Acanthacara Scudder, 1869

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

Acanthacara Scudder, 1869

Etymology. -

Not mentioned in the original description; probably derived from Greek άκανθα - ácantha [thorn] and, as in Cestrophorus , certainly referring to the vertex being "prolonged into a sharply pointed, long and curved thorn" ( Scudder 1869).

Diagnosis. -

Habitus more slender compared to Cestrophorus , with more delicately thin and elongate fastigium verticis. Tegmina not much longer than the narrower and more elongate pronotum; in males, the left tegmen with distinctively developed stridulatory area with transparent fields, the vein with the stridulatory file underneath relatively short. Male cerci not conspicuously broad at base and male subgenital plate with distinct styli.

Redescription. -

Small and slender, yellowish brown, brachypterous coneheads with strongly oblique face and prominent, almost straight or slightly recurved acuminate fastigium. Body length 17-22 mm; fastigium length almost twice the eye diameter. Pronotum shallow and rounded, dorsal contour flat or almost flat, posteriorly produced and in males diverging overtop bases of short tegmina that are of equal length or little longer than the pronotum, leaving at least half of the abdomen uncovered in live individuals. Stridulatory area of left tegmen subdivided in transparent fields usually free from venation: a speculum lies right behind the short cubital vein, and an adjacent lateral field lies left of this ‘mirror’. The cubital vein is fairly bulgy and occupies half or a little more of the total dorsal width of the tegmen. Females are apterous. The tiny acoustic spiracles are directed latero-posteriorly. All genicular lobes except the outer one of the fore tibiae armed. Male cerci at base moderately wide, with more or less prominent distal dorsal process and below that with another inward-directed process that sometimes has a more delicate ventral appendage. Male subgenital plate with short but distinct styli. Coloration ochre or light brown with extensive black markings on face and with darker brown and blackish markings and patterns on pronotum, abdomen and legs. Living in montane woodland.

Notes. -

All following diagnoses refer to males. Apart from the development of male tegmina, the species can be distinguished by the shape of male cerci. Measurements of the new species correspond to the holotypes (there is no significant variation among specimens of a particular species and there is little difference in the body size of all species). It is difficult to assign females to corresponding males. Below the species accounts, a key to all seven species is provided.