Paragryllodes Karny, 1909

Hugel, Sylvain, Warren, Ben H. & Desutter-Grandcolas, Laure, 2021, The Phalangopsidae crickets (Orthoptera, Grylloidea) of the Seychelles Archipelago: Taxonomy of an ecological radiation, Zootaxa 5047 (3), pp. 201-246 : 206-208

Paragryllodes Karny, 1909

( Figs 1A , 2 )

Paragryllodes Karny, 1909: 478 .

Seychellesia Bolivar, 1912: 286 , n. syn.

Type species. Paragryllodes borgerti Karny, 1909 by original monotypy.

Emended diagnosis. Size variable. Cuticula shiny. Coloration black brown mottled with yellow ( Fig. 1A ); main yellow line on the face transverse or vertical. Fastigium ( Fig. 2A ) very narrow, grooved, sharply separated from the vertex, lower than head dorsum and separated from it by a transverse furrow; lateral ocelli close to each other, compared to their distance to the median ocellus; median ocellus in frontal position, apical on fastigium. Eyes strongly protruding ( Fig. 2A, B ). Scapes very large, longer than wide. Pedicels with a tooth of variable size. Last article of maxillary palpi moderately elongate, slightly widened toward the apex and with apical truncation ( Fig. 2B ). Legs usually patterned with yellow and dark blown. Tibiae I with two apical, ventral spurs; inner tympanum present, outer tympanum absent. Tibiae II with three apical spurs. Tibiae III strongly serrulated on their basal two thirds and without spines between the first subapical spurs; with 3-4/4 subapical spurs, and three outer (the median the longest) and three inner (the median and dorsal subequal in length) apical spurs. Basitarsomeres III serrulated. FWs always present in both males and females, not covering the whole abdomen. Wings lacking. Cerci very long. Male. Metanotum and tergites without clear glandular structure (in particular, no metanotal area covered with dense setae and no eversible tergal region). Apical spurs of tibiae III not modified. Posterior angles of supra-anal plate not elongate. Length of subgenital plate variable. FWs usually completely overlapping, sometimes scaliform; not corneous. Stridulum variably developed, absent in micropterous species; when present, harp with many oblique, parallel veins; mirror usually short, often not clearly separated from distal field venation. Male genitalia characterized by the development of ectophallic dorsal valves and shape of pseudepiphallic sclerite: pseudepiphallic sclerite transverse or quadrate, with raised basal part; rami variable in length but not separate from the main sclerite. Pseudepiphallic parameres well developed, often partly covered with long setae, massive, not hook-shaped. Epi-ectophallic apodemes long and thick. Ectophallic dorsal valves elongate and acute, most often extending beyond pseudepiphallic distal margin, their shape differing in each species group. Endophallic apodeme comprising a small, median and vertical crest and a variable apodeme on each side of the endophallic sclerite; without a large dorsal cavity. Female. FWs always present, overlapping or not. Length of ovipositor variable. Female genitalia: copulatory papilla forming a sclerotized chamber, long and tubular, or short and triangular in shape.

Remark. In Paragryllodes , female copulatory papilla forms an elongated sclerotized chamber of various width; Paragryllodes nitidula n. comb. papilla ( Fig. 2D ) is similar to that of African species (see for example Desutter-Grandcolas 1999). We illustrate here the variation of Paragryllodes copulatory papilla with that of P. milloti Chopard, 1958 since it is particularly wide in this species ( Fig. 2E ). This species is not related to other species of the subgenus Cortigryllus where it has recently been tentatively placed ( Gorochov 2015); a review of species from Comoros will be addressed separately (Desutter-Grandcolas & Hugel in prep).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Phalangopsidae crickets from the Seychelles in the wild. A, Paragryllodes nitidula (Bolivar, 1912) n. comb., female. B, Phaloria (Papuloria) bolivari Hugel & Desutter-Grandcolas, n. sp., male. C, same, female. D, Phaeogryllus fuscus Bolivar, 1912, male. E, same, female. F, Phalangacris ferlegro Hugel & Desutter-Grandcolas, n. sp. male, G, same, female.

FIGURE 2. Paragryllodes Karny, 1909: A–D, Paragryllodes nitidula (Bolivar, 1912) n. comb.A, head and pronotum in dorsal view; B, head in face view; some of the light patterns on the black shiny cuticula are reflections and not real patterns; C, hindfemur outer side; D, copulatory papilla in ventral view. E, Paragryllodes milloti (Chopard, 1958), copulatory papilla in ventral view. Scales 1 mm.