Acteana alazonica Karsch, 1896

Popov †, George B., Fishpool, Lincoln D. C. & Rowell, C. Hugh F., 2019, A review of the Acridinae s. str. (Orthoptera: Acridoidea: Acrididae) of eastern Africa with taxonomic changes and description of new taxa, Journal of Orthoptera Research 28 (2), pp. 37-105 : 82-84

Acteana alazonica Karsch, 1896 Figs 67, 331-340

Acteana alazonica Karsch, 1896: 255, fig. 7.

Material.

-Holotype female, Zanzibar (MfN): TANZANIA: 5 males, 3 females, Dar es Salaam, III.1936, K. H. Key (NHMUK); 3 males, 1 female, University College Campus, 8 ml. W. Dar es Salaam, 4.IV.1967; 1 female, Pugu hills SW of Dar es Salaam airport, 500', 28.IV.1982; 1 male, 1 female, Korogwe-Msata Rd., 103 km. N. of Msata, summit of Kopje, 27.IX.1982; 1 male, 1 female, Korogwe-Handeri Rd., 24 km. N.E. of Sindeni, 3.X.1982, riverine grassland, degraded woodland, all Jago (NHMUK).

Description.

-Male antennae slightly longer and, in female, slightly shorter, than combined length of head and pronotum together; flagellum divided into basal, medial and apical parts, (basal moderately widened, flattened and serrated, particularly in female; medial slightly widened and compressed; apical cylindrical and somewhat inflated distally in male). Head short, conical; frons oblique and weakly concave in profile; frontal ridge shallowly sulcate with raised lateral margins, parallel above, divergent below ocellus. Fastigium of vertex widely parabolic, about as long as wide, with weak, but distinct median and lateral carinulae and a shallow arcuate sulcus behind middle. Dorsum of pronotum narrow; medial carina thick and somewhat raised, lateral carinae inflexed and weaker, particularly in metazona. Only typical sulcus distinct; metazona half length of prozona, its hind margin obtuse-angularly incurved. Mesosternal interspace quadrate in male, weakly transverse in female; metasternal interspace narrow in male, broadly open in female (Figs 67A, B). Tegmina lobiform, lateral, narrowly elongate, only a fifth as wide as long, barely covering tympanum, the latter fully developed. Male supra-anal plate triangular, with obtusely rounded apex and without a marked medial sulcus. Cerci small, obtusely conical; subgenital plate simple, short, subconical with obtuse apex. Phallic complex similar in structure to that in Parga genus group: epiphallus with moderately narrow, arcuate bridge with a marked medial projection, without ancorae, and with moderately elongate posterior projections. Lophi directed inwards, and divided into an elongate, finger-like outer, and a shorter, abruptly rounded, inner lobe. Penis valves slender, upturned. Integument finely and uniformly pitted, structure of head and pronotum as in Figs 331, 333. Antenna as in Fig. 339 and genital structures as in Figs 31 and 340. Generally dark-testaceous to rusty brown, often, but not always and more usually in males, paler dorsally; sometimes, more often in females, there is some fine, dark speckling. Cryptic coloring, probably associated with substrate homochromy, covers most of body, including underside, antennae, and legs. Sometimes with a striking large, ivory-white, flat, smooth callosity on lower half of lateral pronotal lobe, and bright, rusty-red coloration of lower outer sulcus of hind femur. In some specimens underside is also suffused with rusty-red which could be associated with sexual maturation.

Discussion.

-Note that the shape of the lateral pronotal lobe differs from that in Anacteana species, and the tegmina are much narrower.

Distribution.

-TANZANIA: Zanzibar (holotype only); coastal and close hinterland areas of TANZANIA (S.W. of Dar es Salaam to the KENYA border).