Arantia (Euarantia) fasciata
Creators: name: Hemp, Claudia
name: Massa, Bruno
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2017
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Orthoptera
Tettigoniidae
Arantia
Arantia fasciata

description: Arantia (Euarantia) fasciata (Walker, 1869) (Figs. 16, 17, 18, 55, 56, 85a, b)
http://lsid.speciesfile.org/urn:lsid: Orthoptera.speciesfile.org:TaxonName:464789
Walker (1869). Catalogue of the Specimens of Dermaptera Saltatoria in the Collection of the British Museum, 2: 378. Type locality: GAMBIA. Depository: BMNH, London. Kind of type: holotype female.
Syn. Arantia (Euarantia) atrolineata Brunner von Wattenwyl, 1891
Brunner von Wattenwyl (1891). Verh. der Zoologisch-Botanischen Gesellsch, Wien 41: 63, 69. Type locality: WEST TROPICAL AFRICA. "Slave Coast ". Depository: ETHZ, Zurich. Kind of type: holotype female. Syn. Arantia (Euarantia) spinulosa Brunner von Wattenwyl, 1878
Brunner von Wattenwyl (1878). Monographie der Phaneropteriden 137.
Type locality: SOUTH AFRICA. KwaZulu-Natal, Durban. Depository: NMW, Vienna. Kind of type: holotype female.
Material examined. GAMBIA. (♀ holotype). GUINEA. Beyla, BM1967-33 (NHM). TANZANIA. Mt Kilimanjaro, Plantation belt 1430 m, Kidia XI.1997, I.1998, XII.2000, III.2008, IX.2013; plantation belt 1330 m, III.2007, IX.2010, I.2014, cultivated Savanna 890 m, VI.2013 (CHB). E. Usambara Mountains, Amani, 1000 m, I.1976 (ZMUC). E. Usambara, Amani 17–20.VI.1998, L. Bartolozzi & A. Sforzi (1♂) (MZUF). SOUTH AFRICA (2♀). Kwa-Zulu-Natal, Pinetown VII.1884 (1♀). Port Natal (1♂, 2♀) (NMW, identified as A. spinulosa). ZIMBABWE. Salisbury, VIII.1815 (1♀). MALAWI. Blantyre, Nyasaland 1922 (1♂) (ISAM, identified as A. spinulosa).? Cap Drenge (1♀) (MfN). IVORY COAST. Lamto 13.II.1969 (light) (1♂) (MNHN). SOMALIA. Giohar 10–13.IX.1968 (1♂). Afgoi II–III.1978, A. Simonetta (1♀). KENYA. Masai Mara National Park (1600m) 11.VI.1994, L. Bartolozzi (1♂). Malindi 10.XI–6.XII.1989 (1♀) (MZUF). DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC CONGO. Lusingan 18.VII–8.VIII.1947 (1♀). Kilwezi, Lufira 16–21.VIII.1948 (1♀). Katanga (1♀) (RBINS).
Measurements of South African specimens. Males (N=6). Body length: 29.0–32.8 (mean: 30.5); pronotum length: 7.0–7.8 (mean: 7.4); pronotum height: 8.3–9.9 (mean: 9.2); hind femur: 32.7–37.8 (mean: 34.8); tegmina length: 54.9–63.3 (mean: 57.6); tegmina width: 15.0–17.1 (mean: 16.1); length/tegmina width: 3.58; width tegmina/length pronotum: 2.18.
Measurements of female holotype. Body length: 34; pronotum length: 8.5; pronotum height: 9.1; hind femur: 35.2; hind tibiae: 41.1; tegmina: 63.2; tegmina width: 19.4; tegmina length/width: 3.26; tegmina width/pronotum length: 2.28; ovipositor: 5.5.
Measurements of East African specimens (Tanzania). Males (N=6). Body length: 29.2–32.7 (mean: 30.5); pronotum length: 7.5–8.2 (mean: 7.85); pronotum height: 8.5–9.4 (mean: 8.8); hind femur: 32.1–33.7 (mean: 33.23); tegmina length: 55.0–58.7 (mean: 56.38); tegmina width: 14.0–16.5 (mean: 15.3); length/tegmina width: 3.7; width tegmina/length pronotum: 2.0. Females (N=6). Body length: 31.6–39.7 (mean: 35.72); pronotum length: 8.1–9.3 (mean: 8.48); pronotum height: 9.5–10.6 (mean: 10); hind femur: 35.9–40 (mean: 37.4); tegmina length: 62–70 (mean: 65) tegmina width: 17.5–21.2 (mean: 19.1); ovipositor: 5.4–6.6 (mean: 6.1); tegmina length/width: 3.4; tegmina width/pronotum length: 2.25.
Characters. A. fasciata is a species of large size (Figs 16–18). Only the female is described at present. It is characterized by closed tympana on both sides of the fore tibiae. Part of the face is white, often lateral brownreddish stripes are present. Very characteristic is a broad fascia transverse on the metazona of the pronotum being dark anteriorly and white posteriorly. The tegmina are wide with clear impressed dots in the costal area. The anterior margin of the pronotum is nearly straight, the posterior margin broadly rounded. The female ovipositor has numerous small tubercles especially on the posterior end of the valves and is covered densely with short hairs. Kirby (1906) synonymized A. atrolineata with A. fasciata and Hemp (2013a) synonymized A. spinulosa with A. fasciata.
Description of the male (based on East African specimens). General habitus and colour pattern. Large species with broad wings, predominantly green with a white and dark stripe on the posterior part of the pronotum. Head and antennae. Eyes oval, striped. Antennae long and thin, about 6–7 cm long. Fastigium of vertex forming a ridge with shallow sulcus above with rounded margin between antennae. Fastigium of frons conical; both fastigia separated by deep gap. Thorax and legs. Anterior margin of pronotum almost straight. Disc of pronotum almost plane with shallowly impressed sulcus on metazona. Posterior margin of pronotum slightly down-curved, broadly rounded. Broad based, short, blunt knob (reduced spine?) on fore coxa. Tympana of fore tibiae on both sides closed or closed on outer side and on inner side triangular shaped or longish oval. Fore femur unarmed or with few tiny, sometimes black tipped spines. Mid femora unarmed. Hind femora with two rows of small evenly spaced spines, black tipped with broad base. Distally 1–2 spines can be larger to very large in some specimens with flange-like bases. All femora with two pairs of spurs at apex. Fore and mid tibiae with two ventral rows of few small spines, a pair of spurs at the apex. Hind tibiae with four rows of spines, dorsal rows of spines very dense, especially distally; three spurs at each side at apex. The stridulatory file is curved and consists of ca. 100 evenly spaced teeth (Figs 55– 56). Abdomen. Cerci slightly curved, decussate, long with a stouter base and more slender anterior part, tips clubshaped with a serrated sclerotized ridge (Figs 85a, 85b). Subgenital plate longer than wide, with median ridge and tiny styli.
Diagnosis. General habitus and colour pattern as in female A. fasciata, but with a smaller body size. Specimens collected in East Africa and seen in various collections differ considerably in body size. Most specimens have dark green tegmina without any pattern. However, in savanna habitats on the southern slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro few specimens were collected with a large body size and with a vivid pattern of brown patches and fasciae on the tegmina which looked very different from the other uniformly coloured specimens. Comparing the genitalia and the stridulatory files showed that also these specimens belonged to A. fasciata. A similar situation seems to be the case in A. regina (see below) where specimens also vary considerably in body size.
Distribution. Widespread in Africa, from Somalia to South Africa and Gambia further west.
Notes on habitat and ecology. Information on habitat and ecology are available only for East African populations (see Hemp 2005; 2013a, b). A. fasciata is a night-active canopy dweller. Its song of a few loud syllables can be heard from the canopy of trees during evening hours. In East Africa it is found in savanna habitats but is also common in submontane elevations on mountains. It also occurs in anthropogenic-influenced habitats such as banana-coffee plantations and here inhabits single high trees. Nymphs are often found on broad-leaved bushes and trees of medium height. A. fasciata is fully alate often covering great distances when disturbed. However, the species seems to rely greatly on its camouflage only moving when being shaken directly from the branches.
Remarks. A. fasciata is distributed over a large area of Africa south of the Sahara. Specimens studied from West, East and South Africa show a certain degree of morphological variation suggesting that at least different populations are present. Thus there are differences in the shape of the fastigium verticis, the shape of the tympana on the fore legs (West African species with completely closed tympana on both sides while in specimens from East Africa the inner side is more open, being tri-angular shaped and more open on the posterior side). Also the shape of the subgenital plate varies slightly. Further in West African species the face is smoother with parallel furrows below the eyes running to the labrum, while in East African specimens the facial area below the eyes is strongly wrinkled. However, the morphological variation is so gradual that no clear differences can be put down to define species. Unfortunately no male specimens from West Africa are stored in any museum we have visited and since females are generally morphologically very similar in Arantia ssp. it cannot be excluded that West and Central African populations differ from East and South African populations on species level. More collecting hopefully will eventually clarify the status of the Arantia fasciata species-complex and molecular analyses and studies on song should be undertaken to illuminate speciation patterns.
description: Published as part of Hemp, Claudia & Massa, Bruno, 2017, Review of the African genera Arantia Stål and Goetia Karsch (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae: Phaneropterinae), pp. 451-498 in Zootaxa 4362 (4) on pages 467-469, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4362.4.1, http://zenodo.org/record/1095274