Peropyrrhicia Brunner von Wattenwyl, 1891

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 : 13

Genus Peropyrrhicia Brunner von Wattenwyl, 1891

http://lsid.speciesfile.org/urn:lsid: Orthoptera .speciesfile.org:TaxonName:8515

Taxonomic remarks. In 1870 three Italian naturalists, Orazio Antinori, Odoardo Beccari and Arturo Issel, began the scientific exploration of the Horn of Africa ( Baccetti 1996). In particular Antinori collected some Orthoptera in the Ethiopian region of Ankober, NE of Addis Ababa. A small part of this collection (only four katydids) was studied by De Bormans (1881, 1883), who described Leptophyes antinorii and Dichopetala massaiae . The genus Peropyrrhicia was erected by Brunner von Wattenwyl (1891) for Dichopetala massaiae De Bormans, 1881 . According to Brunner von Wattenwyl (1891) the name Peropyrrhicia derived from πηρός (= mutilated) in combination with the name of the southeastern Asian genus Pyrrhicia Stål, 1873 (now synonym of Letana Walker, 1869 ), for which De Bormans (1881) found some similarities with Dichopetala massaiae . Later, Schulthess- Schindler (1898) described a new species of Peropyrrhicia , P. maculata , and Uvarov (1934) described two further species, P. scotti and P. cooperi . Finally, Ragge (1980) added also L. antinorii to the genus Peropyrrhicia and established the synonymies reported below.

Ragge (1980) lists five species of Peropyrrhicia , three occurring in Ethiopia, one on the Arabian Peninsula ( P. parva Ragge, 1980 ) and one in Somalia ( P. guichardi Ragge, 1980 ). The shape of the tegmina and abdominal segments of the last two species show more similarities with each other than with those of the Ethiopian species.

Brunner von Wattenwyl (1891) included Peropyrrhicia in the tribe Odonturini . Heller et al. (2014) suggested that the Odonturini should only contain the genus Odontura Rambur, 1838 , while Massa (2015) considered also the following genera to belong to the tribe: Monticolaria Sjöstedt, 1910 , Meruterrana Sjöstedt, 1912 , Atlasacris Rehn, 1914 , Odonturoides Ragge, 1980 , Austrodontura Fontana & Buzzetti, 2004 and Arostratum Massa, 2015 . These genera are characterized by evident sexual dimorphism and a stridulatory file consisting of two parts: a proximal half, containing more teeth than the distal half, which bears large, asymmetrical and widely spaced teeth.

Peropyrrhicia on the other hand, although characterized by an evident sexual dimorphism, has a different stridulatory file than the genera mentioned above. It has very densely and evenly spaced teeth, that rub against a short prominence on the right tegmen ( Figure 11 ). It presents yet another very peculiar character: the presence of 4–5 spines on the lower margin of the hind femur. These characters exclude the genus from the tribe Odonturini .

Furthermore, Peropyrrhicia is characterized by a compressed fastigium of the vertex, which is narrower than the first antennal segment, by its circular prominent eyes, a pronotum without carinae and with a rugose surface, unarmed fore coxae, unarmed fore and mid femora or with 1 pre-apical spine on each ventral side, hind femora bearing some spines, fore tibiae with an open tympanum on each side, fore and mid tibiae without dorsal spurs except at the apex, hind tibiae with three apical spurs on each side and ventral apical lobes of the femora with small spines (that may be absent in some specimens). The tegmina of males are short, not reaching the tip of abdomen, the tegmina of females are reduced to small lobes, that may be lateral on the abdomen or overlapping ( Figures 12– 17, 28); hind wings are vestigial, joined to the metanotum. The stridulatory file of the male has dense, evenly spaced and very characteristic small teeth (ca. 100 per mm) ( Figure 11 ). The male 9th abdominal tergite is enlarged, and the male 10th abdominal tergite is highly modified into a sclerotized structure that is species specific ( Figures 18–21 ). The male subgenital plate has two long diverging and upwardly curved branches; styli are absent. The ovipositor of the female is well developed, relatively large, with fine teeth. The subgenital plate of the female is rounded with a more or less deep concavity and a small central keel. The female’s 7th sternite is a little modified by a series of small cross keels ( Figures 22–23 ) (modified after Ragge 1980).

Based on our material we conclude that this genus is represented by more species in Ethiopia than currently known. Some species occur on the same sites, but in different habitats. We describe three new species here, and reestablish two species described by Uvarov (1934).

Habitat. Some species of the genus Peropyrrhicia were found on shrubs at forest edges, others inside primary forests. Previous authors only sighted these species in October-November. We collected nymphs and adults in April and in December. This could mean that adults lay eggs in winter, hatching occurs in December and adults go in diapause during the rainy season (late spring-summer) to emerge again in autumn.

Figures

FIGURE 11. Stridulatory file of Peropyrrhicia. The short prominence on the right tegmen, to which the file is rubbing during song, is shown (bottom right).

FIGURE 18. Dorsal view of the 10 th tergite of males Peropyrrhicia

FIGURE 19. Lateral view of the 10 th tergite of males Peropyrrhicia.

FIGURE 20. Posterior view of the 10 th tergite of males Peropyrrhicia

FIGURE 22. Ovipositor and subgenital plate of females Peropyrrhicia.

FIGURE 23. Ovipositor and subgenital plate of females Peropyrrhicia – continued