Scelimena Serville, 1838

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 : 42-43

Genus Scelimena Serville, 1838

Tetrix (Scelimena) : Serville 1838.

Scelimena: Bolívar 1887 , Kirby 1890, Brunner von Wattenwyl 1893, Hancock 1907a, 1915, Kirby 1910, 1914, Günther 1938a, 1955 Kevan 1966, Shishodia 1991, Blackith 1992, Yin et al. 1996, Otte 1997, Jiang & Zheng 1998, Liang & Zheng 1998, Zheng 2005, Mahmood et al. 2007, Deng et al. 2007, Storozhenko & Dawwrueng 2015, Deng 2016, Zha et al. 2017.

Scelymena [misspelling]: Saussure 1862.

Scelhymena [misspelling]: Bolívar 1902.

Eugavialidium: Hancock 1907a , Kirby 1910, Hancock 1915, Tinkham 1936, Günther 1938b.

Hexocera: Hancock 1915 , Günther 1938a, Blackith 1992, Yin et al. 1996, Otte 1997; syn. nov.

Paracriotettix: Liang 2002 , Deng 2016; syn. nov.

Type species: Tetrix (Scelimena) producta Serville, 1838 (= Scelimena producta producta ).

Composition and distribution. 23 species, divided into six species groups ( Scelimena bellula group, Scelimena discalis group, Scelimena hexodon group, Scelimena novaeguineae group, Scelimena producta group, and Scelimena spiculata group), and five species ( S. brevispina , S. guangxiensis , S. razalii , S. spicupennis , and S. wulingshana ) not assigned to any of the species groups. The species of this genus inhabit India ( S. discalis , S. kempi ), Myanmar ( S. chinensis , S. rosacea ), Thailand ( S. bellula , S. discalis , S. songkrana ), Vietnam ( S. rosacea ), PR China ( S. brevispina , S. guangxiensis , S. spicupennis , S. wulingshana , S. melli ), Peninsular Malaysia ( S. gombakensis , S. razalii ), Sumatra ( S. marta , S. producta ), Borneo ( S. dentiumeris , S. hexodon ), Palawan Isl. ( S. boettcheri ), Philippines ( S. spiculata ), Java ( S. producta producta ), East Sumba ( S. producta dammermani ), Sulawesi ( S. celebica ), Flores ( S. floresana ) and New Guinea with adjacent small islands ( S. eremita , S. novaeguineae ).

Notes. Bruner (1915) presented names of four new Scelimena species from the Philippines, but never formally described them, those are, thus nomina nuda: Scelimena boetcheri Bruner, 1915 [near S. boettcheri of Günther, 1938], Scelimena ledyardi ( Bruner, 1915) , Scelimena maculatum ( Bruner, 1915) , Scelimena palidaventris Bruner, 1915 . This large genus is currently composed of 25 species (including S. hexodon comb. resurr., S. eremita , S. novaeguineae , S. rosacea comb. resurr. and two new species). The type species of the genus is S. producta , described from Java. The type species is characterized by large body size (from the tip of the vertex to the tip of pronotum 28.5 mm), vertex 1.53 times as wide as a compound eye, small but evident fastigial horns, long frontal costa, of which the bifurcation is in the lower third of the compound eye height, antennal grooves evidently below the lower margins of the compound eyes, long antennae, mostly low pronotal projections (unrecognizable frontomedial, low promedial, metamedial and mediolateral), strong frontolateral projections, metalateral tubercle (of variable size, can be larger or smaller), ventrolateral projection forming a spine directed forwards, large wings and alae, elongated and toothed fore and mid femora, dentate ventral margin of the hind femora, and widened distal part of the hind tibiae together with the proximal hind tarsal segment. The genus can be tentatively divided into six species groups ( Fig. 15 ), according to their shared morphological characters. Most of the Chinese species assigned to Scelimena cannot be assessed nor discussed in this study because of the lack of comparative material and voucher specimen. Digitalization of Chinese type specimens is strongly needed. One species of the genus is transferred to Indoscelimena ( I. india ), and one species ( S. wuyishanensis ) synonymized with Platygavialidium sinicum .

Figures

FIGURE 15. Distribution of Scelimena species groups. Simplified postulated distribution map of Scelimena bellula species group, Scelimena discalis species group, Scelimena hexodon species group, Scelimena novaeguineae species group, Scelimena producta species group, and Scelimena spiculata species group.