Cestrophorus amplitenuis, Braun & Morris, 2022

Braun, Holger & Morris, Glenn K., 2022, New species of awl-head katydids, Cestrophorus and Acanthacara, from the Andes of Ecuador (Orthoptera, Conocephalinae, Cestrophorini), Journal of Orthoptera Research 31 (2), pp. 143-156 : 143

Cestrophorus amplitenuis sp. nov.

Figs 7 , 8E, F , 14

Material examined. -

Holotype: ECUADOR • ♂; Prov. Carchi, hwy 182, e. of Maldonado ; 16 Apr. 1990; G.K. Morris leg.; MLP . Paratypes: ECUADOR • 1 ♀; Prov. Carchi, hwy 182, e. of Maldonado ; 16 Apr. 1990; G.K. Morris leg.; ANSP • 7 ♂♂, 2 ♀♀; Prov. Carchi, hwy 182, e. of Maldonado ; 16 Apr. 1990; G.K. Morris leg.; ANSP • 4 ♂♂; Prov. Carchi, nr. road btwn Maldonado and Tulcan, s. of Rio La Plata , 3100 m., primary forest; 26-31 Jul. 1988; Glenn, Pedersen & Wechsler leg.; ANSP on loan to GKM .

Etymology. -

Named in reference to the 'dying fall’ of each call’s amplitude: each song emission begins as intense sinusoids that then diminish (Fig. 14 B,C ). Latin amplio [made large], tenuis [thin].

Diagnosis. -

As C. ditachus , more slender than C. paradoxus . Fastigium short and projecting only a little beyond scapus. General coloration light amber; in males. dorsal surface of pronotum medially dark brown, with whitish lateral fringes, especially in metazona. Male tegmina slender, almost as long as abdomen but leaving tip exposed. Females apterous. Male cerci with obtusely truncated dorsal lobe and acuminate terminal spine; ventro-internal process uniformly thin, fairly long, and slightly twisted.

Measurements. -

Male: midline pronotum 4.4 mm, fastigium verticis 1.1 mm, tegmen 7.3 mm, hind tibia 9.1 mm; female: midline pronotum 4.0 mm, fastigium verticis 1.2 mm, hind tibia 9.5 mm, ovipositor 6.7 mm (based on holotype and one paratype).

Field notes. -

A road (182) runs west along the Colombian border from Tulcán to Maldonado and beyond. The insects were taken roadside roughly 50 km west of Tulcán. After Tofino, the road climbs the slope of Volcán Chiles into paramo dotted with tall columnar "grey friar" plants. Their flowers are like small sunflowers in clusters. The road was (still is?) a single lane of rough winding dirt that favors switchbacks. We descended into a col of the volcano and passed a strangely colored lake with the strong smell of sulfur in the air. The light was beginning to fade as we crossed a height of land on the west side of the volcano and began to steadily descend. After proceeding downhill for several kilometers, we left the paramo but were not yet into forest. We stopped here to listen, the road bordered by shrubs and sedge, and heard singing.

Figures

Fig. 7. C. amplitenuis pair mating in the field; part of a large deme of singers in shrubby roadside vegetation at the type locality near Ecuador's northern border with Colombia. Female lacks wings.

Fig. 8. Cestrophorus spp. male genitalia compared. A. White pronotal maculae of C. paradoxus; B. Parameres of C. paradoxus ' upside-down dancing anteaters'; C. Dorsal aspect C. ditachus parameres; D. Lateral view of C. ditachus paramere; E. Photo of terminalia of C. amplitenuis; F. Lateral aspect of C. amplitenuis paramere.

Fig. 14. Song of C. amplitenuis. A. Regular well-spaced call series; B. C. The same call at two levels of time resolution; each emission a prolonged sinusoid wavetrain of quite variable amplitude envelope falling-away; D. Audio peak near 11 kHz, spectrum almost without ultrasonics; the sinusoid-tending call is also apparent in the relatively high peakedness, of the spectrum. Lab recording at 21.3 ° C.