Paranocarodes chopardi Pechev, 1965

Alexiou, Sotiris, 2017, New distribution records of Orthoptera of Greece, Journal of Orthoptera Research 26 (1), pp. 53-63 : 57-58

Paranocarodes chopardi Pechev, 1965

Distribution

Macedonia: Mt. Vrondous (Lailias): 1000m, 16 IV 2016, 2 ♂; 19 V 2016, 1 ♀. Figs 14 - 15 .

New to Macedonia. This species was described from the extreme southeast Bulgaria, the eastern foothills of Rhodopi mountain, close to the Greek-Bulgarian borders. In 2001 it was reported as new to the Greek fauna, from several localities of Evros, Thraki ( Kati and Willemse 2001) (Fig. 16 ). Its habitat was described as Quercus sp. forest, sometimes mixed with Pinus brutia and/or P. nigra , commonly with dead leaf litter in which the animal was frequently found, and at an altitude of 200-900m a.s.l.

Pamphagids of the Balkan Peninsula, Paranocarodes I. Bolívar, and the related Nocaracris Uvarov, 1928 ( Paranocaracris Mistshenko, 1951 was synonymized with Nocaracris by Ünal 2016), are ancient relicts, remnants of a thermophilous Tertiary fauna and have restricted ranges ( Popov 2007). The locality of Mt. Vrondous is isolated from the populations in Thraki. Our specimens were collected from a meadow with a few scattered bushes, mainly Juniperus sp., bordering dense Pinus nigra forest, at an altitude of c. 1000m. The males were found very close to each other and were noticed from a distance by their strong stridulation. The female was noticed crossing the asphalt road from the same meadow towards the forest. No other specimen could be found despite several efforts. Apparently nymphs overwinter and adults appear in early spring, which may explain how such an obvious and impressive insect has gone unnoticed for so long on a well accessible mountain. According to L. Willemse (pers. comm. 2016), nymphs of what could be members of Paranocarodes have been observed from a couple of adjacent localities of N. Greece.

The male phallic complex is one of the main diagnostic characters used to distinguish the genera of pamphagids ( Ünal 2016). A study that took place at Bolu by Ünal on the phallic complex of specimens sent to him confirmed our identification: this specific characteristic is almost the same as the one of the type specimen, kept provisionally at Bolu. Other morphological characteristics, such as the shape of the pronotum and coloration, are also identical with the type specimen. The tympanum size though of our specimen is much smaller than the typical P. chopardi , but a variation of this character has been documented in other pamphagids as well ( Ünal pers. comm. 2017).

Figures

Figure 14. Paranocarodes chopardi, habitus, female, Macedonia, Mt. Vrondous, 19 V 2016.

Figure 15. Paranocarodes chopardi, habitus, male, Macedonia, Mt. Vrondous, 16 IV 2016, lateral view (scale bar, 10 mm).

Figure 16. Total known distribution of Paranocarodes chopardi (• literature records, ▲ new record).