Phlesirtes ngongensis Hemp, n. sp.
Creators: name: Hemp, Claudia
name: Heller, Klaus-Gerhard
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2017
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Orthoptera
Tettigoniidae
Phlesirtes
Phlesirtes ngongensis

description: Phlesirtes ngongensis Hemp n. sp.
(Fig. 2; Fig. 3; Fig. 5. K; Fig. 13 E, F; Fig. 15; Fig. 16)
http://lsid.speciesfile.org/urn:lsid: Orthoptera.speciesfile.org:TaxonName:496074
Holotype male. Kenya, Ngong Hills, grassland, August 2001. Depository MfN.
Paratypes. 1 female, same data as holotype. Depository MfN. 1 male, 1 female, same data as holotype. Depository EDNMK. 1 male, 1 female, same data as holotype. Depository BMNH.
Additional paratype material: 13 males, 8 females, 3 nymphs, same data as holotype and January 2007.
Description. Male. Mix of green and brown colours. Lateral beside light and dark brown median fasciae of head and pronotum vivid green fasciae (Fig. 15 A). Abdomen light brown with lateral dark fasciae (Fig. 15 B). Abdomen. With inwardly rolled tips of the processes of the 10th abdominal tergite. Space between processes almost round and gap at posterior end where tips are inwardly rolled almost closed (Fig. 13 E). Inner branch of male cerci comparatively short, little curved (Fig. 13 F).
Female. Colour pattern similar to male (Fig. 15 C). Ovipositor slightly shorter than body length (Fig. 15 C). Subgenital plate shield-like, as in Fig. 5 K.
Measurements male (mm) (N=10). Length of body 9.1–11.2 (mean: 9.8), length of pronotum 4.3–5.2 (mean: 4.7), length of anterior femur 2.1–2.5 (mean: 2.3), length of posterior femur 8.2–9.5 (mean: 8.7), visible part of elytra from above 0.3–0.9 (mean: 0.65).
Measurements female (mm) (N=10). Length of body 8.5–13.5 (mean: 10.9), length of pronotum 3.6–4.4 (mean: 4.0), length of anterior femur 2.2–2.7 (mean: 2.3), length of posterior femur 9.5–11.0 (mean: 10.0), ovipositor 8.4–10.5 (mean: 9.5).
Diagnosis. Similar to most other Phlesirtes species the lateral processes on the 10th abdominal tergite are very broad and stout and positioned very close to each other forming only a very narrow gap between them which is almost round. Although molecularly the sister taxon to P. limuru n. sp. morphologically well separated. P. limuru n. sp. and P. elgonensis n. sp have an angular incised posterior margin of the 10th tergite and the processes straight.
In P. ngongensis n. sp. the tips of the lateral processes formed at the posterior margin of the 10th tergite are rolled inwardly. Inwardly rolled tips of these processes are also found in P. keniensis n. sp., P. kinangopa n. sp. and P. githuguri n. sp. (all latter three are morphological closely related, see Diagnosis at P. githunguri n. sp.). With P.
kinangopa n. sp. P. ngongensis n. sp. shares processes of the 10th tergite that are positioned very closely to each other, almost touching each other where the tips are rolled inwardly and they also form an almost round gap.
Habitat and distribution. Kenya, Ngong Hills. Found around 1800 m to summit of Ngong Hills in montane grasslands, forest edge and forest clearings (Fig. 15 D).
description: Published as part of Hemp, Claudia & Heller, Klaus-Gerhard, 2017, The genus Phlesirtes Bolivar, 1922 (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae: Conocephalinae, Conocephalini; Karniellina), a review of the genus with data on its bioacoustics and the description of new species, pp. 451-477 in Zootaxa 4244 (4) on pages 471-473, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4244.4.1, http://zenodo.org/record/437214