Lutosa cubaensis ( Haan, 1843 )

Cadena-Castañeda, Oscar J., García, Alexander García, Nos, Maria Del Pilar Castella-, Sarmiento, Juan Pablo Prias & Tavares, Gustavo Costa, 2022, Studies on chevron crickets: Contribution to the knowledge of Lutosinae / ini taxa (Orthoptera: Anostostomatidae), Zootaxa 5178 (4), pp. 347-379 : 359-362

Lutosa cubaensis ( Haan, 1843)

( Figs. 6–7 )

http://lsid.speciesfile.org/urn:lsid: Orthoptera .speciesfile.org:TaxonName:20074

Redescription. Male. Robust and medium-sized (22 mm) ( Fig. 6 ). Head, pronotum and mesonotum dorsally redish brown; metanotum and abdominal tergites brown with black strips on the posterior margin of each segment ( Fig. 6B ). Face, legs and body ventrally ochre ( Fig. 7A ); lateral lobes of pronotum and mesonotum with most of ventral half yellow ( Fig. 6A ). Face without stripes or spots, mandibles brown and outer margin black ( Fig. 7A ). Head. Fastigium of vertex rounded, clypeus almost as wide as high and subtriangular. Eyes completely pigmented and ocelli circular ( Fig. 7A ). Thorax. Pronotum not very high and with short hairs on anterior edge ( Fig. 6A ). Anterior and posterior edges of pronotal disc rounded ( Fig. 6B ). Legs. Fore tibia with ovoid and large tympana on both sides, dorsal margin with a middle spur on each side of the tibia, the longest being the inner spur; apex with two dorsal spurs similar in size, one on each side; ventrally with five similar sized spurs on each margin. Mid-tibia dorsally armed with three spurs on the inner margin and two on the outer one; ventrally with four spurs on outer margin and three on inner one. Hind femur with twelve chevron stripes on outer face; ventral margin without undulations. Hind tibia straight and with eleven spines on each dorsal margin, apical dorsal spur 2.5 longer than preapical spur. Abdomen. Tenth tergite divided into two ovoid lobes and armed with two conspicuous conical hooks at the middle of the segment ( Fig. 7B ). Epiproct semircicle-shaped, paraprocts moderately sclerotized and without hooks ( Fig. 7D ). Cerci divergent and mid-sized ( Figs. 7B, C ). Subgenital plate quadrangular, posterior edge with little sclerotized plates, straight in ventral view ( Fig. 6D ), but v-shaped in axial view; styli cylindrical and mid-sized ( Fig. 6E ).

Female. Unknown.

Measurements (in mm.). LB: 22. Pr: 8.5. HF: 21. HT: 20.

Holotype data. Male. Cuba (Code: RMNH-INS 1088912 ).

Comments. This species was originally described as Rhaphidophorus cubaensis Haan, 1843 , based on a male from Cuba ( Haan 1843). Then, Brunner von Wattenwyl (1888) moved the species to the genus Pherterus and recorded additional specimens from Port-au-Prince ( Haiti), Bahia, and Brasília ( Brazil). Other authors provided additional records from Grenada, Saint Vincent (Richmound Valley), Dominica, Guadelupe (Trois Rivieres) and Colombia ( Brunner von Wattenwyl & Redtenbacher 1892, Bruner, 1893, Caudell 1915, Karny 1927). Kirby (1906), moved this species within Lutosa , once he synonymizes Pherterus .

For us, misidentifications were historically made and there are doubts about the definition of this species. Other specimens outside of Cuba were identified as L. cubaensis , and these may belong to other species. For example, specimens from the Lesser Antilles may belong to Rhumosa , this had already been mentioned by Hugel & Desutter-Grandcolas (2018), suggesting that the specimens reported from Saint Vincent could be Rhumosa captainblighei Hugel & Desutter-Grandcolas, 2018 and those recorded from Grenada and Trinidad could be other undescribed species. We agree with what was proposed by Hugel & Desutter-Grandcolas, and add that the specimens from Dominica would belong to Rhumosa macoucheriei Hugel & Desutter-Grandcolas, 2018 , and those from Guadalupe can be Rhumosa bolognei Hugel & Desutter-Grandcolas, 2018 . Those from Colombia could be true Lutosa or a morphologically similar genus, but this hypothesis cannot be yet corroborated since the specimens of L. cubaensis , recorded from other localities, are predominantly females, in the same way as those recorded for Colombia and Brazil. It is necessary to have males to verify and differentiate the genera. However, as we can see at the end of this contribution, Lutosa has a distribution in South America, mainly in the Atlantic Forest.

Since the description of L. cubaensis , no additional specimens have been recorded from Cuba, but there are species of Licodia from the Greater Antilles, for example Licodia cerberus Rehn, 1950 , and from Haiti, Licodia grandis Rehn, 1930 . Possibly, the specimens determined as L. cubensis recorded from these localities may be conspecific to the Licodia species since the records are based on females, which can be easily confused with the other Lutosini taxa. Confirmation of what was previously mentioned can be seen with the specimens observed by Gundlach (1891) in Cuba. He indisputably describes specimens of Licodia , mentioning macrocephalyzation (absent in the male type specimen of L. cubaensis ), among other characteristics that resemble L. cerberus or a close species ( Gundlach 1891).

After verifying the Lutosa species in this paper, and observation of the type specimen based on photographs generously shared by Luc Willemse, the holotype male fits the morphological characteristics of South American males of the genus, and most likely, it is a mistaken locality. The species probably is not found in the Caribbean, and it is actually distributed in Brazil. The males here reported from Bahia and Brasília fit the morphological characteristics of the holotype, perhaps completely ruling out the presence of the genus in the American insular area .

Figures

FIGURE 6. Lutosa cubaensis male. A. Habitus in lateral and B. dorsal view. (Photos: Luc Willemse).

FIGURE 7. Lutosa cubaensis male. A. Face and legs in frontal view. B–E. Terminalia in dorsal, lateral, axian and ventral view. (Photos: L. Willemse).