Anaulacomera mariellae, Fianco & Cadena-Castañeda & Szinwelski & Faria, 2021

Fianco, Marcos, Cadena-Castañeda, Oscar J., Szinwelski, Neucir & Faria, Luiz R. R., 2021, Three new Anaulacomera species (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae: Phaneropterinae) from the Iguaçu National Park and nearby areas, southern Brazil, Zootaxa 5061 (2), pp. 340-352 : 342-344

Anaulacomera mariellae sp. n. Fianco, Faria & Cadena-Castañeda

Fig. 1

Diagnosis: Fastigium elongated, elevated and curved downwards; tegmina ovoid, with apex pointed; subgenital plate triangular and with a U-shaped notch on its posterior margin.

Etymology: This species is named as a tribute to Marielle Francisco da Silva, known as Marielle Franco, a Brazilian human rights activist, feminist, and LGBTQIA+ advocate, a brave woman in opposition to the established brutality against minorities and people on the peripheries of the cities.

Description: Holotype male, medium-sized, greenish-yellowish, lemon green in vivo ( Fig. 1A ). Head: vertex green, fastigium elongated, longer than eye, elevated and curved downwards ( Fig. 1B, C ); frons elongated. Eyes protruding ( Fig. 1B–C ). Thorax: Pronotum: pronotal disc not compressed between prozona and metazona; posterior and anterior margin convex; furcal sulci bell-shaped. Lateral lobes smaller than pronotal disc, longer than wide; anterior margin straight, posterior margin convex and semi-circular; humeral sinus presenting an angle of ca. 100º ( Fig. 1B ). Wings ( Fig. 1I ): Anal and costal margins almost parallel; ScA curved, not following the tegmina basal curvature; ScP with four ramifications; RP vein beginning after the middle of the tegmina, with one ramification; RA ending in the costal area, with one ramification; A1 vein green in dorsal view, with 38 teeth that become more spaced towards the costal area on both tegmina (1H); punctuations slightly below R+ScP in the tegmina, following the extension of this vein; M without any ramification; four closed cells between RP and RA; six closed cells between R and M. Sternum: anterior margin of mesosternum straight; lateral lobes triangular; posterior margin with ca. one-third of the length of the lateral margin; lateral lobes without overlapping in the posterior margin. Metasternum triangular, with a straight anterior margin, equilateral; lateral lobes demilune shaped, not touching each other at the posterior margin. Abdomen: Tergite X large, posterior margin almost straight. Cercus ( Fig. 1D, E F ) without any ramification, long, its thickness decreasing towards the apex; with a curvature between its second and third part, upwards and medially directed; terminating in a dark spine. Subgenital plate ( Fig. 1D ) longer than wide; median keel along its total length; posterior processes obtuse, almost touching each other, longer than wide.

Coloration: body coloration mostly lemon green; vertex greenish, frons lighter than vertex; gena and frons with light green stains ( Fig. 1B ); eyes brown ( Fig. 1B–C ); stridulatory area of left tegmen with greenish, brownish and whitish stains ( Fig. 1E ); tympanum expansion and tibia apex yellowish; Femur I, II and III and Tibia II and III light green. Abdomen mostly brownish, green in live specimens.

Type material: Holotype male “ BR, PR, Foz do Iguaçu/Parque Nacional do Iguaçu/ 12–14.IX.2019 /Armadilha luminosa/ Fianco, M. col”, deposited at Museu Nacional do Rio de Janeiro ( MNRJ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Measurements: Holotype: BL: 17.8; TegL: 26.8; HW: 2.5; PrL: 3.7; PrH: 2.8; FLiii: 13.6; TLiii: 15.9; SPL: 3.4; CL: 2.5; SFL: 0.98; TN: 39.

Female: unknown.

Comparison: Regarding the other species in the Inermis Group, A. mariellae sp. n. is more similar to A. triangulata , having a pronounced and rounded vertex, besides ovoid tegmina, characters that differentiate both species from the other placed within the Inermis Group, which have a reduced and digitiform vertex, besides a narrow and rectangular tegmina. A. mariellae sp. n. differs from A. triangulata , by having thinner and curved inwards cerci, in contrast to A. triangulata which has a more robust and upward curved cerci. The triangular-shaped subgenital plate of both species is similar, but the notch on the posterior margin is deeper in A. triangulata than in the new species.

Inermis group distribution. The group is distributed throughout South America, but most species of the group inhabit the Amazon and nearby regions (e.g. the eastern portion of the Mountain Range of Andes). Only two species of the group are found south of the Tropic of Capricorn, Anaulacomera triangulata , whose distribution is restricted to coastal areas of Atlantic Forest, while the new species is found in the Seasonal Semidecidual Forest near Mixed Ombrophilous Forest (Araucaria Forest) ( Fig. 2 ). We believe the absence of species of this group in the arid diagonal, which corresponds to Chacoan Dominion, is more related to the lack of collection efforts in this area than a true absence.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Anaulacomera mariellae sp. n. A: Habitus; B: Head and pronotum, lateral view; C: Head, dorsal view; D: Cercus and subgenital plate, ventral view; E: Terminalia, dorsal view; F: Terminalia, lateral view; G: Stridulatory area of left tegmen; H: Stridulatory file, I: Tegmen. Scale bars (in mm): B = 1.5; C = 1.2; D, E and F = 1.5; F = 3; G = 1; H = 1.

FIGURE 2. Geographical distribution of the currently known Anaulacomera species, Inermis group.