Abbreviations and symbols, see Material and methods. Scale bars: 1 mm.

FIGURE 7. Calling song of Agnotecous pinsula n. sp. Oscillogram showing of 3 successive echemes (A); logarithmic spectrogram of one syllable (B); detailed oscillogram (C) and sonogram (D) of one echeme; oscillogram of one syllable (E). Symbols: f 1 - f 4, first (fundamental) to fourth harmonic frequencies.

Tables

TABLE 6. Measurements of Agnotecous pinsula n. sp.

PronL	PronW	FWL	FWW	FIIIL	FIIIW	TIIIL	OL
Male holotype 2.9 Males (n=5) 2.9-3.2 (Mean) (3) Female allotype 3.3	4.3 4.3–4.7 (4.5) 4.6	3.1 3–3.3 (3.1) 1	2.5 2.5–2.9 (2.7) -	11 11–12 (11.4) 12.7	3.8 3.8–4.5 (4.1) 4.4	8.7 8.6–9.5 (9.1) 10.2	- - - 12
Acknowledgements