Brachytrupes grandidieri Saussure, 1877

Simeu-Noutchom, Alain, Heller, Klaus-Gerhard, Nyobe, Philene Corinne Aude Um & Kekeunou, Sevilor, 2023, Taxonomy review of the genus Brachytrupes (Orthoptera: Gryllidae) with the description of a new species and key to the species, Zootaxa 5336 (3), pp. 373-388 : 379

Species Brachytrupes grandidieri Saussure, 1877 ( Table 2 , Fig. 2 )

Brachytrupes grandidieri Saussure, 1877: p. 287

Type material: holotype ♁, Africa , Western Indian Ocean, Madagascar. MNHN .

Description ( Saussure 1877). Testaceous brown, fawn below. Head flattened in front, slightly pitted, striped, leathery appearance; tawny brown, with brown anterior surface; tawny facial crest and mouth. The forehead with two keels diverging upwards, bordering the antennal pits on the inside, and curved in the form of a hook below each antenna; the space between these hulls offering a small foam tuber which represents the ocellus median; above this small tubercle a small transverse subangular hull which joins the lateral ocelli, and above this hull two vague dimples. Ocellus arranged in an arcuate line; the hindquarters large and testaceous, placed on the external face of the keels, not forming sensitive tubercles; small, protruding eyes carved coping transversely. Palps tawny, slender, as in the species cited. Pronotum a little dilated in front, slightly constricted laterally by a furrow before its posterior edge; its crumpled, striped, strongly leathery surface; its upper surface a reddish brown, with two transverse spots of the disc and its edges brown; the lateral lobes pale, extended forward, their anterior angles cut at right angles and rounded. Tegmina not quite reaching the end of the abdomen, brown-testaceous. Lateral field offering 5–6 free, irregular, reticulated ribs plus the mediastinum vein, which bears 4–5 branches, the last 3 of which are inserted almost at right angles; the punctate anal field. The drum offering 4 oblique veins, the first straight, the second a little arched, the third more arched, the fourth subsinuated, small, ending in a small longitudinal rib; the rounded oblique square mirror with its straight or subobtuse anterior angle; the first cord uniting with the enveloping vein by a few large meshes. The apical area mediocre, rounded at the end, and densely reticulated. Wings very small, barely reaching the middle of the abdomen. Legs strong, compressed, and fawn. Those of the first two pairs, very compressed, long villous. Large anterior femora; anterior tibiae dilated, subfusiform, narrowed at the base; sturdy spurs; very short metatarsus. Hind femora not exceeding the abdomen, large and long; triangular tibiae, point compressed; their awns armed with spines shorter than in B. membranaceus , 4: 5 in number; the inner-upper spur barely larger than the middle; metatarsals elongated, armed above with 3:3 teeth. Abdomen yellowish below, fawn above; cerci long, fawn; supra anal plate triangular, ciliated; poor, compressed subgenital plaque. Very close to B. membranaceus , having the same forms but being a little less tall.

Female: large, convex, and smooth head. Ovipositor is short and cylindrical, with upper valves that are lanceolate and indented below and lower valves that are dilated above, rounded, and with a short point. Body and posterior femora nearly glabrous. Intermediate legs slightly pubescent but ciliated with long, very fine, sparse hairs.

Figures

FIGURE 2. Brachytrupes grandidieri a) Male habitus (b) frontal view (http://orthoptera.speciesfile.org).