Isophya rhodopensis subsp. rhodopensis Ramme 1951
Creators: name: Dragan P. Chobanov
name: Beata Grzywacz
name: Ionuţ Ş. Iorgu
name: Battal Cιplak
name: Maya B. Ilieva
name: Elżbieta Warchałowska-Śliwa
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2013
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Orthoptera
Phaneropteridae
Isophya
Isophya rhodopensis
Isophya rhodopensis rhodopensis ramme, 1951

description: Isophya rhodopensis rhodopensis Ramme, 1951 —typical and Northwestern form
(Figs 46, 70, 95, 120, 164 –166, 170–172, 193)
Isophya rhodopensis Ramme: Ramme 1951 (sp.n.).
Morphological description: Ramme 1951; Bey-Bienko 1954; Harz 1969. Karyotype: Warchałowska-Śliwa et al. 2008 (as I. rhodopensis and I. petkovi —partim: cf. localities).
Supplement to the description and diagnosis: The body size varies. It is usually slightly smaller than in I. rh. leonorae, male tegmina are narrower and the stridulatory file is usually shorter— 2.9–3.7 mm with 134–155 teeth (Figs 164–166 A), but in the lowland population from the region of Assenovgrad, intermediate to I. rh. petkovi, the file is up to 4.1 mm with 180 teeth. Main colouration of the disc of tegmina is green, rarely (in lowland populations) mixed with yellow. The lateral stripes of metazone are narrower than in leonorae and darker—reddish to blackish-brown. Female stridulatory apparatus is shown in Figs 164–166 C. Male cercal tooth (Figs 164–166 B) is long and wide, usually more or less pointed but sometimes as in leonorae. According to its shape we could discern two forms— typical form with a wide cercus tooth similar to that of leonorae and Northwestern form with pointed tooth and song temporarily similar to that of I. rh. petkovi. The song (Figs 170–172) consists of groups of 3–5 or more syllables. The syllables last 100–200 ms with 40–70 impulses and an impulse period of 2–7 ms. In all cases the syllable (main part) was followed by 1–5 after-clicks, thus the whole length (syllable+after-clicks) becomes 275–386 ms (27°С) to 800 ms (23°С).
Bioacoustics: Typical form. The structure of syllables vary to some extent between different populations. Specimens from Smolyan (close to the type locality of I. rhodopensis in the Central Rhodope Mts) and the neighbouring Turun Village showed the following characteristics at 27°С. Smolyan (Fig. 171): syllables—main part 142–160 ms (mean 152±6; n=10) with 43–55 impulses (mean 49±4; n=10) and impulse period of 2–6 ms (mean 3.2); Turun (Fig. 172): syllables—main part 105–116 ms (mean 110±3; n=10) wtih 50–55 impulses (mean 52±2; n=10) and impulse period of 2–5 ms (mean 2.1).
The animals from the northern slopes of Western Rhodope are morphologically and bioacoustically transitional to I. rh. petkovi in larger body, higher number of stridulatory teeth and development of black lateral stripes in metazone (compare below). The song of specimens from Assenovgrad and Bachkovo Village area at 23°С had longer interval between the main syllable part and the after-clicks, which is at least partly due to lower body temperature (but the main syllable part was even shorter). It had the following characteristics: syllables—main part 133–153 ms (mean 143±6; n=10) with 60–67 impulses (mean 63±2; n=10) and impulse period of 2–4 ms (mean 2.3) and a total duration with the after-clicks 714–762 ms (mean 739±16; n=8). Interestingly, here after-clicks were observed in all cases.
Northwestern form. Specimens from the region of Batak Lake (NW Rhodope), Krichim, Pazardzhik (W Thrace Lowland) and Sushtinska Sredna Gora Mountain showed stable difference in the shape of the cercal tooth (Fig. 165 B) being narrower and pointed, similar to that of I. andreevae. The song (Fig. 170) does not differ significantly from that of the typical form but the syllables are longer with more impulses: syllables—main part 164–194 ms (mean 185±8; n=10) with 63–68 impulses (mean 66±2; n=10) and impulse period of 2–4 ms (to 7 ms at the end of the main part) (mean 2.8) (T=28°С).
The populations from different regions show significant variation in the distribution of heterochromatine (Warchałowska-Śliwa et al. 2008) and are genetically variable (Grzywacz and Warchałowska-Śliwa 2008; Grzywacz-Gibała et al. 2010).
Distribution (Fig. 193) and phenology: Specimens were found in the eastern and northwestern part of the Western Rhodope Mountains, the neighbouring parts of the Upper Thrace Lowland and Sushtinska Sredna Gora Mountain in Bulgaria. The subspecies possibly occurs also in the mountains above Xanthi (Rodopi district) in Greece. This taxon inhabits various terrains and habitats—from lowland scrub along rivers to subalpine meadows between 200 and 2190 m alt. Nymphs—(III–)IV–VI(–VII), imago—VI–VII(–IX).
description: Published as part of Dragan P. Chobanov, Beata Grzywacz, Ionuţ Ş. Iorgu, Battal Cιplak, Maya B. Ilieva & Elżbieta Warchałowska-Śliwa, 2013, Review of the Balkan Isophya (Orthoptera: Phaneropteridae) with particular emphasis on the Isophya modesta group and remarks on the systematics of the genus based on morphological and acoustic data, pp. 1-81 in Zootaxa 3658 (1) on pages 36-38, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3658.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/246551