Tmethis harterti Uvarov, 1923

Massa, Bruno, 2013, Pamphagidae (Orthoptera: Caelifera) of North Africa: key to genera and the annotated check-list of species, Zootaxa 3700 (3), pp. 435-475 : 439

Tmethis harterti Uvarov, 1923 new status

Material examined. Libya: Merg (Benghasi) (type locality) 10.IV, 2♂, 2♀ (MNCN); Ain Mara, 1♂, 1♀; Benghasi, 1♂; Tolemais, 1♂; Apollonia, 1♀; Cyrene, 2♂, 2♀ (MZR); 60 km East Sirte 6. IV.98, 2 ♂, 1♀; Tolemais 24. IV.05, 1 ♂, 1♀; Agedabia 6. IV.98, 2 ♀; Berta II.38, 1 ♀ (BMCP); Gheddaia 16. V.39, 1 ♂, 2♀; Rus Hamra, 4♂; Tobruk IV.14, 1 ♀ (MSNG).

Described from Merg (Cyrenaica, Libya), its characteristics are the shortness of tegmina, mainly in the female (where they just exceed the middle of femurs) ( Figs. 50–51 ), the faintly bluish colour inside of hind wings ( Figs. 58 a–58b), hind tibiae uniformly red, inside of hind femurs vinaceous-red, darker towards the base, but without a definite spot. Salfi (1926) disposed of many specimens of this taxon and observed that the blue colour of wings may be variable and much soften, with very small brown spots. In addition, he pointed out that male tegmina may reach the abdomen apex. I examined further specimens coming from Cyrenaica, other than those cited by Salfi (1926), finding a variability in the tibiae colour and length of male tegmina, but I found in all the females very abbreviated tegmina, as they were detected by Uvarov (1943) only in the type locality (Merg); a female with this characteristics has been detected by Ajaili & Usmani (1999) in Fezzan and named as T. cisti khaledi . When tegmina are abbreviated, hind wings are always shorter than tegmina, and the brown spot in the hind wings is more or less faint. However, the structure of hind border of pronotum in this taxon is similar to that of T. maroccanus (parabolic), and pronotum keel is more or less similar to that of T. cisti ( Figs. 34 , 50–51 ). Biometrics show the general shortness of female tegmina ( Table 1). This taxon lives only in Cyrenaica and Fezzan, and I believe that it could be considered a valid species, that overlaps with T. cisti in Cyrenaica (cf. T. cisti barcaeus Salfi, 1926 ).

Figures

FIGURES 40 – 53. Lateral view of males and females of some taxa described in the genus Tmethis, here revised.

FIGURES 54 – 59. Some of the taxa described in the genus Tmethis, view from above to show the pattern of wing colour pattern and the ratio between the length of wings and the body. Figs. 58 a and 58 b show the pattern of pronotum and wings of male and female of T. harterti n. status. Figs. 54 a and 55 a show the apical lobes, large and broadly separated, of epiphallus of T. cisti, while Figs. 59 b and 59 c show the relatively small and narrowly separated lobes of epiphallus of T. pulchripennis (after Uvarov 1943). Figs 54 b and 59 a show the differences in the spurs of hind tibiae, long and slender, with the first tarsal joint long, and its second pulvillus longer than the first or third in T. cisti; shorter and stouter, with first tarsal joint short, its second pulvillus not longer than the first or the third in T. pulchripennis (after Uvarov 1943).

FIGURES 32 – 39. Lateral view of pronotum of some taxa described in the genus Tmethis, here revised.