Zubovskya morii ( Bey-Bienko, 1931 )

Kim, Taewoo & Chobanov and Hongyul Seo, Dragan P., 2017, Rediscovery of Zubovskya morii (Bey-Bienko, 1931) (Orthoptera: Acrididae), the nearly forgotten endemic grasshopper in North Korea with revised checklist from its type locality, Mount Baekdusan, Journal of Species Research 6 (2), pp. 195-205 : 196-199

Zubovskya morii ( Bey-Bienko, 1931) ( Figs. 1-10 , 12-20)

Korean name. Cham-min-nalgae-mitteoli-mettugi (ȒṜ

날fflẘǕÑOiĢnj)

Podisma morii Bey-Bienko, 1931: 676 , Figs. 1, 2 (the mountain Peikto, Northern Korea); Mori and Cho, 1939: 4, pl. 1, Figs. 9-10 ; Cho, 1959: 176, Fig. 60 (A, B); Cho, 1969: 733, pl. 78.

Zubovskya morii : Dovnar-Zapolskij, 1932: 261, 267; Rehn and Rehn, 1936: 6; Storozhenko, 1986a: 290, Fig. 148(1); Storozhenko, 1986b: 57, figs. 10, 63-68; Otte, 1995: 443; Storozhenko and Paik, 2007: 155, Figs. 537-541; Paik et al., 2010: 88; Storozhenko et al., 2015: 215, Figs. 645-650, color plate p. 356 ( Figs. 18-20).

Zubovskia (sic!) morii : Bey-Bienko and Mistshenko, 1951: 216, Fig. 469; Mistshenko, 1952: 354, Fig. 404g; Lee and Lee, 1984: 64; Yin et al., 1996: 760.

Bienkoa morii : Li et al., 2015: 111.

Diagnosis. Resembles a congener of Miramella , but wingless. Distinguishable among the others of Zubovskya by its large dimensions and peculiar the shape of male terminalia ( Fig. 12). Body feebly pilose, overall coloration dark green or pale brown with wide longitudinal black strips from behind eyes to lateral lobes of pronotum which continues along both lateral sides of abdomen in male, but diminishes from pterothorax and absent on abdomen in female. Male with a narrow median longitudinal dark strip dorsally, brighter and more greenish than female. Hind femora unicolorous, pale yellow with indistinct dark stripes; knees blackish in crescent and basal lower lobe. Hind tibia yellowish with black base. Male cerci wide at base, markedly bent inward, apical third dark black ( Fig. 13). Female larger and plumper than male, fore and middle femora more slender than in male. Ovipositor with pointed apex without teeth which is good point distinguished from the other Zubovskya species ( Figs. 19, 20).

Description. Female (nova) ( Figs. 3, 4, 6 , 8-10 , 18-20)

Head. Frons gently inclined downward, vertex and occiput round, a pair of black stripes present behind compound eyes. Interocular distance 2.5 times wider than horizontal diameter of an eye. Vertical diameter of eye as long as subocular furrow. Frontal ridge diminished near clypeal suture. Antennae filiform; middle segments 3.8-4.0 times longer than wide; flagellum 22-segmented.

Thorax. Pronotum without lateral carinae, but a pair of lateral black stripes distinct; median carina present along the whole length of disk and especially distinct in metazona; three sulci well developed, first and second ones interrupted by median carina, third one complete; prozona three times longer than metazona; metazona coarsely punctuate; anterior margin truncated or weakly emarginated in the middle; posterior margin distinctly emarginated in the middle. Lateral lobe of pronotum as long as high, lower margin rather obtusely projected. Prosternal process shortly conical. Mesonotum with truncated hind margin. Metanotum 1.5 times longer than mesonotum, hid margin emarginated in the middle. Sternal plates finely and densely punctuate. Mesosternal interspace two times broader than long. Metasternal interspace two times broader than long. Mesepisternum and mesepimeron, metespisternum and metepimeron blackish along the pleural sutures, more blackish in bases.

Legs. Fore femur as long as pronotum, fore tibia with four pairs of ventral spinules apically. Middle femur slightly longer than pronotum, middle tibia with four pairs of ventral spinules apically. Hind femora slender, 4.8-5.0 times longer than the greatest width; lower genicular lobe with black pattern basally, apical margin bright, crescent blackish; ventral coloration rather variable green or discoloured to reddish. Hind tibia with 10- 14 outer and 11 inner dorsal spines, without outer apical spine. All arolia broadly developed, as long as claws.

Abdomen. First abdominal tergite with distinct tympanum as large as or slightly larger than spiracle. Lateral tergites with partly blackish hind margins, all spiracles black. Epiproct diamond-shaped, with a medial groove and lateral grooves. Cercus shortly conical, not surpassing apex of epiproct. Subgenital plate rather punctuated, hind margin truncated, with a pair of longitudinal carinae weakly raised on hind margin.

Ovipositor. Dorsal and ventral parts yellowish, lateral parts blackish. Dorsal valves as long as epiproct, outer margins serrated, apices of ovipositor pointed without emargination. Ventral valves longer than basivalvular sclerites; lateral basivalvular sclerite with a thick projection outwardly.

Redescription. Male ( Figs. 1, 2, 5 , 7 , 12-17)

Head. Frons moderately inclined downward, occiput round and blackish; fastigium of vertex weakly depressed, foveolae flat, punctated. Interocular distance narrower than horizontal diameter of eye. Vertical diameter of eye 1.2 times longer than subocular groove. Frontal ridge diminished near clypeal suture. Antennae as long as half of body length, middle antennomeres 3.8-4.0 times longer than wide; scape as long as wide; flagellum 22-segmented. Antennal socket as wide as frontal ridge.

Thorax. Pronotum as long as, or slightly shorter than fore femur, anterior margin truncated, posterior margin weakly emarginated in the middle; lateral longitudinal carinae indistinct, median carina distinguishable only in metazona and weakly punctuated; prozona elongated, 3.25 times longer than metazona, three transverse sulci distinct. Lateral lobe of pronotum as deep as pronotal length, upper half with black longitudinal band. Prosternal process shortly conical, sharply pointed. Mesosternal interspace subsquare, as wide as long.

Legs. Fore tibia with 3-4 pairs of ventral spines, middle tibia with 4-6 pairs of ventral spines apically. Hind femora green, five times as long as width; knee blackish with blackish genicular lobes and crescent; hind tibia yellowish with dark base, outer margin with 10-11 dorsal spines, inner margin with 11 dorsal spines, spine base blackish, without outer apical spine; hind basitarsus shorter than the combined length of two other tarsomeres. All arolia well developed, as long as claws.

Abdomen. First abdominal tergite with perceptible tympanum, that is three times larger than spiracle. Last abdominal tergite with a pair of small black furculae as long as their basal width, widely diverged, with triangularly pointed apex. Epiproct triangular, as long as its basal width, with two distinct lateral teeth near the base and a pair of longitudinal carinae toward apex along the median depression. Cercus in profile broadened near the base, with narrowed apex; total length three times longer than basal width, not projected longer than apex of epiproct. Subgenital plate roundly convex in base, shortly conical in apex, hind margin dark black.

Phallic complex. Epiphallus bridge-like, with a pair of distinctly broad lobe-shaped lophi; ancorae short; lophi with hind margin weakly concave from anterior view. Valves of cingulum narrow and pointed apically; apical valves of penis as long as valves of cingulum, smoothly curved up; posterior margin of zygoma round; endophallic membrane large.

Specimens examined. two males and three females, North Korea, Mount Baekdusan (= Pekdusan mountain), alt. 1,200 m, 29 Sep 1973, leg. G.P. Peshev ( NMNHS) .

Remarks. We observed differences from previous descriptions based on the additional materials examined in this study. All specimens of Zubovskya morii have no outer apical spine on hind tibia which is a common character of Melanoplini , even though the presence of the spine has been indicated in some earlier studies. According to the original description by Bey-Bienko (1931), “Hind tibiae with 13 outer and 11 inner spines”, howev- er, he did not mention the outer apical spine. Later Mistshenko (1952) examined the holotype and stated, “Hind tibiae with outer apical spine, outer margin with 14, inner margin with 11 spines”( Table 1). Figures regarding these were presented in Storozhenko (1986a, b). In this study, seven hind legs of four specimens from both sexes are examined ( Figs. 7-10 ). As a result, the total number of outer spines is relatively variable within the range of 10-14, while the number of the inner one was constant at 11. In addition, the outer apical spine is not in agreement with the original description. In fact, the spine is so insignificant that Bey-Bienko (1931) ignored it because it was so small, perhaps vestigial; however, Mistshenko (1952) pointed out its presence and added it to the total number of outer spines. Since the presence or absence of an outer apical spine on hind tibia is an important character with which to classify tribes in the Catantopinae (for example, Oxyini ) ( Fig. 11 ), Zubovskya morii has been treated as special exception in the Melanoplini . Due to this conflict combined with apterous character, the genus Zubovskya has been placed in another tribe, Conophymatini (= Conophyminae), in some Chinese studies ( Yin, 1982; Li et al., 2006). Furthermore, the genus Eozubovskya was established on the basis of the type species of Zubovskya koreana based on its small tym-

June 2017 KIM ET AL. -REDISCOVERY OF ZUBOVSKYA MORII FROM NORTH KOREA, MOUNT BAEKDUSAN 199

18 12 13 14 15 16 17 19 20

panum ( Li and Yin, 2009). Recently, Zubovskya morii was transferred to the genus Bienkoa in the Conophyminae using the presence of a vestigial external apical spine ( Li et al., 2015). However, Storozhenko et al. (2015) provided further discussion about the synonymy of Eozubovskya with Zubovskya , i.e., the most important synapomorphy for higher categorization depends on the genital structures rather than on just a few arguable external body characters. As shown here, the variability in the number of outer apical spines may be the reason why, previous studies on Zubovskya morii were focused with this atypical character state. This might be caused by sampling bias based on only one holotype specimen. Therefore, we retained prior combination of Zubovskya morii rather than in Bienkoa according to Dovnar-Zapolskij (1932).

Distribution. Zubovskya morii is a North Korean endemic species distributed in Mount Baekdusan, although there are a few records of this grasshopper from several mountains in South Korea ( Lee and Lee, 1984). All South Korean records were found to be misidentifications of the congener species, Zubovskya koreana , when the first author of this report examined additional Korean materials. It would be informative if Mori and Cho (1939) had left an additional record and figures of Zubovkya morii from more southern mountains in Chailbong, Bujeon Plateau (prov. Hamgyengnam-do) in order to understand the actual distribution in North Korea. This species is probably limited to a small range around Mount Baekdusan.

Figures

Figs. 1-6. Habitus of Zubovskya morii (Bey-Bienko, 1931). 1. Male, dorsal view; 2. Male, ventral view; 3. Female, dorsal view; 4. Female, ventral view; 5. Male, lateral view; 6. Female, lateral view.

Figs. 7-11. Spination on hind tibiae. 7-10. Zubovskya morii (Bey-Bienko, 1931) in Melanoplini; 11. Oxya sinuosa Mistshenko, 1952 in Oxyini.