Pseudoscopas rubromaculatus Costa, Acosta, Timm & Zefa, 2025, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Costa, Maria Kátia Matiotti Da
name: Acosta, Riuler Corrêa
name: Timm, Vítor Falchi
name: Zefa, Edison
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Orthoptera
Acrididae
Pseudoscopas
Pseudoscopas rubromaculatus

description: Pseudoscopas rubromaculatus sp. nov. Matiotti da Costa, 2024
(Figs 1A–1B; 2A–M)
Type locality. Parque Natural Municipal Saint’Hilaire, Viamão, State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil (30° 6’14.48”S, 51° 4’59.44”W) (Fig. 9A–D).
Depository. Holotype and allotype of Pseudoscopas rubromaculatus sp. nov. (01 male and 01 female). Museu de Ciências e Tecnologia da PUCRS (MCTP).
Etymology. The specific epithet refers to the color of the body reddish and spots.
Diagnosis. (i) reddish body, with spots in dorsal and ventral; (ii) epiproct subtriangular with six rounded protuberances in median region; (iii) cerci with sclerotized extremities; (iv) furculae undivided; (v) lophi prominent subsquared and sclerotized.
Description. Male (Figs. 1A, 2A–H)
Body medium in size (15 mm length), moderately robust and deeply pubescent, especially the abdomen. Micropterous. Head. Front slightly oblique (Fig. 2C), head as wide as the pronotum (Fig. 2B). Antennae filiform, with 18 antennomeres. Eyes with globular interocular space narrow (Fig. 2B). Fastigium subtriangular, short, with apex of vertex slightly rounded, with two very conspicuous sulcus (Fig. 2B). Thorax. Pronotum with median carinae slightly marked, and lateral absent (Fig. 2B); metazona shorter than prozona; pronotum disc crossed by three transverse sulci; pronotum lateral edges parallel, slightly expanding in the metazona; anterior margin straight and, posterior with slight median emargination (Figs 2B–C). Prosternal process spiniform (Fig. 2D). Mesosternal lobes subrounded (Fig. 2D). Tegmen short, lobuliform, reaching to the second abdominal segment (Fig. 1A). Legs. Hind femur slender, the upper keel smooth, the end of lower knee lobes rounded. Hind tibiae pubescent with 7 outer and 8 inner dorsal spines. Abdomen. Thickened in distal region (Fig. 2A). Tympanum large. Epiproct subtriangular in median region with six V protuberances; furculae undivided (Fig. 2F). Pallium with small and salient lobes (Fig. 2E). Cerci subtriangular, robust, conic, strongly curved, exceeding the epiproct apex; acute and sclerotized apex (Figs 2E–F). Subgenital plate cupuliform, short, curved up, apex pointed and pubescent (Fig. 2E). Phallic complex. Cingulum with long apodemes, arch developed; gonopore with a rectangular ventral projection (Fig. 2G); aedeagus long with upper and lower valves of the same size; sclerites of aedeagus covered by the wide and highly lobulated ectophallic sheath (Fig. 2G). Epiphallus with slightly plan bridge (Fig. 2H); anchorae larger in size than of the anterior projections; lophi prominent and sclerotized; without internal conical protuberance (Fig. 2H).
Coloration
Body reddish (Figs 1A, 2A, 2D). Head mostly brown light, with a black pair of retro-ocular bands that take part of the genae and continue in the dorsal half of the pronotum lateral lobes reddish, Antennae brown. Fastigium of the vertex with reddish spots (Fig. 2B). Occiput marked with reddish spots. Face, clypeus, and genae greenish; mandible and labrum reddish; labial and maxillary palpi greenish (Fig. 2D). Reddish interocular space and reddish dorsal spots at the end of the eyes. Pronotum dorsally with several punctures and brown spots and narrow ivory-colored dorsal band across the entire length of the pronotum (Fig. 2B). Lateral lobes of the pronotum with an ivory band on the lower abdomen (Fig. 2C). Tegmen with veins light brown, a narrow ivory band surrounding the dorsal portion; hindwing tricolor with dorsal green/brown, medial white and ventral black (Figs 1A, 2A). Genicular lunules black. Legs I, II and III green, with pretarsus tip, arolium and claws brown color; with genicular lobe black; tibiae light green (Figs 1A, 2A). Abdomen. pallium reddish in dorsal and ventral view (Figs 2A, 2D); lateral sclerites of the abdomen reddish from the second segment (Fig. 1A).
Female. Larger in size than male, robust (body length 19 mm) (Figs 1B, 2I–M). Head dorsal green (Fig. 2J); fastigium more prominent and wider than in males, and with green spots; eyes more prominent, retro-ocular bands take part of the genae and continue in the dorsal half of the pronotum lateral lobes reddish (Fig. 2K); interocular space wider (Fig. 2J). Pronotum dorsally light green, with several punctures and spots; lateral lobes of the pronotum with reddish, yellow-green and ivory bands, from upper to lower portion (Fig. 2K). Abdomen segments 1 to 4 dorsally green and the other segments reddish (Fig. 2I); ventrally the segments of the abdomen yellowish and sides with a black spot in between segments 3–6. Ovipositor valves short in lateral view and serrated margins absent (Fig. 2L); dorsal valve of the ovipositor robust and apical tooth of the external ventral valve little prominent (Fig. 2L). Hind edge of the female subgenital plate with two large lobes on both sides and without sclerotization (Fig. 2M).
Legs I and II less robust than in males. Cerci short, conical, not reaching the epiproct tip and reddish in extremity (Fig. 2L). Epiproct reddish subtriangular with median sulcus well marked, interrupted transversely in the median region (Fig. 2M)
Habitat and Habits. Individuals of P. rubromaculatus sp. nov. were collected in the forest border during the afternoon, between 3 and 4 pm, in the area containing many pteridophytes and grasses. Male and female were found close to the ground. The records of the genus Pseudoscopas are between the Pampean and Chacoan provinces (Morrone 2001; 2006).
Measurements (mm): Male (n = 1): BL = 15.1; PL = 0.3; FL3 = 0.8; TL = 0.3. Female (n = 1): BL = 19.1; PL = 0.5; FL3 = 0.9; TL = 0.4.
Type material. Holotype ♂ and Allotype ♀ (MCTP). BRAZIL: Rio Grande do Sul, municipality of Viamão, Parque Natural Municipal Saint’Hilaire, 12.iii.2022, Acosta, R. C. and Timm, V. F. leg. Holotype condition: genitalia were extracted and maintained in holotype’s tube.
description: Published as part of Costa, Maria Kátia Matiotti Da, Acosta, Riuler Corrêa, Timm, Vítor Falchi & Zefa, Edison, 2025, Three new species of grasshoppers Dichroplini (Orthoptera: Acrididae Melanoplinae) from State of Rio Grande do Sul, Southern Brazil, pp. 279-293 in Zootaxa 5613 (2) on pages 280-282, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5613.2.4, http://zenodo.org/record/15216519