Symmetrokarschia plana (Walker, 1869) Walker, 1869

Massa, Bruno, 2015, Taxonomy and distribution of some katydids (OrthopteraTettigoniidae) from tropical Africa, ZooKeys 524, pp. 17-44 : 22-26

Taxon classification Animalia Orthoptera Tettigoniidae

Symmetrokarschia plana (Walker, 1869) comb. n. Figs 26-30

Material examined.

South Africa, Kwa Zulu-Natal, Nhandla Forest, I.1937 (2♂) (ISAM).

Remarks.

Walker (1869) described Phaneroptera plana from Kwa Zulu-Natal (South Africa). Later, Kirby (1906) transferred the taxon to the genus Tylopsis Fieber, and Ragge (1964) placed it in the genus Symmetropleura Brunner, 1878. Another species described by Chopard (1955), Catoptropteryx latipennis from Cape Province, Tsitzikama forest, was synonymized by Huxley (1970) with Symmetropleura plana . The genus Symmetropleura was based on a Neotropical type-species, Symmetropleura laevicauda Brunner, 1878 and contained three further Neotropical and three African species. However, Ragge (1968, 1980) pointed out that Symmetropleura is a New World genus, occurring in South America, Mexico and the Eastern USA, and that the African species are neither very similar to each other nor to the Neotropical type-species of the genus. Finally, Massa (2015) described two new genera for two African species: Symmetrokarschia africana (Brunner von Wattenwyl, 1878) and Symmetroraggea dirempta (Karsch, 1889), but he was unable to examine specimens of the third species, Symmetropleura plana (Walker, 1869). Now, the availability of the above listed specimens allows to propose the change of the taxonomic status of this species.

Characters of the genus Symmetropleura are: fastigium of vertex triangular and sulcate; pronotum disc flat, with lateral excisions; tegmina wide with rounded hind margin or narrow with straight hind margin; fore and mid femora with ventral inner spines, hind femora with double row of ventral spines. Fore and mid tibiae dorsally unarmed or with some spinules; cerci long, in-curved and pointed; male sub-genital plate short with rounded posterior margin or (in Symmetropleura africana ) long with triangular apex; styli absent; ovipositor longer than pronotum, not much curved, sharp, with upper and lower apices serrate; female sub-genital plate triangular, just concave. In the description Brunner von Wattenwyl (1878) referred mainly to Symmetropleura laevicauda , both within the text and in the figure 73; thus, by subsequent designation, Kirby (1906) established Symmetropleura laevicauda as the type-species of the genus. Massa (2015) transferred Symmetropleura africana to the genus Symmetrokarschia , on the basis of its peculiar characters: pronotum disc with regular impressed punctures, fastigium of vertex compressed, narrower than first antennal segment, sulcate above, eyes oval, prominent; absence of fronto-genal carinae; pronotum just depressed, fore part with just definite lateral carinae, central and hind parts with vague lateral carinae; fore margin slightly concave, posterior margin rounded; surface dotted, matt; fore coxae with a long spine, fore tibiae with open tympanum on each side, furrowed on upper border; fore and mid femora with 3-5 spines, hind femora with 5-8 inner ventral and 6-7 outer ventral spines; fore and mid tibiae with 1 dorsal and 1 ventral spur, hind tibiae with 3 apical spurs on each side; male tenth tergite laminate and protruding, with straight posterior margin, cerci little in-curved, with flat apex and pointed, sub-genital plate long, narrow, with obtuse and short cut apex, styli absent. Ovipositor well developed, sharply bent upwards near the base, shorter than pronotum, with upper border and apex of lower border finely serrate, sub-genital plate triangular and pointed. Tegmina wide and oval, with rounded hind border more pronounced in female than in male.

Characters of Symmetropleura plana are testaceous-green, smooth, rather stout; head nearly as broad as the pronotum, with a short keel between eyes; front erect. Fastigium of vertex compressed, narrower than first antennal segment, sulcate above (Fig. 27). Eyes tawny, nearly round, rather prominent; absence of fronto-genal carinae. Disk of the pronotum flat, slightly widening hindward, with an abbreviated curved transverse line in middle; lateral keels just defined, each accompanied by an ochraceous line; fore margin slightly excavated; sides and hind margins slightly rounded, surface matt, characterized by a right and a left black spots on fore margin (Figs 26-27). Legs long, slender; fore coxae armed, fore tibiae with open tympanum on each side, furrowed on upper border. Fore tibiae with 6 inner + 1 spur and 7 outer spines + 1 spur on ventral margin, 3 outer spines + 1 spur on dorsal margin; mid tibiae with 8 inner + 1 spur and 10 outer spines + 1 spur on ventral margin, 2-3 inner and 7 outer spines + 1 spur on dorsal margin (on the whole both fore and mid tibiae have 1 dorsal and 2 ventral spurs); hind tibiae with 3 apical spurs on each side. Fore femora with 3-4 spines on each side of ventral margin, mid femora with 5 outer spines on ventral margin, unarmed on inner ventral margin. Hind femora with 3-4 small spines on each side of ventral margin. Fore wings rather narrow, with a ferrugineous streak along the anal vein and another nearer to base of hind margin (Fig. 26); interno-medial vein abruptly curved to the hind margin near tip; branch of externo-medial vein forked; veinlets very numerous, minute and irregular. Hind wings pellucid, longer than fore wings, green and with texture as in fore wings along apical part of costa; veins white. Male tenth tergite laminate with straight posterior margin (Fig. 29), cerci and lower appendages rounded at tips, nearly cylindrical, the former more curved than the latter, cerci very long, up-curved with flat and just pointed apex (Figs 28-29); sub-genital plate very long, narrow, with two very long appendices, just shorter than cerci; styli absent (Fig. 30).

Diagnosis.

Differences from Symmetrokarschia africana are the absence of evident lateral carinae on metazona of pronotum, narrow tegmina, and fore and mid tibiae with 3 spurs. Considering the high variability of some characters found in other genera of African Phaneropterinae, it seems reasonable to consider also Symmetrokarschia plana as belonging to the genus Symmetrokarschia , and to exclude the genus Symmetropleura definitively from the African fauna.