Eurycorypha combretoides Hemp, 2013

Hemp, Claudia, 2017, New Eurycorypha species (Orthoptera: Tettigonoidea: Phaneropteridae; Phaneropterinae from East Africa, Zootaxa 4358 (3), pp. 471-493 : 474-475

Eurycorypha combretoides Hemp, 2013

( Figs 4 , 5 )

http://lsid.speciesfile.org/urn:lsid: Orthoptera .speciesfile.org:TaxonName:99999 Studied material. 22 females, Tanzania, Mt Kilimanjaro, southern, western and eastern slopes : 1 female, Lambo Estate , 1020 m, savanna woodlands & agricultural areas, July 2013 ; 9 females, Uchira , 870 m, savanna woodland, June 2013, July 2013, August 2013, January 2014, June 2014, August 2014 ; 2 females, Mabungu Hill , savanna woodland, 912 m, June 2013, August 2013 ; 5 females, Kimanga Hill , savanna woodland, 1130 m, September 2013, June 2014, August 2014, October 2014 ; 3 females, Chala area , savanna woodland, 950 m, April 2013, August 2014 . 1 female, Tanzania, North Pare Mountains, Lembeni , dry deciduous forest, June 2014 ; 1 female, Tanzania, Puge Simbo Forest Reserve , Tabora, February 2016 .

The species was described on 4 specimens coming from the southern slopes of Mt Kilimanjaro (Hemp et al. 2013). The female was not known at that time. Since then many more males and females were collected (> 70 males, 22 females) coming from the western, southern and eastern slopes of Mt Kilimanjaro, dry deciduous forest of the North Pare Mountains, the Bereku Forest Reserve near Babati ( Fig. 4 A ) and the Puge Simbo Forest Reserve near Tabora in central Tanzania. This species is plentiful in savanna habitats especially during May to August.

Description of the female: Similar in size and coloration to the male. Typical in most specimens are a series of dark spots on the tegmina ( Fig. 4 B ). The ovipositor is well developed, stout and strongly up-curved as typical for most Eurycorphya species ( Fig. 5 A ). The subgenital plate is flap-like with a broadly rounded apex ( Fig. 5 B ).

Measurements (mm).—Female (N = 10). Body length 19–25. Median length of pronotum 4.3–4.9. Posterior femur length 15.8–20. Length of tegmina 29.7–35.3. Width of tegmina 8.5–11. Ovipositor 5.5–6.0.

Diagnosis. A similar subgenital plate is found in E. punctipennis . However, this species differs considerably in its colour pattern. E. combretoides is dark green with lighter to whitish veins on the tegmina and often wearing few tiny black dots on the tegmina while E. punctipennis is mostly yellow to yellow-green with numerous dark to black patches scattered irregularly over the tegmina. Further E. punctipennis has lateral “flaps” conspicuous next to the subgenital plate, structures formed by the ventral side of the ovipositor, absent in E. combretoides . In all other Eurycorypha species in the area the subgenital plate is either triangular with a broad base and the posterior apex either evenly rounded ( E. meruensis Sjöstedt , E. varia ) or indented so that two shallow lobes are formed ( E. resonans , E. conclusa ). Further typical structures as mentioned above are lobes and flaps of different shapes (e.g. in E. varia and E. resonans ), useful characters differentiating females of Eurycorypha species (see images of females subgenital plates and ovipositors in Hemp et al. 2013). Also see diagnosis at E. binasuta n. sp.

Distribution. East Africa.

Figures

FIGURE 5. Morphological details of femaleE.combretoides A.Lateral view on ovipositor B. Subgenital plate.

FIGURE4. A.Male E.combretoides from the Bereku Forest Reserve some 30 km south of Babati, Miombo woodland at 1600 m B. Female E.combretoides, dry deciduous forest in the North Pare Mountains at an elevation of 1250 m near the small town Lembeni.