Gorongosa, Naskrecki & Guta, 2019

Naskrecki, Piotr & Guta, Ricardo, 2019, Katydids (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae) of Gorongosa National Park and Central Mozambique, Zootaxa 4682 (1), pp. 1-119 : 35

Meconematini : Acilacridina

Naskrecki (1996) revised southern African Meconematinae and described several new taxa, including species in the genera Acilacris Bolivar, 1890 and Aroegas Peringuey, 1916 . Recently Gorochov (2017) suggested, based on the similarity of the male genitalic structures in these two genera, that the latter should be demoted to the status of a subgenus within Acilacris . He also proposed the creation of a new subtribe Acilacridina to accommodate genera Acilacris , Paracilacris Chopard, 1955 , and Africariola Naskrecki, 1996 , which all share similar pronotum and ovipositor morphologies. One of the species described by Naskrecki (1996) was Acilacris (A.) incisus Naskrecki, 1996 , at that time known from only the female holotype collected at Mt. Selinda in eastern Zimbabwe. A recent survey in the Mozambican section of the Chimanimani Mountains, close to the type location of A. incisus , led to the discovery of a thriving population of this species in Mozambique. This allows us to redescribe this species based on new material, including the first description of the male, and a description of the species’ acoustic behavior. Moreover, the ability to examine the male genitalic characters in this and a closely related new species from Mt. Gorongosa (described below), made it obvious that A. incisus shares little with other species of Acilacris ( Figs. 13 A–L), and for this reason it is here transferred to a new genus, Ovonotus gen. n. The new genus is placed in the subtribe Acilacridina based on the similarity to other taxa in the subtribe in its thoracic structures (pronotum and tegmina) and the shape of the ovipositor.

Figures

FIGURE 13. Diagnostic characters in Acilacris and Ovonotus: A–F. Acilacris obovatus. A. male abdominal apex, dorsolateral view; B. ditto, dorsal view; C. titillator, lateral view; D. ditto, ventral view; E. male cercus, dorsal view; F. ditto, interior view; G–L. Ovonotus incisus gen. et sp. n.. A. male abdominal apex, dorsolateral view; H. ditto, dorsal view; I. titillator, lateral view; J. ditto, ventral view; K. male cercus, dorsal view; L. ditto, interior view.