Paraplangia Heller

Heller, Klaus-Gerhard, Hemp, Claudia, Massa, Bruno, Kocinski, Maciej & Warchalowska-Śliwa, Elzbieta, 2018, Paraplangiasinespeculo, a new genus and species of bush-cricket, with notes on its biology and a key to the genera of Phaneropterinae (Orthoptera: Tettigonioidea) from Madagascar, Journal of Orthoptera Research 27 (2), pp. 143-153 : 145-146

Paraplangia Heller gen. n.

Type species of the genus.-

Paraplangia sinespeculo sp. n., here designated.

Description.-

Large size, short head, wide round eyes, fastigium verticis as wide as or slightly wider than scapus of antennae, in contact with fastigium frontis, fronto-genal carinae very indistinct. Antennae shorter than tegmina. Pronotum without lateral carinae, length shorter than height, two small pits at two-thirds point on midline; prozona hardly separable from metazona, anterior margin straight, posterior margin rounded, with evident lateral excisions where wings are inserted. Prothoracic spiracle slit-like, very long, reaching nearly up to metanotum. Ventral edge of paranota rounded. Tegmina much wider than pronotal length. Right tegmen of male without clearly defined mirror. Hind wings longer than tegmina.

Fore coxae armed, fore femora unarmed, several spinules positioned ventrally on fore tibiae, furrowed proximally, rounded distally, dorsal side rounded or flat or very slightly furrowed (rounded and slightly furrowed on left and right leg of the same specimen), without dorsal spurs. Tympana open on inner and outer side. Mid femora ventrally with 1-2 spinules, mid tibiae with about ten spinules. Hind femora armed ventrally, lower genicular lobe with spine on both sides. Hind tibiae armed ventrally and dorsally, furrowed on all sides. Hind tibiae longer than femora.

Meso- and metasterna with two lobes each, rounded.

Female.-

Ovipositor short, curved, but not evenly; ventro-posterior edge of the lower valve only slightly curved, without teeth, dorso-posterior edge sharply bent inwards, this part and distal half of the upper valve serrated. Proximal quarter of right tegmen (dorsal area) with transverse veins bearing small teeth.

Diagnosis.- Paraplangia differs from most African and Malagasy phaneropterine genera with open tympana by its fastigium. Being about as wide as scapus, the fastigium is wider than in most genera, but clearly narrower than in Eurycorypha and Monteiroa . Its width is similar to that of Plangia and Madagascarantia . These two genera, however, have evenly curved ovipositors. In Paraplangia , the fore femora are also unarmed [a character occasionally found within otherwise armed genera: e.g. Arantia ( Hemp and Massa 2017), but used by Brunner von Wattenwyl (1891) to differentiate genera], which is not observed very often in large species. The paranota are relatively narrow for Plangiina, only about two thirds as wide as high. Paraplangia has other unusual characters, like a stridulatory file with relatively few teeth of varying size, which is quite different from that known in Plangia and Madagascarantia . Its right male tegmen lacking a glossy mirror is not known in any of the similar genera.

Derivatio nominis.-

Para, Greek = nearby; Plangia , another Plangiina genus. Paraplangia feminine.