Pternoscirta Saussure, 1884

Huang, Jianhua, Storozhenko, Sergey Yurievich, Mao, Benyong & Zheng, Zhemin, 2013, Taxonomic notes on Pternoscirta pulchripes Uvarov, 1925 (Orthoptera: Acrididae: Oedipodinae) with proposal of new synonyms in the genera Flatovertex and Mioscirtus, Zootaxa 3718 (6), pp. 545-560 : 546-547

Genus Pternoscirta Saussure, 1884

Pternoscirta Saussure, 1884: 52 , 127 (replacement name for Prionidia Stål, 1873 ); Saussure, 1888: 18; Jacobson, 1905: 252; Kirby, 1910: 217; Kirby, 1914: 134; C. Willemse, 1930: 60; Uvarov, 1940: 117; Bey-Bienko & Mishchenko, 1951: 588; Johnston, 1956: 467; Xia, 1958: 159; Dirsh, 1963: 243; Johnston, 1968: 326; Yin, 1984: 140; Zheng, 1985: 252; Bhowmik, 1986; 82; Zheng, 1993: 191; Liu et al, 1995: 88; Yin, Shi & Yin, 1996: 593; Zheng & Xia, 1998: 2, 4, 549; Jiang & Zheng, 1998: 192; Mao et al, 2011: 156.

Prionidia Stål, 1873: 116 , 127 (nomen preoccupatum, nec Leach, 1815).

Flatovertex Zheng, 1981: 64 ; Zheng, 1993: 216; Otte, 1995: 429; Zheng & Xia, 1998: 114; Mao et al, 2011: 168. Syn. Nov.

Type species: Acrydium cinctifemur Walker, 1859 (subsequently designated by Kirby, 1910)

Generic diagnosis. Body medium-sized, a little slender in male and slightly robust in female; head and pronotum scabrous, with dense short carinae and tubercles; ventral surface and ledgs villose.

Head. Head large and shorter than pronotum. Face nearly straight or slightly oblique in profile view, frontal ridge broad and flattened, lateral facial keels complete. Vertex broad and short, with fastigium bluntly rounded in lateral view; dorsum broadly flattened and slightly depressed, anterior and lateral margins distinctly carinate, and anterior margin truncate in dorsal view; foveolae triangular. Eyes oval. Antenae filiform, slightly exceeding the posterior margin of pronotum.

Thorax. Pronotum slightly trapezoid in dorsal view, moderately constricted in prozona; anterior margin broadly bisinuate, slightly convex in the middle, posterior margin blunt-angularly protruding; median carina complete and distinctly raised, slightly straight in lateral view, interrupted only by posterior transverse sulcus, forming a distinct notch; lateral carina absent or weakly visible at metazona; prozona shorter than metazona. Prosternal ventrite slightly produced between precoxae, lateral lobes of mesosternal ventrite broadly separated. Both tegmina and hind wings well developed with dense veins. Tegmina narrow and long, exceeding metafemoral apex; median area with developed intercalary vein which is slightly closer to median vein apically and have stridulating files; cross-veins oblique in apical part of tegmen and arranged in zig-zag, cells parallelogrammic. Hind femora slightly short and robust, upper basal lobe of hind femur on the outer side distinctly longer than lower basal lobe, upper median carinae distinctly or extremely finely denticulate, genicular lobes rounded. Hind tibiae lacking external apical spine. Arolium large, nearly reaching or slightly exceeding beyond half of the claws.

Abdomen. Tympanum developed, tympanic membrane small. Subgenital plate short conical in male. Ovipositor valves short and robust, slightly curved, margins smooth, without denticle.

Coloration. Body yellowish brown or dark brown. Hind wings hyaline and cinereous, usually colored in basal part and cinereous in remaining part. Hind tibiae orange or blueish virescent.

Remarks. Pternoscirta is similar to Dittopternis Saussure, 1884 . The main difference between these two genera is the shape of cross-veins in apical part of tegmen, Pternoscirta with cross-veins oblique and arranged zigzag, but Dittopternis with cross-veins erect and the cells square or oblong (Saussure, 1884). Flatovertex was established with Flatovertex rufotibialis as type species, extremely similar to Pternoscirta and the absence of denticles on upper median keels of hind femora became the only character distinguishing Flatovertex from Pternoscirta according to the key to genera of Chinese Oedipodinae by Zheng & Xia (1998). However, after a careful comparison, no difference was found between Pternoscirta pulchripes and Flatovertex rufotibialis because of the presence of extremely fine denticles on upper median keels of hind femora of Flatovertex rufotibialis . Therefore, Flatovertex rufotibialis should be considered as a junior synonym of Pternoscirta pulchripes , and the genus Flatovertex should be synonymized with the genus Pternoscirta .

Composition. Six species ( Pternoscirta bimaculata (Thunberg, 1815) , Pternoscirta caliginosa (Haan, 1842) , Pternoscirta cinctifemur (Walker, 1859) , Pternoscirta longipennis Xia, 1981 , Pternoscirta pulchripes Uvarov, 1925 , Pternoscirta villosa (Thunberg, 1815) ; Eades et al, 2013).

Distribution. AFRICA, SOUTHEAST ASIA, CENTRAL AND SOUTH CHINA.