Gryllotalpa krishnani Arun Prasanna et al.

Prasanna, Vimalanathan Arun, Anbalagan, Sankarappan, Dinakaran, Jeyaraj Pandiarajan Sundaram & Krishnan, Muthukalingan, 2012, A new species of the mole cricket genus Gryllotalpa (Orthoptera: Gryllotalpidae; Gryllotalpinae) from India, Zootaxa 3597, pp. 41-46 : 42-45

Gryllotalpa krishnani Arun Prasanna et al. , new species

(Fig. 1 & 2, Table 1)

Holotype: 3 Adult

Body: 27mm length, stout and long, pilose, brown or yellowish brown. Head: 3.5mm long, consistent blackish brown, covered with numerous fine setae. Antenna brown, scape and pedicel washed with yellowish brown; Eyes black, a small eclipse-shaped white spot at the base of each eye; ocelli large; clypeus short from pale yellow; labrum long, its length more than twice that that of clypeus, brown, middle dark with margin and apex area dark, margin covered with short setae. Palpi, washed with brown and tip yellow, right slightly longer than left. Pronotum: length 9mm and width 6mm brown, dark brown at anterior, covered with numerous fine setae, 1.5 times longer than broad, anterior margin concave and posterior margin convex, inferior margin of lateral lobes long transverse; anterior margin golden; patterned medially, a pair of stripe-shaped punctuations with golden margin anteriorly and medially, behind them a groove linked by two golden punctuations; remainder dark brown.

Legs: Fore legs 8mm long- anterior femora 4.5mm long and yellow with numerous setae; fore tibia 4mm long, brown and tarsus 2mm long, yellow; inner part of trochanter armed with four processes, the anterior one dark, angular-shaped and longer than other processes; apex of fore femur with a rough and angular sclerite laterally; ventro-internal margin at base with an oval shaped, apically blended process; anterior tibiae with internal tympanum slit-shaped, tibial dactyls short and stout. Middle legs 12mm long, femur yellow, tibia yellowish brown and tarsus brown. Hind legs: 17mm length, brown, posterior tibiae with 6 internal pre-apical spines.

Tegmen: Nearly oval when flattened, brown with main veins dark brown; dorsal field lightest in harp area; lateral field brown dorsally and light along lower margin. Harp broad at base. Fore wing: 9mm length, cell c1 coneshaped, c2 1/5 size of c1; behind each of c1 and c2 with one conspicuously cell, equal size of c2; radius undivided distally and apart from subcosta; the apical field short and longitudinal veins, only 1/4 length of tegmen; one to five crossveins between each longitudinal vein of this field. Stridulatory file (Figs. 9, 9e): straight, 4 mm length, 1mm width, armed with 52 teeth, teeth intensive at inner part; left tegmen over right.

Hind wings: caudate, slightly surpassing tip of abdomen, 2.1 mm long, 2.3 times longer than fore wing

Abdomen: terga washed with brown and blackish brown at lateral and base of each segment; sterna yellowish brown; two lateral black marking on segment II-IX. Genitalia: sclerotic, colored from light brown to brown. Transverse sclerite thick and strong, M shaped, inside apex arrowed and triangle, end of outside part broad and foot shaped; epiphallus upright, shaped as rhombus in front view, top side oblique and outcurved downward to median on both sides, then slightly loosen downward to bottom, median deeply curved and angular form of bottom; ectophallus paramere broad and somewhat rectangular, internal process of paramere, upward pointed and transparent scaly like structures at tip. Cerci, 4 mm long, brown, pilose, 2.3 times smaller than fore wing.

Ƥ Adult

Body: 30mm length, stout and long, pilose, brown or blackish brown. Head: 3.9mm long, consistent blackish brown and patterned medially. Antenna yellowish brown, scape and pedicel washed with yellowish brown; Eyes black and dark brown, a small eclipse shaped white spot at the base of each eye; ocelli large; clypeus short from pale yellow to brown; labrum long, its length more than twice that that of clypeus, brown, middle dark with margin and apex area dark, margin covered with short setae. Palpi, washed with brown and tip yellow, right slightly longer than left. Pronotum: length 8mm and width 5mm brown, dark brown at anterior, covered with numerous fine setae, 1.6 times longer than broad, anterior margin concave and posterior margin convex, inferior margin of lateral lobes long transverse; anterior margin golden; patterned medially, a pair of stripe-shaped punctuations with golden margin anteriorly and medially, behind them a groove linked by two golden punctuations; remainder dark brown.

Legs: Anterior femora long and yellow with numerous setae, fore tibia brown and tarsus yellow. Inner part of trochanter armed with three processes, the anterior one dark, angular-shaped and longer than other processes, beyond the ventral margin of trochanter; between middle and posterior processes brown and small sclerite. Apex of fore femur with a rough and angular sclerite laterally; ventro-internal margin at base with an oval shaped, apical process; anterior tibiae with internal tympanum slit-shaped, tibial dactyls short and stout. Middle femur yellow; tibia yellowish brown and tarsus brown. Hind legs: 24 mm length, brown, posterior tibiae with eleven internal preapical spines.

FIGURE 1 A–D. Gryllotalpa krishnani sp. nov. Male adult: A. whole body, dorsal view; B. head, front view; C. fore wing, left; D. stridulatory file, left tegmen.

FIGURE 2 A–E. Gryllotalpa krishnani sp. nov. Genitalia, A. in dorsal view; B. in ventral view; C. epiphallus, front view; D. bottom of epiphallus; E. tip of inner paramere of ectophallus.

Tegmen: Nearly oval when flattened, brown with main veins dark brown; dorsal field lightest in harp area; lateral field brown dorsally and light along lower margin. Harp broad at base. Fore wing: 11 mm length, cell c1 cone-shaped, c2 1/5 size of c1; behind each of c1 and c2 with one conspicuously larger cell, double size of c2; radius undivided distally and apart from subcosta; the apical field short and longitudinal veins, only 1/4 length of tegmen; one to five crossveins between each longitudinal vein of this field. Stridulatory file: straight, 6 mm length, 1.5 mm width; left tegmen over right.

Hind wings: characters as in male, 16 mm long, 1.5 times longer than fore wing

Abdomen: terga washed with brown and blackish brown at lateral and base of each segment; sterna yellowish brown and sterna IX and X brown; other details of coloration and marks as in male adult; genital extension brown, subgenital plate yellowish brown, trapezoidal with apical notch; cerci, 10 mm length, brown, pilose, nearly equal to fore wing length

Mature nymph

Body length: 13-15mm. Head: brown, patterned medially; clypeus pale yellow to light brown; blackish brow spots present posterior to median ocellus; antennae length 6mm, yellowish brown, basal segments light yellowish brown; labrum is expanded and angle laterally, length of labrum slightly more than 1/2 the total width; mandibles heavily sclerotized and apex hook-shaped; maxillary and labial palp washed brown except apex, hypopharynx yellowish brown; Maxillary palpi thick, each 4-segmented, 10 mm long and densely covered with setae, relative lengths of 4 segments from base to apex 0.5:1:1:1.5; labial palpi each 3-segmented, 8 mm long, relative lengths of 3 segments from base to apex 0.5:1:1, three segments of palpi covered with fine setae, outer margin of maxilla, labium yellow covered with fine setae.

Thorax: pronotum length 5 mm and width 2.5 mm brown, dark brown at anterior, covered with numerous fine setae, one time longer than broad, anterior margin concave and posterior margin convex, inferior margin of lateral lobes long transverse; anterior margin golden; patterned medially, a dark brown spot present in-between posterior and inferior medial margin; meso and metanotum brown, washed with blackish brown on lateral and posterior margin; pleura washed with blackish brown, sterna yellow.

Legs: fore legs 5 mm length dark yellow covered with numerous short setae anterior tibiae with not well developed slit-shaped internal tympanum, tibial dactyls long and stout; middle legs 6 mm length yellow covered with long and short setae and posterior tibiae with four pre-apical spines; hind legs light brown Middle femur yellow; tibia yellowish brown and tarsus brown. Hind legs: 9 mm length, light brown, femora with a median dark brownish marking, posterior tibiae with 4 internal pre-apical spines.

Abdomen: terga washed with brown and blackish brown at lateral and base of each segment; sterna yellowish brown, male with dark brown on segment IV and V, female with sterna washed with dark brown on segment IV; cerci, 5 mm length light brown with numerous long setae at base.

Morphometric analysis

Morphometric studies (Table 1) of males, females and nymphs of G. krishnani showed typical traits of the genus Gryllotalpa as described in the literature ( Ma and Zhang, 2010), except for some minor differences in some measurements and ratios, which confirms inter-specific variability previously reported. The morphometrics of G. krishnani can be compared with other mole cricket species in India (Table 1).