Scelimena spiculata (Stal, 1877)

Muhammad, Amira Aqilah, Tan, Ming Kai, Abdullah, Nurul Ashikin, Azirun, Mohammad Sofian, Bhaskar, Dhaneesh & Skejo, Josip, 2018, An annotated catalogue of the pygmy grasshoppers of the tribe Scelimenini Bolívar, 1887 (Orthoptera: Tetrigidae) with two new Scelimena species from the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra, Zootaxa 4485 (1), pp. 1-70 : 52

Scelimena spiculata species group

Type species: Tettix spiculatus Stål, 1877 .

Composition and distribution. One species inhabiting the Philippines (Samar: Catbalogan, Surigao, Mindanao: Zamboanga) ( Günther 1938a).

Notes. This group includes only one species, inhabiting Mindanao and adjacent islands of the Philippines. For now, it is the only Scelimena species known from the Philippines (excluding Palawan archipelago, which is biogeographically more similar in fauna to Borneo). In the museum collections (e.g. in MNCN) more new (undescribed) species belonging to this group were found, but larger series and more research in the Philippines are needed to clarify status of taxa that are members of the group. This group is unique within Scelimena from the islands of SE Asia in lacking ML projection of the humeral angles, but having distinct tubercles on the lateral carinae, distinctly after the humeral angles. S. spiculata has elongated and smooth fore and mid femora, with fine tubercles on their margins, and the hind legs lack teeth and lappets on the ventral margins. The group is probably related to Scelimena producta species group, but also S. spiculata superficially resemble species of the Scelimena bellula species group.