Paranothrotes opacus subsp. opacus Brunner von Wattenwyl 1882
Creators: name: Ünal, Mustafa
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2016
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Orthoptera
Pamphagidae
Paranothrotes
Paranothrotes opacus
Paranothrotes opacus opacus (brunner von wattenwyl, 1882)

description: Paranothrotes opacus opacus (Brunner von Wattenwyl, 1882)
(Figs. 56, 442, 481–482, 841)
Nocarodes opacus m.: Brunner von Wattenwyl 1882: 189.
Nocarodes opacus Brunner, 1882: Jacobson 1905: 200, 298, sensu Bey-Bienko & Mistshenko 1951; Kirby 1910: 355; I. Bolívar 1912: 7; I. Bolívar 1916: 25.
Paranocarodes opacus (Br. v. W.): Ramme 1951: 278, 286, 427.
Paranothrotes opacus (Br.-W.) sbsp. (?): Karabağ 1958: 119.
Paranothrotes opacus (Brunner von Wattenwyl, 1882): Weidner 1969: 159; Presa & Garcia 1983: 26; Hodjat 2012: 267.
Paranothrotes opacus (B.-W.): Karabağ et al. 1971: 86.
Paranothrotes opacus hakkariana subsp. n.: Demirsoy 1973: 419; Demirsoy 1977: 68, 73. syn. nov.
Paranothrotes opacus hakkariana Demirsoy, 1973: Presa & Garcia 1983: 26; Otte 1994: 186.
Paranothrotes opacus opacus (Br.-W. 1882): Bey-Bienko & Mistshenko 1951: 345, partim; Mirzayans 1959: 16; Shumakov 1963: 55, partim; Otte 1994: 186.
Paranothrotes opacus opacus Uvarov, 1927: Otte 1994: 184.
Type locality. [W. Iran], Chiva. Lectotype: male (NMW).
Material examined. IRAN: Chiva, 1♂ (lectotype), 1♀ (paralectotype), 3♀ (paralectotypes) (leg. Plason) (NMW); Chiva, 1♀ (paralectotype) (leg. Plason) (MfN); Chiva, 1♀ (paralectotype) (ZIN); TURKEY: Hakkari, Şemdinli-Hakkari, 25.6.1965, 1♀; Turkey, Hakkari, Kırkbulak Yay., 3200 m, 3.8.1953, 3♂, 1♀ (leg. T. Karabağ) (NHMUK); Hakkari civarı, 1700 m, 2.8.1953, 2♂, 4♀ (leg. T. Karabağ); Hakkari, Beytüşşebab, 2500 m, 30.7.1952, 1♂, 2♀ (leg. T. Karabağ); Hakkari, Karadağ, 2800 m, 15.8.1954, 6♂, 4♀ (leg. P. H. Davis); Hakkari, Çölemerik, 1700 m, 4.9.1954, 5♂, 4♀ (leg. P. H. Davis); Van, Satak [Çatak], Kavuşşahap Dağ, 2300 m, 24.7.1954, 3♂, 1♀ (leg. P. H. Davis); Hakkari, Cilo Dağ (Buzul Dağ), 2700–3000 m, 7.8.1954, 3♂, 5♀ (leg. P. H. Davis) (all in NHMUK); Söört [Siirt] b. Bitlis, 1♀ (leg. F. Sikora) (det. Brunner as Nocarodes spec.) (NMW); Prov. Hakiare [Hakkari], Sat Dag [İkiyaka Dağları], 1♀ (det. as Nocarodes s.l.) (NMW); Şırnak, Şenoba Köyü, 2004, 1♂, 2♀ (leg. A. A. Dönmez) (AİBÜEM); Şırnak, Beytüşşebab, Başağaç Köyü, 37.29.498 N, 43.18.372 E, 2398 m, 6.9.2013, 1♂, plus 2♀ in alcohol (leg. M. Ünal & A. Erden); Başağaç Köyü, 2300 m, 7.9.2013, 3♀ (leg. M. Ünal & A. Erden); Hakkari, Süvari Halil Geçidi, 37.29.440 N, 43.19.205 E, 7.9.2013, 2300–2455 m, 1♀, 1♂ nymph (leg. M. Ünal & A. Erden) (AİBÜEM); Hakkari, Şemdinli, Hazne Karakolu, 1300 m, 6.7.1963, 19♂, 4♀ (leg. K. İnan); Hakkari, 7.1969, 1♂, Zapsuyu kenarı, 10.7.1969, 1♀ (leg. B. Mursaoğlu) (AÜZM).
Distribution. N.W. Iran: Chiva, S.E. Turkey: Hakkari, Şırnak and southern parts of Van provinces (Fig. 841).
Remarks. Brunner (1882: 189) described this species after syntypes composed of both sexes, but the syntypes in the NMW are labelled as holo-, allo- and paratypes. Ramme’s (1951: 286) selections of the type must be accepted as the lectotype designation (ICZN, Article 74.5). Therefore the male labelled as “holotype” is the lectotype of this species and all the other syntypes are paralectotypes (see Material examined).
The type locality of “Chiva, Chiwa or Khiva” is not clear. Khiva is a district in Uzbekistan, where is too far from the distribution of this species. Chiva is also the type locality of Iranotmethis cyanipennis (Saussure, 1884). According to Uvarov (1943: 45) it is a mislabelling and it originated from Iran. Ramme (1951: 286) agreed with Uvarov which is likely to be in error as well as the entire material in the NMW. On a label of P. opacus preserved in the MfN there is a note that the locality is wrong, ant it is very likely Persia. Weidner (1962: 87) stated that “Chiwa (Transcaucasien)” must be a Persian location. According to the distribution of this species the type locality is probably in N.W. Iran. The old name of Meshkinshahr in Ardebil Province of Iran is “Khiav” (M. Mofidi- Neyestanak, pers. comm.) which may be the type locality of Paranothrotes opacus and Iranotmethis cyanipennis.
There are 2 males and 1 female under P. opacus opacus in the ZIN. The female is a paralectotype, but the males are certainly not belonging to this species, which are much more similar to the true P. gotvendicus and P. tenuicornis, regrettably male genitalia are lost. Because of this misidentification Mistshenko (in Bey-Bienko & Mistshenko 1951) reported the hind leg colors of his P. opacus opacus as brown in male and blue or black in female. Besides Mistshenko identified 10 males and 20 females as P. gotvendicus gotvendicus in the ZIN, all of them actually belonging to the true P. opacus s.l. (see the next subspecies). Mistshenko (Bey-Bienko & Mistshenko 1951) gave the characteristics of these species according to his misidentifications and the specimens sent to the Museum by him. All subsequent researchers followed the key of Bey-Bienko & Mistshenko (1951) or the identified specimens of Mistshenko in the Museum. Therefore the misidentifications are in the publications and collections. Most of the identified specimens of P. gotvendicus in the Museum in fact belong to P. opacus s.l. (see P. opacus rectus). Because of this problem Demirsoy (1973) in describing P. opacus hakkariana distinguished it from all known subspecies of P. opacus by the red color of hind tibia, but the lectotype of the true P. opacus opacus (NMW) also has red hind tibia. Therefore P. opacus hakkariana is synonymized here. I have realized this problem when I studied the type specimens of both species P. opacus and P. gotvendicus in the NMW and MNCN.
The main difference of both subspecies with the true P. opacus opacus and P. opacus rectus is the coloration of the hind tibia which is red in the nominotypical subspecies, mainly black in P. opacus rectus (see the key).
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 115-116, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4206.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/208260