Australiagraecia spina Rentz, Su and Ueshima 2021, Gen. et sp. nov.
Creators: name: Rentz, Dcf
name: Su, You Ning
name: Ueshima, Norihiro
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2021
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Orthoptera
Tettigoniidae
Australiagraecia
Australiagraecia spina

description: Australiagraecia spina Rentz, Su and Ueshima Gen. et sp. nov.
ANIC Number, Gen. Nov. 9, sp. 2, sp. 4 (in part)
(Figs 1A, B; Figs 2 A-J; Fig. 20A; Figs 22a A-C; Table 1, Maps 1, 2)
Common name. Common Heath-loving Katydid
Holotype male. (In alcohol). 1. “ 32.35S 117.19E Tutanning Nat. Res. 22 km E. by S. of Pingelly, W. A. 16-17 Sept. 1981 D. C. F. Rentz, Stop 81” 2. “Collected as nymph, matured 23.xi” 3. D. C. F. Rentz Cytol. Prep. 81-307” 4. “ ANIC database #14008742”. Holotype in alcohol in Australian National Insect Collection, Canberra. Specimens examined. Paratypes. Western Australia. 32 o 35’S 117 o 19’E Tutanning Nat. Res. 22 km E. by S. of Pingelly, 16-17.ix.1981 (D. C. F. Rentz, Stop 81, 1 male, collected as nymph, matured in laboratory 10.x.1981; DCF Rentz, Cytol. prep. 81-304; 1 female, nymph, ANIC). Same locality, 18.ix.1981 (DT Gwynne, 1 male, collected as nymph, matured in laboratory 10.xi.1981, ANIC). Same locality, ii.1989; iii.1989 (WJ Bailey, 4 males, ANIC). Same locality, 7-10.iv.1989 (K.G. Heller, M. Volleth, 1 male, ANIC). 27 o 39’S 114 o 11’E Paradise Flat Kalbarri Nat. Park, 19.x.1984 (DCF Rentz, Stop 53 DCF Rentz, Cytol. prep. 84-53; 1 female, collected as nymph, matured in laboratory 12.xii.1984, ANIC). 29 o 49’S 114 o 59’E 27 km W. of Eneabba, 9.ix.1981 DCF Rentz, Stop 70, 1 male, ANIC). 29 o 46’S 114 o 58’E 30 km W. by N. of Eneabba, 7.x.1980 (DCF Rentz, 1 male, Cytol. prep. 81-272, ANIC). 29 o 33’S 115 o 06E 32 km NNW of Eneabba, 24.x.1984 (DCF Rentz, Stop 63, 1 female, ANIC. 29 o 49’S 114 o 59’E 27 km W. of Eneabba, 9.ix.1981 (DCF Rentz, Stop 70, 1 male collected as nymph, matured in laboratory 10.x.1981; Cytol. prep. 81-285, ANIC). 30 o 44’S 115 o 12’E Nambung Nat. Park, nr. Cervantes, The Pinnacles, 10-13.xii.1984 (DT Gwynne, 3 males, ANIC). 31 19’S 115 o 44’E 17 km W by N of Gingin, 9.ix.1981 (DCF Rentz, Stop 66, 1 female, collected as nymph, matured in laboratory 7.xi.1981, ANIC). 27 o 39’S 114 o 17’E Loop Road, 14 km ENE of Kalbarri, Kalbarri Nat. Park, 20.x.1984 (DCF Rentz, Stop 57, 1 female, ANIC). 32 o 27’S 118 o 52’E Hyden, i.1981 (L. Simmonds. 1 male, ANIC).
South Australia. 32 o 38’S 134 o 45’E 12 km NW of Poochera, 25.ix.1981 (DCF Rentz, Stop 113, 2 males, 1 female, all small nymphs, ANIC). 32 o 46’S 134 o 56’E 11 km ESE of Poochera, 25.ix.1981 (DCF Rentz, Stop 114, 1 female, collected as nymph, matured in laboratory 2.xi.1981, ANIC). 33 o 27’S 136 o 11’E 3 km WNW of Darke Peak (settlement), 26.ix.1981 (DCF Rentz, Stop 116, 1 male, collected as nymph, matured in laboratory 7.xi.1981, Cytol. prep. 81-305, 1 male, last instar nymph; 1 female, collected as nymph, matured in laboratory 1.xi.1981, ANIC). 33 o 27’S 136 o 10’E Darke Peak, 22.x.1999 (DCF Rentz, YN Su, Stop 118, 2 males, collected as nymphs, matured in laboratory 1.xii. 1999, 1 female, ANIC. 34 o 02’S 135 o 17’E Lake Hamilton, 11 km NW. by N. of Mount Hope P. O., 9.ii.1978 (DCF Rentz, Stop 18, 4 males, Cytol. preps.78-13, 32; 8 females, ANIC). 35 o 24’S 140 o 48’E 18 km SSW of Pinnaroo, 25.x.1983 (DCF Rentz, MS Harvey, Stop 37, 2 males, collected as nymphs, matured in laboratory 1.xi.1983, 11.x.1983; 2 females, ANIC). 35 o 34’S 140 o 46’E 37 km SSW of Pinnaroo, 26.x.1983 (DCF Rentz, MS Harvey, Stop 39, 1 female, last instar, ANIC). 32 o 39’S 134 o 46’E 1 km E of Capietha, 11.x.1984 (DCF Rentz, Stop 29, 1 male, 1 female, ANIC). 31 o 28’S 138 o 42’E 11 km NE by W of Wilpena Chalet, Flinders Range, 10.x.1984 (DCF Rentz, Stop 25, 1 female, ANIC). 33 o 21’S 137 o 04’E 39 km NNE of Cowell, 12.x.1982 (DCF Rentz, Stop 66, 1 male, ANIC). 34 o 07’S 140 o 37’E 14 km WNW of Renmark, Calperum Station / Bookmark Biosphere Reserve Survey, 7.xi–13.xi. 1995, 13.xii.1995 – 25.i.1996 (KR Pullen, 1 male, 4 male nymphs, 1 female, in Malaise trap, ANIC). 33 o 59’S 140 o 30’E 31 km NW of Renmark, Calperum Station / Bookmark Biosphere Reserve Survey, 6.vii–10.viii.1995 (KR Pullen, 1 male nymph, flight/ intercept trap, ANIC).
Measurements. See Table 1
Type locality. 22.5km east of Pingelly is the renowned Tutanning Flora & Fauna Reserve where botanist Guy Shorteridge collected over 400 species of plants for the British Museum between 1903 and 1906. It covers only about 2000 hectares. The habitat is Wandoo woodland, with a small amount of kwongan heathland and several large granite outcrops. The plant diversity is reflected in the diversity of tettigoniids known from this place.
2 Named with reference to the extraordinary spiniform shape of the male cercus.
This species is the only known member of the genus that occurs on both sides of the Nullarbor Plain (Maps 1, 2).
Differential diagnosis. Male. Antenna about twice as long as body. Eye round, bulging, positioned high on head. Hind tibia armed dorsally with numerous spines, often alternating in lengths; apex with a pair of relatively short spurs, positioned subapically; ventral surface with a smaller number of more elongate spines on each side, apex with a single pair of spurs. Prothorax with processes elongate, slender, widely separated; meso- and metathoracic processes prominent, erect. Tegmen short (Fig. 2G); stridulatory file positioned on a raised swelling or blister (Fig. 20A). Cercus (Figs 2E, F, I) spiniform, in situ often directed downwards. Abdomen with tenth tergite feebly membranous and with a shallow median impression; supra-anal plate very elongate, narrow (Fig. 2E); paraprocts not well indicated, apparently not performing a grasping function; phallic complex (Fig. 2H) with median lobes elongate, a pair of slender rods at base, one on each side. Subgenital plate (Fig. 2I) narrow, styles elongate.
Female. Differs from male in the following. Prothorax (Fig. 2B). Cercus short, robust. Subgenital plate (Fig. 2D) triangular, apex narrow, with shallow median incision. Ovipositor elongate, very faintly upcurved, several times the length of the body (Table 1).
Colouration. General overall colour straw brown with dark, broad median stripe (Fig. 2A). Adult males with tip of abdomen bright orange in life. Cerci clothed with stiff dark brown setae.
Distribution. See Maps 1, 2
Habitat. Lives on the ground in heath or open habitats where it is fairly common. The katydids are agile and alert and jump wildly when disturbed.
Seasonal occurrence. Adults are to be found from late spring into mid-summer.
Stridulatory file. Stridulatory file undulating, the proximal portion raised, as if on a blister, with approximately 30-32 teeth, a few clustered at the margin of the tegmen (Fig. 20A).
Karyotype. 2n male=31 (30t +Xt) Figs 22a A-C
Recognition. Males of this species are very distinctive with the long, spiniform cercus that is often retracted downwards and inwards.
Discussion. This is a widespread and common species that is often found sympatrically with other members of the genus (See Maps 1-3). Females are easily recognised by comparing the subgenital plates of the various species. A. spina is the only member of the genus with populations on both sides of the Nullarbor Plain (see Maps 1, 2). A few other tettigoniids exhibit this pattern, namely in the Austrosaginae, Hemisaga denticulata (White) see Rentz 1993; in the Zaprochilinae, Zaprochilus australis (Brullé), see Rentz, 1993.
description: Published as part of Rentz, Dcf, Su, You Ning & Ueshima, Norihiro, 2021, Studies in Australian Tettigoniidae: New short-winged Agraeciini from Australia (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae; Conocephalinae; Agraeciini), pp. 1-72 in Zootaxa 5059 (2) on pages 10-11, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5059.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/5602508