Psorodonotus davisi Karabağ, 1956

Ünal, Mustafa, 2018, Tettigoniinae (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae) from Turkey with key to genera and descriptions of six new species, Zootaxa 4432 (1), pp. 1-66 : 17-18

Psorodonotus davisi Karabağ, 1956

Psorodonotus rize Kaya & Çıplak, 2014 syn. nov.

Material examined. TURKEY: Rize, İkizdere, Cimil Yaylası , 1883 m, 2.10.2013, 2 males, 5 females, in alcohol (leg. A. Erden) (AİBÜEM).

Remarks. The specimens examined here were collected from the type locality, Cimil Yaylası. I also studied the type specimens of this species preserved in the NHMUK. During the identification process I compared it with the recently described species, Psorodonotus rize Kaya & Çıplak, 2014 . One of the males studied here has cerci nearer to P. rize with inner tooth almost in the middle (slightly in distal part of cercus), which is slightly in proximal part in the other male. It seems to me the differences, which are very small, given by Kaya et al. (2014) are typically in a variation range of a single species, including the songs. Şirin et al. (2014) also gave another record of the song of P. davisi from Ovit Dağı. P. rize was found from only one locality, although many extensive field trips were carried out in the same mountain by orthopterists, including the authors of this taxon. The type localities of both species are very near, almost 30 kms straight line distance, in the same mountain ridge, without any geographical barrier. In case of a likely secondary distributional convergent, more distinct external characters must be seen between two different species. Moreover the distributions of very close species in this genus are clear. In my opinion it is not more different from a population of the same species. Therefore, P. rize is proposed as a synonym of this species.