Dysonia White 1862
Creators: name: Cadena-Castañeda, Oscar J.
name: Braun, Holger
name: García, Alexander García
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Orthoptera
Tettigoniidae
Dysonia

description: Dysonia White, 1862
Diagnosis. White with black spots, which vary in intensity and number among the different species (Figs. 2A–B, 33A). Antennae nodose, development of nodes variable (Fig. 2A); vertex conical and elevated moderately (Fig. 2K). Pronotum smooth and slightly expanded laterally (Fig. 3D). Mesosternum rectangular (wider than long), lateral lobes slightly expanded. Main spine of hind femur conspicuous, lamellar, with serrate outer edge; other smaller spines fused into a plate (Fig. 4E). Male cerci variable in shape, conical (Fig. 33K, M), triangular, branches flattened (Fig. 33G) or pointed and thin (Fig. 33C). Male subgenital plate shorter than length of cerci (Figs. 33H, J, L). Ovipositor curved and broadened, with robust valves (Figs. 2A, 4E). Males larger than females.
Type species. Phaneroptera alipes Westwood, 1844, by original designation.
Distribution. Mainly in medium elevations of the Andes from Colombia to Bolivia, with members in central and southern Brazil (Map 16).
Comments. Dysonia lamellipes Bruner, 1915 is considered a nomen dubium. The original description is based on an immature female, which impedes the comparison with other species, and the whereabouts of the type specimen are unknown. Preceding the description of D. lamellipes, Bruner (1915) mentions that in the same area in Bolivia was collected a female probably belonging to Dysonia punctifrons (now Lichenomorphus punctifrons). Perhaps the D. lamellipes nymph belongs to L. punctifrons too.
Subsequently, Costa Lima & Guitton (1960) described specimens from the same province in Bolivia as males of D. lamellipes, based on the shared locality. However, it is common to find species of the different genera Dysonia, Lichenomorphus, and Dissonulichen occurring in the same area (with all the species previously treated as belonging to Dysonia). According to the drawing of male terminalia in Costa Lima & Guiton (1961) cerci and subgenital plate are fairly similar to the ones of Dysonia holgeri. Without the type specimen it is impossible to determine the generic identity of Bruner’s species. It could even belong to some other genus whose nymphs share similar color patterns. This happened with Valna nigropicta Walker, 1871, described from a whitish immature female with black markings, that Kirby (1906) included with some doubt in genus Dysonia. Eventually it was found to be a synonym of Acanthodis aquilina (Linnaeus, 1758), thereby belonging to subfamily Pseudophyllinae (Costa Lima & Guiton 1960, based on a communication by D.R. Ragge).
Dysonia bridarollii Costa Lima & Guiton, 1960 is only known from a female. The holotype could not be examined and the status of this species is uncertain, which is why it is not included in the key to species.
Key to species of Dysonia
1. Inner branch of male cerci variable in shape, but never pointed or needle-shaped and not exceeding the outer branch....... 2
- Inner branch of male cerci elongated, pointed, and needle-shaped, exceeding the length of the outer branch (Fig. 33C)............................................................................. D. holgeri Cadena-Castañeda 2011
2. Medium-sized (35–40 mm), male subgenital plate with articulated styli.......................................... 3
- Small (29 mm), male subgenital plate without articulated styli (Fig. 33D)........... D. zikani Costa Lima & Guitton, 1960
3. Body with scarce black markings; male cerci with conical branches, similar in size or with a longer outer branch......... 4
- Body more extensively marked black; male cerci with flattened and triangular branches, outer branch with a notch in the anteroapical portion of the ventral margin (Fig. 33G)........................................ D. pardalis Gorochov, 2012
4. Branches of male cerci conical, and similar in size and shape................................................... 5
- Apex of outer branch of male cerci obtuse, with some denticulations on margin in dorsal view; inner branch subtriangular with truncate apex (Fig. 33I).............................................. D. monticola Costa Lima & Guitton, 1960
5. Outer branch of male cerci twice as long as inner branch, sub-triangular and slightly curved inward from the middle to the apex; inner branch triangular and sclerotized (Fig. 33K); styli of subgenital plate cylindrical and slightly curved inward in the middle (Fig. 33J)..................................................................... D. melaleuca (Walker, 1869)
- Outer branch of male cerci almost as long as inner branch (Fig. 33M); styli of subgenital plate reduced and triangular (Fig. 33L)......................................................................... D. alipes (Westwood, 1844)
description: Published as part of Cadena-Castañeda, Oscar J., Braun, Holger & García, Alexander García, 2022, The tribe Dysoniini part VI: Phylogeny, biogeography and evolutionary trends of the lichen katydid genera (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae: Phaneropterinae). Eleventh contribution to the suprageneric organization of Neotropical phaneropterines, pp. 1-93 in Zootaxa 5166 (1) on pages 59-60, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5166.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/6876209