Nocaracris Uvarov 1928
Creators: name: Ünal, Mustafa
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2016
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Orthoptera
Pamphagidae
Nocaracris

description: Genus: Nocaracris Uvarov, 1928
Uvarov 1928: 149. Type species: Nocarodes cyanipes Fischer von Waldheim, 1846.
Nocaracris Uvarov, 1928: Tarbinsky 1940: 34, 213, 214; Uvarov 1943: 21; Bey-Bienko & Mistshenko 1951: 291, 349; Karabağ 1958: 119; Mirzayans 1959: 16; Shumakov 1963: 57; Bey-Bienko 1964: 251; Avakyan 1968: 89, 97; Weidner 1969: 157, 159; Demirsoy 1973: 407, 421; Demirsoy 1977: 57, 75; Salman 1978: 68; Presa & Garcia 1983: 16; Ihsan & Donskoff 1988: 20, 25; Otte 1994: 172; Zhang, Yin & Yin 2003: 220; Hodjat 2012: 265, 266.
Nocaracris (Paranocaracris): Bey-Bienko 1964: 251.
Paranocaracris Mistshenko gen. n.: Bey-Bienko & Mistshenko 1951: 350 (Type species: Paranocaracris elegens Mistshenko, 1951) syn. nov.
Paranocaracris Mistshenko, 1951: Karabağ 1958: 122; Mirzayans 1959: 16; Shumakov 1963: 57; Avakyan 1968: 90, 100; Weidner 1969: 157, 160; Demirsoy 1973: 407, 421; Harz 1975: 79, 154; Demirsoy 1977: 57, 78; Salman 1978: 68; Presa & Garcia 1983: 23; Otte 1994: 181; Zhang, Yin & Yin 2003: 220; Hodjat 2012: 265, 267.
Nocarodes Fischer Waldheim, 1846: Uvarov 1949a: 1.
Oronothrotes gen. nov.: Mistshenko 1951: 520 (Type species: Oronothrotes furvus Mistshenko 1951) syn. nov.
Oronothrotes Mistshenko, 1951: Bey-Bienko & Mistshenko 1951: 290, 347; Karabağ 1958: 119; Weidner 1969: 157, 159; Demirsoy 1973: 406, 414; Demirsoy 1977: 55, 66; Salman 1978: 66; Presa & Garcia 1983: 20; Otte 1994: 178; Zhang, Yin & Yin 2003: 220.
Remarks. Mistshenko (in Bey-Bienko & Mistshenko 1951) erecting the genus Paranocaracris distinguished it from Nocaracris only by the longitudinal sulcus of median carina of pronotum which is distinct in the anterior part and sharply narrowed backwards (very distinct along its length and not narrowing backwards in Nocaracris). Nevertheless, there are no other different characters, including the structure of the phallic complex. The width of longitudinal sulcus of pronotum is strongly variable in this species rich genus (Figs. 537–540, 55 5–556, 571–574, 586–588). For instance N. rimansonae sp. group, N. ponticus, N. karadagi sp. nov. have also very distinct longitudinal sulcus along the length of median carina. This similarity is certainly superficial. Therefore N. ponticus is a member of the P. rubripes sp. group and N. karadagi is a member of the N. latipes sp. group, of which the other members have the longitudinal sulcus as in Paranocaracris. The width of sulcus is also variable in the type species of Nocaracris, N. cyanipennis. Besides the variability of this character is also seen in other generic taxa e.g. in the genus Paranothrotes (Figs. 451–454, 467–468). The longitudinal sulcus of pronotum is very distinct in Paranothrotes schelkovnikovi (Fig. 467) as in Nocaracris and is visible only in the anterior part of median carina and strongly narrowed or lost backwards in Paranothrotes eximius (Fig. 451) as in Paranocaracris. However, these species were correctly not considered as different genera. The male phallic complex of the members of Nocaracris and Paranocaracris including the type species certainly does not consent to separate them as different genera. Moreover the type species of Nocaracris, N. cyanipes is closely related to N. rubripes and N. ponticus which belong to the same species group. Therefore Paranocaracris is here considered as a junior synonym of N ocaracris. Bey-Bienko (1964: 251) considered for the first time Paranocaracris as a subgenus of Nocaracris, but all subsequent authors overlooked this important taxonomic change.
Mistshenko (1951a: 520) established another genus, Oronothrotes as monotypic genus for Oronothrotes furvus Mistshenko, 1951 from Anatolia. He distinguished it from Nocaracris (later from Paranocaracris in Bey-Bienko & Mistshenko 1951) by the presence of tympanum; from Paranocarodes and Paranothrotes by the absence of the posterior projections of the abdominal tergites and the collar-shaped prosternum which actually are also the typical characters of Nocaracris (= Paranocaracris). It is possible to see the tympanum in Nocaracris in different stages of reduction such (Figs. 532–536, 541–544) as N. rimansonae sp. group, N. judithae sp. nov., N. minutus sp. nov., N. burri etc. Interestingly in the same population (from Uludağ) of N. burri both specimens with completely lost tympanum and the specimens with a small, reduced tympanum are seen. Moreover Ramme (1951: 300) also described the type species of Oronothrotes in the genus Nocaracris as “ Nocaracris burri obscurata ” (now a junior synonym of Nocaracris furvus) independently. The genus Oronothrotes has no small difference including the male phallic complex, from the typical Nocaracris, except the presence of tympanum. Consequently, like the other species with reduced tympanum of Nocaracris, Oronothrotes furvus is a member of the genus Nocaracris. Thus, Oronothrotes is here considered a junior synonym of Nocaracris (see for tympanum the Remarks sections of Nocarodeini, Paranocarodes and key to genera of Nocarodeini).
According to Weidner (1969: 160) Cejchan was working on a revision of the genus but did not publish this paper. On the other hand Demirsoy (1973) revised the Anatolian Pamphaginae.
Uvarov (1949) described three Nocarodes species, all of which are now members of the genus Nocaracris.
description: Published as part of Ünal, Mustafa, 2016, Pamphagidae (Orthoptera: Acridoidea) from the Palaearctic Region: taxonomy, classification, keys to genera and a review of the tribe Nocarodeini I. Bolívar, pp. 1-223 in Zootaxa 4206 (1) on pages 131-132, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4206.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/208260