Sphenarium purpurascens Charpentier, 1842

Sanabria-Urbán, Salomón, Song, Hojun, Oyama, Ken, González-Rodríguez, Antonio & Castillo, Raúl Cueva Del, 2017, Integrative taxonomy reveals cryptic diversity in neotropical grasshoppers: taxonomy, phylogenetics, and evolution of the genus Sphenarium Charpentier, 1842 (Orthoptera: Pyrgomorphidae), Zootaxa 4274 (1), pp. 1-86 : 24-25

Sphenarium purpurascens Charpentier, 1842

(http://lsid.speciesfile.org/urn:lsid: Orthoptera .speciesfile.org:TaxonName:36986)

Description. External morphology ( Figs. 8 A, B; 9A, B, C, D, E, F): total body length ranging from 18.01 to 30.24 mm in females and 16.04 to 28.14 mm in males. In most cases: antennae filiform, slightly shorter in females or longer than head and pronotum together in males; head subtriangular-compressed, wider than long with spherical eyes in females or subtriangular-elongated moderately longer than wide with oval eyes in males; fastigium notably reduced, less than a half the length of interocular space in females or moderately elongated, nearly half the length of interocular space in males; tegmina spatula-like; subgenital plate of males rounded, moderately developed posteriorly; dorsal ovipositor valves lanceolate, moderately elongated towards the apex. Male genitalia: bridge of epiphallus as long as the length of lateral plates in most cases ( Figs. 5 A; 10A-I, D-I, G-I). Ectophallus in dorsal view ( Fig 10 A-II, D-II, G-II) with lateral borders of ramus strongly concave; basal emargination of cingulum moderately developed; interspace between apodemal plates of cingulum moderately open. Ectophallus in posterior view ( Fig. 10 B, E, H) without a conspicuous sclerotized hollow in the sheath; inflections of supraramus moderately developed with distal margins dorsally directed in most cases; valves of cingulum small, triangular, slightly developed (morphotypes 1 and 2; Figs. 10 C, F, respectively) or notably developed posteriorly (morphotype 3; Fig. 10 I). In lateral view of endophallus ( Fig. 10 A-III, D-III, G-III) pseudoarch elongated, loosely joined to the valves of cingulum; aedeagal valves long with smooth ventral borders and an apical spine slightly longer (morphotypes 1 and 3; Fig. 10 A-III, G-III, respectively) or shorter (morphotype 2; Fig. 10 D-III) than the base of aedeagal sclerites (see Fig. 5 E); aedeagal valves and sclerites together about twice (morphotypes 1 and 3; Fig. 10 A-III, G-III, respectively) or 1½ fold (morphotype 2; Fig. 10 D-III) the length of dorsal inflections of endophallic apodemes (see Fig. 5 F).

Colouration. Ground colours vary from green, beige, brown or grey ( Fig. 9 A, B, C, D, E, F). Body uniformly coloured with ground colours ( Fig. 9 F) or with the following colour traits: antennae black, yellow or orange; fastigium reddish or brownish; lateral postocular bands whitish or yellowish; dorsomedial line frequently present, narrow, whitish or reddish; dorsal shades frequently present, black, purple, brown or grey, covering partially ( Fig. 9 E) or entirely ( Fig. 9 A, C) the dorsal portion of the body; lateral shades often present; lateral bands of blotches not evident; ventral bands of pronotum generally present, wide and whitish; mesonotum partially or entirely black; light lateral blotches of 1st abdominal segment generally present and whitish; hind femora frequently with upper medial area black to brown and lower medial area whitish or yellowish; frequently knees of hind femora black laterally, brownish to reddish dorsally; hind tibia black, yellow or orange.

Diagnosis. Sphenarium purpurascens mainly differs from its congeners in the following combination of male genitalia characters: lateral borders of ramus of cingulum strongly concave, inflections of supraramus moderately developed, aedeagus valves moderately long and its apical spine of aedeagus always present slightly longer or notably shorter than the base of aedeagal sclerites.

Distribution. This species is distributed in elevations ranging approximately from 800 to 2700 m a.s.l. from the southern Altiplano to the Sierra Madre del Sur in the Mexican states of Guanajuato, Hidalgo, Mexico, Mexico City, Michoacan, Oaxaca, Puebla, Queretaro, Tlaxcala, and Veracruz ( Fig. 7 A). The distribution of S. purpurascens is interrupted at the Tehuacan valley and somewhat delimited by the higher mountains of the Mexican Volcanic Belt, Sierra Madre Oriental and Sierra Madre del Sur. Across this geographic range the morphotype 1 of this species has the widest distribution, whereas the morphotype 2 is restricted to the central valleys of Oaxaca and the morphotype 3 is found in separate populations in the inner slopes of the Sierra Madre del Sur, Oaxaca ( Fig. 7 A & C). Previously, lower and southern ranges were recognized for S. purpurascens ( Kevan, 1977) . However, these assumptions were based on two misidentified male nymphs from 1.0 mi W Puerto Angel, Oaxaca (resembling S. histrio nymphs); and three adult females from Las Margaritas, Chiapas, apparently corresponding to S. purpurascens but probably mislabelled. Moreover, during our fieldwork we did not find S. purpurascens beyond the above-specified ranges.

Material examined. Lectotype m ( Fig. 8 A) and paralectotype f ( Fig. 8 B) from Mexico (V. Charpentier); designation: Kevan (1960, unpublished results); location: Berlin Zoological Museum (BZM), Berlin, Germany. We were able to examine only the external morphology of this material. Additional material: 459 m, 361 f, from 100 localities. Locality information and depositories of these examined specimens is provided in Appendix Table 5.

Taxonomic discussion. Charpentier (1842) described this species apparently based on two females and males syntypes from an unspecified Mexican locality. After its original description the taxonomic status of S. purpurascens remained unchanged until Boyle (1974) and Kevan (1977) recognised it as a subspecies, S. purpurascens purpurascens . Recently, Pedraza-Lara et al. (2015) and Sanabria-Urbán et al. (2015) proposed the elevation of this species at the species level considering principally its morphological distinctiveness. Based on the morphological, genetic and geographical cohesiveness of this species we also consider S. purpurascens as a valid species within the genus.

Figures

FIGURE 5. Male genitalia of Sphenarium: epiphallus in dorsal view (A); ectophallus in dorsal (B), lateral (C) and posterior (D) view; and endophallus in lateral (E) and dorsal (F) view. A, appendix of epiphallus; AC, apodemal plate of cingulum; AP, anterior projection of epiphallus; AS, aedeagal sclerites; ASA, apical spine of aedeagus; AV, aedeagal valve; B, bridge of epiphallus; BAS, base of aedeagal sclerites; BC, basal thickening of cingulum; BE, basal emargination of cingulum; CM, central membrane; CV, cingulum valve; DI, dorsal inflection of endophallic apodeme; EA, endophallic apodeme; ISR, inflection of supraramus; L, lophus of epiphallus; LBR, lateral borders of ramus of cingulum; LP, lateral plate of epiphallus; PZ, pseudoarch of ectophallus; RC, ramus of cingulum; S, sheath of ectophallus; SS, spermatophore sac; SZ, suprazygomal plate of cingulum; VC, ventral cleft of cingulum; VI, ventral inflection of endophallic apodeme; VMA, ventral margins of aedeagal valves; VP, ventral process of cingulum; VTC, ventral transverse thickening of cingulum; Z, zygoma of cingulum; I, length of bridge of epiphallus; II, length of lateral plate of epiphallus; III, interspace between apodemal plates of cingulum; IV, width of base of aedeagal sclerites; V, length of dorsal inflections of endophallus; VI, length of aedeagal sclerites and valves together (from the tip of aedeagus to the base of aedeagal sclerites).

FIGURE 7. Geographic distribution of Sphenarium species. Numbers within parenthesis in front of taxa names indicate the number of identified morphotype within the species. White surrounded areas and upper case abbreviations denote the Mexican biogeographic provinces. AC, Altos de Chiapas; AL, Altiplano Sur; BRB, Balsas River Basin; GMC, Gulf of Mexico Coast; MVB, Mexican Volcanic Belt; PC, Pacific Coast; SMOC, Sierra Madre Occidental; SMOR, Sierra Madre Oriental; SMS, Sierra Madre Sur; SO, Soconusco; and SOX, Sierra de Oaxaca.

FIGURE 8. Type specimens of S. purpurascens: lectotype m (A) and paralectotype f (B); S. planum: lectotype m (C) and paralectotype f (D); S. macrophallicum: holotype m (E) and allotype f (F); S. minimum lectotype m (G); S. affine lecototype m (H) (Scale bars = 1 cm).

FIGURE 9. External morphology of S. purpurascens: morphotype 1 m (A) and f (B), morphotype 2 m (C) and f (D), and morphotype 3 m (E) and f (F); S. zapotecum sp. n. holotype m (G) and paratype f # 23 (H); S. tarascum sp. n. holotype m (I) and paratype f # 2 (J,); S. planum m (K) and f (L); S. macrophallicum paratype m # 230 (M) and f (N); S. minimum m (O) and f (P); S. infernalis sp. n. holotype m (Q) and paratype f # 2 (R); S. rugosum morphotype 1 m (S) and f (T) (Scale bars = 1 cm).

FIGURE 10. Male genital structures of S. purpurascens: morphotype 1 (A – C), morphotype 2 (D – F), morphotype 3 (G – I); and S. zapotecum sp. n. holotype (J – l). For all taxa left squares show epiphallus (I) and ectophallus (II) in dorsal view, and endophallus in lateral view (III); meddle squares show ectophallus in posterior view; and right squares show a close up of ectophallus in lateral view (Scale bars = 1 mm).