Coryphosima stenoptera stenoptera (Schaum, 1853)

Felix, Rob P. W. H. & Massa, Bruno, 2016, Orthoptera (Insecta: Tettigonioidea, Pyrgomorphoidea, Acridoidea) of Kafa Biosphere Reserve, Bale Mountains National Park and other areas of conservation interest in Ethiopia, Zootaxa 4189 (1), pp. 1-59 : 45-47

Coryphosima stenoptera stenoptera (Schaum, 1853)

http://lsid.speciesfile.org/urn:lsid: Orthoptera .speciesfile.org:TaxonName:51793 Figure 39

Material examined. ETHIOPIA: Gambella , Baku Lake (1425 m), 16.IV.2015, B. Massa (2Ƌ) ; SNNPR, Bench Maji, Bebeka Plantation (1370 m), 14.IV.2015, R.P.W.H. Felix (1Ƌ, 1♀, RFPC), B. Massa (4Ƌ, 4♀) ; Bench Maji, Dembi Forest (1260 m), 14.IV.2015, R.P.W.H. Felix (2♀, RFPC), B. Massa (3Ƌ, 1♀) ; Bench Maji, Sheko Forest (1570 m), 13.IV.2015, R.P.W.H. Felix (6Ƌ, 3♀, RFPC), B. Massa (1Ƌ, 13♀) ; Keffa, Bamboo Forest , (2620 m), 20.IV.2015, R.P.W.H. Felix (2Ƌ, 3♀, RFPC), B. Massa (3♀) ; Keffa, Boka Forest (Chena) (2500 m) 15.IV.2015, B. Massa (1♀, BMPC); Keffa, Komba Forest (1860 m) 17.IV.2015, B. Massa (1Ƌ, 1♀) ; Keffa, Komba Forest (1990 m), 23.IV.2015, B. Massa (3Ƌ); Keffa , Gidi (1950 m), 24.IV.2015, R.P.W.H. Felix (1Ƌ, RFPC); Keffa, Gojeb river (1300 m), 22.IV.2015, B. Massa (1Ƌ, 2♀) ; Keffa, Gogomma (1720 m), 24.IV.2015, B. Massa (1Ƌ); Keffa , Komba Forest (1860 m), 17.IV.2015, B. Massa (1Ƌ, 1♀) ; Keffa, Hana Wetland (2400 m), 19.IV.2015, B. Massa (1Ƌ, 1♀, BMPC); Keffa, Makira Forest (1615 m), 18.IV.2015, R.P.W.H. Felix (2Ƌ, 2♀, RFPC); Keffa, Shorori Wetland (1610 m), 21.IV.2015, R.P.W.H. Felix (2Ƌ, 2♀, RFPC), B. Massa (3Ƌ, 4♀, BMPC) ; SNNPR, Sidama, Wondo Genet Forest (1870 m), 16.XII.2015, B. Massa (1Ƌ); Oromia, Bale, Gaysay grasslands, 9.XII.2015, B. Massa (1Ƌ); Wollega, Didessa river (1280 m) 11.XI.2010, A. Sciarretta and M. Colacci (3♀) ; Didessa river (1200 m) 13.XI.2010, A. Sciarretta and M. Colacci (1Ƌ) ( BMPC).

Distribution. Coryphosima stenoptera is a very widespread species in the whole of Africa south of the Sahara.

Habitat. This species was very common in tall herb vegetation, and was encountered at most collecting sites at lower elevations.

Remarks. Due to its high variability, Dirsh (1966) synonymized several species with C. stenoptera , among others: C. producta (Walker 1870) , C. brevicornis Karsch 1893 , C. acuta (Uvarov 1953) , C. pharaonis ( Karny 1907) and C. centralis (Rehn 1914) . C. centralis and C. stenoptera are the only long-winged taxa of the genus. All other species are more or less short-winged. C. centralis differs from C. stenoptera by a scarcely expanded scapular area, while the scapular area of C. stenoptera is expanded to three times the width of the costal area (Uvarov 1953).

The following long-winged taxa are known to occur in Ethiopia: C. stenoptera stenoptera (Walker 1870) , C. s. montana (Uvarov 1953) and C. s. producta (Walker 1870) ( Baccetti 1996, Donskoff 1977, Jago 1977, Schmidt & Johnsen 1999).

Subspecies montana , described from specimens collected at Jem-Jem Forest in Ethiopia (60 km west of Addis Ababa) is a small taxon with antennae scarcely longer than head and pronotum together. In our specimens, the antennae as well as the body are much longer. Based on the key by Uvarov (1935) we have to conclude that our specimens don’t belong to the ssp. montana , despite the fact they were collected at a site near Kafa. Based on morphology they are closer to ssp. pharaonis , which has been synonymized with the nominate by Dirsh (1966) ( Table 5 ).

About the short-winged species, like elgonensis ( Uvarov 1930) , abyssinica ( Uvarov, 1934) , nimbana Chopard 1958 and bintumana Roy 1964 , Dirsh (1966) suggests these to be short-winged highland forms of stenoptera (Schaum 1853) . See C. danieli n. sp.

Key in Uvarov (1953)

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Figures

FIGURE 39. Coryphosima stenoptera stenoptera, left: Ƌ, Sheko Forest (1570 m); right: ♀, Bamboo Forest (2620 m), Ethiopia. Scale bar represents 1 cm.