Oaxaca Fontana, Buzzetti & Mariño-Pérez, 2011

Aguilar-Rolda ́ N, César Antonio, Gómez-Tapia, José David, Mariño-Pérez, Ricardo, Song, Hojun, Vázquez-Reyes, Leopoldo D. & Sanabria-Urbán, Salomón, 2024, Studies in Mexican grasshoppers: four new species of the genus Oaxaca Fontana Buzzetti & Mariño-Pérez, 2011 with the erection of the subgenus Paraoaxaca (Caelifera: Acrididae: Melanoplinae), Zootaxa 5486 (4), pp. 499-538 : 506

Genus Oaxaca Fontana, Buzzetti & Mariño-Pérez, 2011

Oaxaca Fontana, Buzzetti & Mariño-Pérez (2011) . Zootaxa 2862: 42.

TYPE SPECIES. Oaxaca colorata Fontana, Buzzetti & Mariño-Pérez, 2011 , by original designation .

COMPOSITION. Currently this genus comprises six species, two previously described, Oaxaca colorata and Oaxaca carinata , and for new ones within the new subgenus Paraoaxaca here described: Oaxaca (Paraoaxaca) ottei sp. nov, Oaxaca (Paraoaxaca) cohni sp. nov, Oaxaca (Paraoaxaca) cuitlateca sp. nov, and Oaxaca (Paraoaxaca) tlapaneca sp. nov.

DIAGNOSIS AND TAXONOMIC AFFINITY. This genus can be distinguished from other genera of Melanoplinae by a combination of characteristics. These are: micropterous grasshoppers of small to medium size (~ 10 to 21 mm) with globose and prominent eyes that show a shiny coloration (blue, green, brown, yellow or ivory) on the dorsal body surface and in the lower areas of head and pronotum, and upper half of metathoracic episternum and tegmina. Generally, the shiny coloration of the body is interrupted by dorsal and lateral dark bands running from the head to the abdomen. Oaxaca grasshoppers also have hind femora that are almost entirely red, green or brown, with blue hind tibiae. In western coastal plains of Mexico, only the species of the genus Sinaloa bear some superficial resemblance to genus Oaxaca . This former genus also includes short-winged species that share with Oaxaca species the general body habitus, the shape of tegmina, the dark lateral bands of the body, and the blue hind tibiae. However, most species of Sinaloa are larger than Oaxaca species, and in all Sinaloa species, the dark dorsal bands of the body (common in Oaxac a species) are absent and the furculae of males are well developed (compared to the reduced furcula of Oaxaca species). Moreover, Sinaloa grasshoppers only have been recorded in northwestern Mexico, from Sonora to Jalisco states, whereas Oaxaca species are distributed in southwestern Mexico, from Colima to Oaxaca states.

GENERIC DESCRIPTION. Coloration: dorsal body surface shiny colored (blue, green or red) or featuring two darker bands running parallel from head to about fore half of abdomen. When present, these darker bands are divided by a dorsomedial light stripe (wide or narrow) and bordered on each side by two dorsolateral light stripes. These light stripes can be shiny blue, green, yellow or ivory. Lateral body surface with dark bands (dark brown or black) on either side of upper half. These lateral dark bands are wide and continuous from behind the eyes to thorax and narrowing and despairing towards the end of the abdomen. Lower half of head, pronotum and mesothoracic sternum are lightly colored (shiny blue, green, yellow or ivory). Metathoracic episternum with oblique light stripe (shiny bluish, greenish, yellow or ivory) in the upper half. Antenna lightly colored (red, green, yellow, or light brown) almost entirely. Eyes generally dark brown or black with lighter coloration in the front. Tegmina almost enterally dark black or with upper third lightly colored (blue, green, ivory, light brown or yellow). Fore and middle legs generally green or light brown. Hind femora almost enterally red, green or light brown, except for the dark (brown to black) lobes of knees. Hind tibiae bluish green or blue. Morphology: body size ranging from 10.01 to 17.55 mm in males and from 13.11 to 20.59 mm in females. Dorsal surface of body slightly pubescent and uniformly rugose or smooth on the abdomen. Longitudinal median carina on dorsal body surface well marked or diffuse. Head with arched vertex, slightly elevated above the pronotum in lateral view. Fastigium projecting forwards, descending nearly at middle of the eyes in lateral view. Eyes globose and prominent, nearly twice as long as the infra-ocular portion of the gena in lateral view of head, nearly touching anteriorly and widely separated posteriorly in dorsal view of head. Antenna filiform, larger in males than in females. Pronotum transversely convex, wider posteriorly than anteriorly, especially in females, dorsally straight to slightly arched; metazona slightly larger or shorter than half the length of prozona. Dorsal anterior and posterior margins of pronotal disc somewhat emarginated. Tegmina represented by small lateral tongues, wider in the posterior third than in the base and the apex. Hind wings not evident. Legs slightly pubescent, fore and middle femora more robust in males than in females; fore and middle tibiae with two rows of small dark spines on inner and outer margins of the lower surface of the distal half; hind tibiae with two rows of spines in dorsal surface, 8 spines in the outer, 9–10 in the inner. Male terminalia: supra-anal plate triangular or subtriangular with dorsal posterior apex variable in form. Furcula short, blunt rounded or flattened, nearly touching or widely separated dorsally. Cerci conical (straight or inwards curved) or triangular and flattened. Subgenital plate spherical or subtriangular. Male genitalia: epiphallus with a bridge well sclerotized or segmented in the middle; lophi prominent paddle-shaped or lobulated, with or without a backwards directed rounded tooth in the anterior-internal portion of each lophus. Endophallus with dorsal valves sclerotized, variable in size and form. Ventral valves of endophallus nearly as long as the dorsal valves, also variable in form.