Luzara Walker, 1869

Desutter-Grandcolas, Laure, 2014, New taxa and data for Neotropical Phalangopsidae (Orthoptera, Grylloidea), Zootaxa 3866 (3), pp. 398-420 : 406-407

Luzara Walker, 1869

Luzara Walker, 1869: 103 .

Type species. Luzara rufipennis Walker, 1869 .

Remark. Luzara phyxelis Otte, 2006 from Costa Rica belongs to the genus Niquirana Hebard, 1928 , as shown by its male genitalia ( Otte, 2006, Fig. 74), white maxillary palpi, the lack of outer tympanum, and the shape, venation and coloration of male FWs (see below). In particular, the stridulatory file is not impressed on the right FW, although it is functional (contra Otte 2006). I propose to transfer Luzara physelis to Niquirana (see infra).

Distribution. Northern and Northwestern South America and southern Central America. Not found in French Guiana ( Desutter-Grandcolas 1992a), but present in Trinidad according to Otte and Perez Gelabert (2009).

Diagnosis. Size medium to large; brown with light ochre legs, shining, with small corneous FWs in both males and females, and completely hairless. Head dorsum rounded; fastigium wide, much wider than the scapes; not separated from head dorsum; with three wide ocelli set in a wide triangle, the median ocellus apical. Scapes small, slightly wider than long. Palpi short, brown (except in L. brevipennis Desutter-Grandcolas , n. sp.); last 3 joints more or less equal in length; joint 5 regularly widened toward apex, but not very wide, truncated obliqually, upper margin concave. Pronotum wider than long; DD rounded, anterior and posterior margins slightly concave; LL anterior angle slightly raised. TI: 2 ventral apical spurs; a small tympanum on both inner and outer sides (only an inner tympanum in Luzara brevipennis Desutter-Grandcolas , n. sp.). TII: 4 apical spurs. TIII: 3 apical spurs on each side, the inner ones longer than the outer ones; upper spur the longest on inner side; median spur the longest on outer side; 4 pairs of subapical spurs, inner spurs slightly lower on TIII than outer spurs; TIII serrulated on both inner and outer margins, with large spines bent over TIII surface. Basitarsomeres III flattened dorsally; with two rows of large dorsal spines. Cerci not very long. Male. Metanotum and tergites not glandular. FWs covering more than half abdomen (shorter in L. brevipennis Desutter-Grandcolas , n. sp.); right FW corneous, venation usually weak, but stridulatory file always distinct and functionnal; when visible, stridulum complete. Lateral fields with 4 to 6 longitudinal parallel veins. Tergites not glandular. Supra anal plate without elongate angles. Subgenital plate rounded, with an apical median furrow. Male genitalia. Not glandular. Small and rounded. Pseudepiphallic sclerite short and rounded, with two short lateral arms; pseudepiphallic parameres located apically between the tip of pseudepiphallic arms; ectophallic apodemes short, their apex at almost right angle from their basal part; ectophallic arc more or less at the level of the pseudepiphallic sclerite; ectophallic fold short; no endophallic cavity; endophallic sclerite short; endophallic apodeme with both lateral lamellae and a median crest. Female. FWs short, often covering half or nearly half abdomen (shorter in L. brevipennis Desutter-Grandcolas , n. sp.); only partly overlapping. Distal margin of subgenital plate slightly concave. Ovipositor short; dorsal valves very slightly widened dorsally, with at most discrete ornementation. Female genitalia. Known in L. brevipennis Desutter- Grandcolas, n. sp. only (see below).

Habitat. Straminicolous species.

Acoustic communication. As Luzaridella Desutter-Grandcolas, 1992 , Luzara presents asymmetrical FWs, with the right FW hard and corneous and the left FW soft; both genera also have a functional stridulatory file, with few but well-shaped teeth. Luzaridella is known to call at night in French Guianese forests ( Desutter-Grandcolas 1992a and pers. obs.). Luzara may similarly be able to emit non resonant calls, and the same could apply to Niquirana species.

Phylogenetic relationships. Using the genitalic characters, Desutter-Grandcolas (1993) proposed to gather in the B-group of the Luzarinae ( Desutter, 1990) the following genera: Acantoluzarida Desutter-Grandcolas, 1992 , Allochrates Desutter-Grandcolas, 1993 , Leptopsis Desutter-Grandcolas, 1996 (= Stenotes Desutter-Grandcolas, 1993 ), Luzara , Luzarida Hebard, 1928 , Luzaridella Desutter-Grandcolas, 1992 , Melanotes Desutter-Grandcolas, 1993 , Ochraperites Desutter-Grandcolas, 1993 , Palpigera Hebard, 1928 and Tetragonia Desutter-Grandcolas, 1993 . Mews & Sperber (2008) added to this list the genus Endecous Saussure, 1878 , proposed as a putative sister taxon of the B-group, together with Discophogryllus Rehn, 1901, by Desutter-Grandcolas (1993). The molecular evidence presented by Chintauan-Marquier et al. (submit.) support the hypothesis of a close relation between Luzarida , Acantoluzarida and Luzaridella , the other genera not being included in the data matrix. Interestingly, the phylogeny shows Amusodes Hebard, 1928 and Niquirana Hebard, 1928 as other members of the B-group: this is confirmed here by the study of their male genitalia (see below). Amusodes also possesses genitalic glands, a character up to now found mostly in the genera closed to Lerneca within the C-group (see for example Mews et al., 2009). The present topology could then support either parallel evolutions of genitalic glands between the luzarine groups C and B, or an ancestral appearance of the glands, with subsequent gland loss. A more extended phylogeny taking into account more neotropical phalangopsids have now to be performed to test these hypotheses.