Arachnitus Hebard, 1932

Fontana, Paolo, Buzzetti, Filippo Maria, Mariño-Pérez, Ricardo & García-García, Patricia Lucero, 2011, Three new species of Tettigoniidae from Mexico (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae; Phaneropterinae; Insarini and Odonturini), Zootaxa 2879, pp. 22-32 : 27

Genus Arachnitus Hebard, 1932

“ This extraordinary genus is nearest Dichopetala , as shown by the general build, unarmed cephalic coxae, pronotum lacking a humeral sinus, lobiform tegmina, male subgenital plate without styles, presence of areas exposed by the short rounded meso- and meta-sternal lobes, very slender fastigium, gently curved and heavily toothed ovipositor, cephalic femora over twice as long as pronotum and cephalic tibiae sulcate and armed dorsad and with foramina on both sides. It differs in the very small size and more slender form, pronotum with lateral carinae, practically apterous female sex and exceedingly elongate and slender limbs ” ( Hebard, 1932).

This peculiar genus was known from one species, Hebard (1932). Examining long series of Arachnitus Hebard, 1932 we discovered that a remarkable difference between Arachnitus and Dichopetala Brunner von Wattenwyl, 1878 is the absence in Arachnitus males of a chitinous titillator-like structure. It is represented as two simple keels or plates to strongly toothed three-dimensional structures in Dichopetala . The female subgenital plate is not divided ( Buzzetti et al., 2010). Dr. Theodore J. Cohn (Insect division/Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan, USA), suggested the first author investigate the identity of a completely wingless population of Arachnitus . During our field expedition to Oaxaca we had the chance to collect in Puebla, not far from the Oaxaca border. We found a population with this character to be a distinct species, different not only for the total absence of tegmina, but for additional characters. This new species is described below.