Roeseliana ambitiosa
Creators: name: Massa, Bruno
name: Tagliavia, Marcello
name: Buzzetti, Filippo Maria
name: Fontana, Paolo
name: Carotti, Giovanni
name: Bardiani, Marco
name: Leandri, Fausto
name: Scherini, Roberto
name: Verde, Gabriella Lo
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Orthoptera
Tettigoniidae
Roeseliana
Roeseliana ambitiosa

description: Roeseliana ambitiosa (Uvarov, 1924)
Figs. 1c, 3f, 5m, 6a, 8e, 11, 22a, 22b, 23a, 23b
Uvarov, 1924. Trans. R. Entomol. Soc. London, 71(3–4): 533 (Metrioptera ambitiosa); type locality and depository: Macedonia, Hortiack Plateau (NHM, London).
Material examined. Macedonia, Tetovo, Kratnica (700 m) 1.VIII.1966, F. Willemse & J. Scherpbier (1♁, 1♀); Same locality (600 m) 12.VII.1969, F. Willemse (1♁, 1♀); Macedonia, N of Tetovo, Ljuboten (1000 m) 23.VII.1972, F. Willemse (1♁); Greece, Pindos, 5–10 km N of Metsovon (1600 m) 3.VIII.1971, F. Willemse (1♀); Greece, Dodonis, lake of Ioannina (470 m) 12.VII.1976, F. Willemse & J. Tilmans (1♁, 1♀); Greece, Florina, Vernon Ori, 4 km E of Pisoderion (1600–1700 m) 26.VII.1972, F. Willemse (1♁, 1♀); Greece, Peloponnisos, Achaia, W of Kalavrita, near Vouraikos river (650 m) 26.VII.2005, L. & F. Willemse (1♁); Greece, Peloponnisos, Achaia, Kalavrita (700 m) 31.VII.1970, F. Willemse & J. Scherpbier (1♁, 1♀) (NBC); Bulgaria, Arkutino-blatoto 30.VIII1963, Peschev (1♁, 1♀); Bulgaria, Petric (Strumesnica) 10.VIII.1960, J. Maran (1♁, 1♀); Greece, Peloponnisos, Achaia, Kalavrita 31.VII.1970, F. Willemse & J. Scherpbier (RMNH); Greece, Epirus, Ioannina 12.VII.2000, P. Fontana (3♁, 2♀) (MCR, coll. P. Fontana).
Remarks. According to Ramme (1951) R. ambitiosa and R. pylnovi are very similar, but they differ in the size, male cerci shape and female subgenital plate. Nadig (1961) considered that R. ambitiosa and R. pylnovi show a high variability in the years, probably depending on humidity and temperature. Ĝtz (1969) highlighted that the width of the eye in this species is greater than in the other Roeseliana (♁: 4.4–5.2 vs 3.6–4.2; ♀: 5.0–5.8 vs 4.0–5.1). He also found some variability in Bulgaria; in the eastern part of this country he found a remarkable expansion of this species. Heller (1988) considered R. ambitiosa synonymous with R. roeselii. Willemse & Willemse (2008) and Chobanov & Mihajlova (2010) listed it as R. roeselii ambitiosa, while Massa & Fontana (2011) and Willemse et al. (2018) recorded it as a valid species. However, on the base of morphological and biometrical characters the latter taxa resulted to be well separated. R. ambitiosa has slender male titillators with variable presence of small spines at their apex, absent in some specimens (Fig. 5m); further, the male cerci are similar to those of R. azami (Fig. 6a), and the female subgenital plate resulted to be different from that of R. roeselii, with a shorter central concavity with lateral apices more squared (Figs. 8b, 8e). See also Table 2 and 4.
Distribution. Balkan peninsula from Greece and Albania to Bulgaria.
description: Published as part of Massa, Bruno, Tagliavia, Marcello, Buzzetti, Filippo Maria, Fontana, Paolo, Carotti, Giovanni, Bardiani, Marco, Leandri, Fausto, Scherini, Roberto & Verde, Gabriella Lo, 2023, A taxonomic revision of the Palaearctic genus Roeseliana (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae: Tettigoniinae: Platycleidini): a case of ongoing Mediterranean speciation, pp. 351-400 in Zootaxa 5270 (3) on page 366, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5270.3.1, http://zenodo.org/record/7859886