Phonarellus ritsemae (Saussure, 1877)

Wang, Ning, Huang, Huateng & Ma, Li-Bin, 2022, The intraspecific variation of morphology and coloration of field crickets: a taxonomic revision of Chinese Gymnogryllus Saussure, 1877 and Phonarellus Gorochov, 1983 (Orthoptera, Gryllidae, Gryllini), ZooKeys 1129, pp. 85-107 : 85

Phonarellus ritsemae (Saussure, 1877)

Figs 1D , 9 , 10 , 11

Liogryllus ritsemae Saussure, 1877: 304; Chopard 1936: 4.

Acheta ritsemae : Shiraki 1930: 200.

Gryllus ritsemae : Hisumatsu 1952: 43.

Tartarogryllus ritsemae : Chopard 1961: 272; Randell 1964: 1582; Leroy 1966: 39; Chopard 1967: 73.

Phonarellus ritsemae : Yin and Liu, 1995: 138-139; Ichikawa et al. 2000: 260; Hollier et al. 2013: 515.

Holotype.

Type locality: Japan. Deposited at National Nature Historical Museum, Leiden, Netherlands (not examined).

Specimens examined.

China: 1 female, Yunnan, Mengla, Shangyong, Longmen , May 13, 2013, Ma, Libin (SNNU) ; 1 male, same location as before, May 14, 2013, Ma, Libin (SNNU) ; 1 male and 2 females, same location as before, May 18, 2013, Ma, Libin (SNNU) ; 1 male, Yunnan, Lvchun, Banpo , May 9, 2013, Ma, Libin. (SNNU) ; 1 female, Yunnan, Mengla, Yaoqu , May 25, 2013, Ma, Libin (SNNU) ; 1 female, Yunnan, Mengla, Menglun , May 28, 2013, Ma, Libin (SNNU) ; 9 males and 1 female, Guangdong, Shaoguan, Luoshanzhen , May 13, 2015, Zhang, Tao (SNNU) ; 8 males, Guangdong, Shenzhen , May 17, 2015, Zhang, Tao (SNNU) ; 1 male, Guangxi, Jingxi, Longbang , May 2, 2019, Ma, Libin and Zhang, Tao (SNNU) ; 1 male, Hong Kong, Damaoshan , May 9, 2018, Ma, Libin (SNNU) ; 1 male, Hong Kong, Fei’eshan, May 18, 2018, Ma, Libin and Peng, Zhong (SNNU) .

Distribution.

China (Yunnan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hong Kong), Japan..

Measurements (mm).

Male (N = 22): BL 13.07-15.16; HW 3.76-4.15; PL 2.74-2.81; PW 4.05-4.25; FWL 7.88-10.05; HFL 8.97-9.62; HTL 4.74-5.75; Female (N = 6): BL 15.65-16.48; HW 3.83-4.06; PL 2.51-2.75; PW 3.85-4.06; FWL 8.86-9.92; HFL 8.83-10.71; HTL 4.95-5.63.

Description.

Male (Figs 1D , 9A ). Body medium sized, fusiform. Head smooth, about as wide as pronotum. Occiput narrowed and convex. Vertex smooth and broad. Frontal rostrum rather wide, inverted trapezoid. Median ocellus small and shaped ovoid or semilunar. Lateral ocelli larger and located on both sides of the frontal rostrum. Eyes convex, about 1/4 length of head. Antennal socket triangular. Epistomal suture straight and twice as long as frontal rostrum. Postclypeus narrow. Labrum slightly convex and elliptical. The third of maxillary palpi longest, apical segments enlarge. Each section of labial palpi progressively longer. Disc of pronotum rectangular and middle groove unconspicuous. Forewings almost as long as abdomen. Hind femora about twice as long as tibiae; armed with five dorsal spurs on inner and outer dorsal margins and with three apical spurs on both sides (the ventral one shortest, and half-length of the others, the middle one with equal length of the dorsal), the outer apical spurs three (the middle one about twice longer than the others). Subgenital plate fusiform, at end narrowed and flattened.

Genitalia (Figs 10 , 11 ). Dark brown. Epiphallus with lateral lobes large with apex acute and slightly curved upward; without median lobe but in middle sinuate with angular notch. Epiphallic anterior margin angulates with straight lateral edges or with arc-like lateral edges (Fig. 11D-F ). The bottom edge of the epiphallic lateral lobes extends horizontally at the posterior and downward at the anterior. Ectoparamere with three ridges (Fig. 10D-F ), a pair of horizontal ones and a vertical one; area around ridges dark, and central area whitish lucent.

Female (Fig. 9B ). Resembles male but larger. Ovipositor as long as forewings. Hindwings white and of equal length as forewings.

Coloration (Figs 1D , 9 ). Body dark brown. Head, pronotum black-brown. Femora reddish brown.

Remarks.

Yin and Liu (1995) recorded this species from Shanghai, China, but there was no detailed description of this species. We collected a large number of specimens from Yunnan and Guangdong, China and identified them as P. ritsemae . We observed a few traits with intraspecies variation: (1) the posterior teeth of the epiphallus are variable among individuals in lateral view (as shown in Fig. 10G-I ); (2) the ectoparamere can have different shapes in ventral view (as shown in Fig. 10D-F ). (3) the notch at hind margin of the epiphallus can be rather wide or slightly contracted, and the ventral margin can be broad or angular in dorsal view (as shown in Fig. 11D-F ); and (4) the epiphallic anterior margin can be angle-like with straight lateral edges or broad and arc-like in dorsal view (as shown in Fig. 11D-F ).

Figures

Figure 1. Living photos of some Phonarellus and Gymnogryllus species A, B male of P. minor (with varing proportion of black areas on hind legs) C female of P. minor D male of P. ritsemae E male of G. odonopetalus F female of G. odonopetalus (Photos A-D were provided by Zhang, Tao, and E, F were photographed by He, Zhixin).

Figure 9. Body of P. ritsemae A male B female. Scale bar: 10 mm.

Figure 10. Intraspecific variation of genitalia of P. ritsemae A-C genitalia of three individuals in ventral view D-F drawing of ectoparamere in ventral view G-I Genitalia of the same three individuals in lateral view (Note: The blue circles of the A-C graph point to the ectoparamere, highlighting variations among individuals; the red arrows in the G-I graph point to the teeth of epiphallic posterior).

Figure 11. Intraspecific variation of genitalia in P. ritsemae A-C photos of genitalia of three individuals in dorsal view D-F drawing of epiphallus of the same three individuals in dorsal view (Note: the drawing shows the notch variation)