Xanthogryllacris punctipennis ( Walker, 1869 )

Hugel, Sylvain, 2009, Gryllacrididae and Tettigoniidae (Insecta, Orthoptera, Ensifera) from Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu, Zoosystema 31 (3), pp. 525-576 : 531

Xanthogryllacris punctipennis ( Walker, 1869)

Gryllacris punctipennis Walker, 1869: 172 .

Xanthogryllacris punctipennis – Karny 1937: 157.

TYPE MATERIAL. — [ Indonesia, Maluku, Pulau Batjan] Batchian, collection Saunders, ♂ holotype ( BMNH). Not examined.

TYPE LOCALITY. — Indonesia, Maluku, Pulau Batjan.

HABITAT AND LIFE HISTORY TRAITS. — Specimens have been observed foraging by night hours on various plants species ( Hibiscus sp. , Pandanus sp. , etc.) at 1-3 m height (pers. obs.). All three localities where the species has been observed are near the shore (elevation <5 m).

REMARKS

Karny (1937) considered seven X. punctipennis subspecies as valid: X. p. punctipennis ( Walker, 1869) ; X. p. confluens ( Griffini, 1909); X. p. erimae ( Griffini, 1909) ; X. p. fenestrigera ( Griffini, 1913) ; X. p. gemmicula ( Hebard, 1922) ; X. p. keyica ( Karny, 1925) ; X. p. zatricia ( Karny, 1928) . In Orthoptera Species Files, Otte (2000) kept three of the seven subspecies (X. p. confluens, X. p. punctipennis , X. p. zatricia ) and implicitly raised three other subspecies to the species level (X. p. erimae , X. p. fenestrigera , X. p. gemmicula ), and transferred X. p. keyica to the genus Gryllacris Serville, 1831 (this latter subspecies is explicitly raised to the species level under Gryllacris ). Whereas such changes are usually explicitly listed in Otte’s work bibliographic list as “2000 Otte, this work”, the preceding ones were not.

It is clear that a comprehensive study is required to define whether the subspecies recognized by Karny (1925, 1928, 1937) are really belonging to a single polymorphous species, particularly the so-called sympatric forms (that are – if really sympatric – either varieties or distinct species) and/or these with characters known to be variable in gryllacridids which might well correspond to varieties.

Nevertheless, at this stage, as such comprehensive study is lacking, I prefer to keep all these seven subspecies under one single species as valid subspecies of X. punctipennis , under the genus Xanthogryllacris . Xanthogryllacris punctipennis keyica cannot be transferred to Gryllacris without a deep redefinition of both genera. Although superficially similar in the wing coloration and venation, both genera are clearly distinguished (apart from size and colour differences): in Xanthogryllacris males,T VIII is unmodified,T IX is bent downwards, the styli are short and rounded, in females the sternite preceding the SGP (VII) bears a protrusion; in Gryllacris males,T VIII is elongated compared to the preceding tergites,T IX is strongly modified (pistil-shaped and/or with two dorsal blunt protrusions), styli are long and sharp, in females the sternite preceding the SGP is unmodified ( Brunner von Wattenwyl 1888; Karny 1937). Therefore Gryllacris keyica is retransferred to Xanthogryllacris , as a subspecies of X. punctipennis .

Xanthogryllacris punctipennis (as considered in the present work as containing seven subspecies) is one of the most widespread gryllacridid species with a distribution ranging from New Guinea to Maluku, Borneo, Key island, North of Australia ( Karny 1930a, 1937; Tepper 1892). Th is species has been collected in Espiritu Santo by J. R. Baker ( Willemse 1925). With dark – although not black – face and the characteristics of the black patterns on HW, the specimens collected in Santo are rather similar to X.punctipennis keyica Karny, 1925 . Nevertheless, the face, the scapus and the fore knees are paler than Karny’s illustrations of the subspecies ( Karny 1925).