Loveridgacris impotens
Creators: name: Yetchom Fondjo, Jeanne Agrippine
name: Husemann, Martin
name: Nzoko Fiemapong, Armand Richard
name: Missoup, Alain Didier
name: Kenne, Martin
name: Tindo, Maurice
name: Hawlitschek, Oliver
name: Duressa, Tarekegn Fite
name: Xu, Sheng-Quan
name: Zhu, Wenhui
name: Hemp, Claudia
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Orthoptera
Pyrgomorphidae
Loveridgacris
Loveridgacris impotens

description: Loveridgacris impotens (Karsch, 1888)
Figs 1 E, F; 2 C, F, I, 3 F, 4 C, D, 6 C, F, I, L, 7 C, F, I
Petasia impotens Karsch, 1888
Parapetasia impotens Karsch
Holotype.
Deutsch-Ostafrika [German East Africa]. • 1 male; Uzigna [Usegna]; MfN.
Synonyms.
Loveridgacris ulugurensis Rehn (1953): 124, 126, pl. 2: f. 18 and 19, pl. 3: f. 23 and 24. Kevan et al. (1972): 223, 229.
Material examined.
Deutsch-Ostafrika [German East Africa]. • 1 male; Uzigna [Usegna]; MfN. • 1 male; Amani; 26 Nov. 1906; S. G. Vosseler leg.; MfN. • 1 male; Amani; 1 Nov. 1906; S. G. Vosseler leg.; MfN. • 1 male, 1 female; Amani; Nov. 1906; Vosseler S. G. leg.; MfN. • 2 males; Amani; Nov. 1907; S. G. Vosseler leg.; MfN. • 1 female; Amani; 16 Jan. 1906; S. G. Vosseler leg.; MfN. • 1 male; Amani; 30 Nov. – 5 Dec. 1906; S. G. Vosseler leg.; MfN. • 1 male; Amani; S. G. Vosseler leg.; MfN. • 1 male; Amani; 20 Nov. – 5 Dec. 1906; S. G. Vosseler leg.; MfN. • 1 male, 6 females, 1 nymph; Amani; S. G. Vosseler leg.; MfN. Tanzania. • 1 male; Uluguru-Berge; 11 Dec. 1998; S. Götze leg.; MfN. Deutsch-Ostafrika [German East Africa]. • 1 female; Sigital; Jul. 1903; S. Götze; MfN. • 1 female; Muoa, Bez. langa; S. Fischer; MfN. • 1 female; V. Karger leg.; MfN. • 2 males, 3 females; 1903, vend. 1 Apr. 1911; Dr F. Eichelbaum; ZMH. Tanzania. • 1 female; Usambara Nguelo; S. Heinsen; MfN. • 1 female; Usambara Nguelo; 14 Jun. 1905; H. Rolle leg.; ZMH. Deutsch-Ostafrika [German East Africa]. • 4 males; 1908; S. G. Vosseler; MfN.
Redescription.
Male. Body: robust, depressed, with strongly rugose and tuberculated integument. Head (Fig. 1 F, 2 C, F, I): acutely conical; fastigium of vertex slightly curved upward, flat, slightly concave in basal part, with rounded apex in dorsal view; antennae thick, shorter than head and pronotum together, with short transverse or subtransverse segments, the last apical segment being distinctly longer than others; eyes oval, of moderate size. Thorax (Figs 2 F, I, 3 F, 4 C, D): pronotum less testaceous, not deeply and concavely saddle-shaped, with large inflation in front of first sulcus, moderately rugose with slightly pointed tubercles; posterior part of metazonal disc not swollen or raised dorsally; median carinae interrupted, lateral carinae absent; lower margins of lateral lobes of pronotum rather angular; prozona shorter than metazona; median posterior margin of metazona not emarginate; prosternal process very short, triangular, expanded at its base with angular apex; mesosternal interspace wider than long. Legs (Figs 2 F, I, 3 F, 4 C, D): hind femur slender; upper-median margin of hind femora flat, not raised, almost of equal height to upper-external margin; obliquely expanded area at the base of hind femur less pronounced; external apical spine of hind tibiae present; hind tarsal segments not elongate. Elytra (Figs 1 F, 2 F, I, 4 C, D): shortened or brachypterous, slightly elongated and strongly reticulated, reaching dorsally the third abdominal tergite, with evenly rounded posterior margins. Abdomen (Figs 2 F, I, 3 F, 4 C, D): often annulated; abdominal tergites each with a trigonal medio-dorsal tubercle; male subgenital plate compressed toward apex above, margins fused but not separated; male supra-anal plate conical; male cerci conical (Fig. 7 C). Epiphallus (Fig. 6 C): bridge wide or broad, its anterior margin emarginate, and posterior margin almost straight; anterior projections large, fairly prominent; lateral plates almost divergent, its external margins slightly expanded; lophi of larger size, upcurved and anteriorly directed with acute apex; appendices divergent, with broad apical lobes bearing long terminal processes, attached submarginally to the anterior projections and lying close to the lateral plates. Ectophallus (Fig. 7 F, I, L): elongate, stout; central membrane broad, marked at its lateral margins by furrows; zygoma narrow; suprazygomal plate narrow, slightly shorter than the zygoma, with rather widely rounded apex; apodemal plate broad and rounded in lateral view, lobes slightly produced ventrally, the apices fairly wide apart, without anterior blunt points; valves of cingulum of smaller size, divergent in dorsal view; rami of cingulum extending into sheath; sheath wide, inner margins fairly close to each other; dorsal cleft of cingulum large; ventral cleft of cingulum of moderate size; suprarami well developed, large; sheats well developed; ventral process of cingulum rather subtriangular, broadly covering the endophallic apodemes, slender, but not reaching or extending beyond endophallic apodemes in ventral view; basal emargination of cingulum shallow. Endophallus (Fig. 7 F, I, L): endophallic apodemes moderately produced forward ventrally, rather broad, and reaching the basal emargination of cingulum; aedeagal valves of smaller size, broad, with button-like apices, and with ventrolaterally directed process in its distal part; aedeagal sclerites stout, slender, and curved; pseudoarch small, distinct, broad; spermatophore sac small, ovoid, extending beyond the lateral limits of endophallic apodemes; gonopore distally placed.
Female. As for male, but larger. Abdomen (Figs 4 D, 7 F): ovipositor valves large, not sinuate; subgenital plate without a carina, its posterior margin rounded and smooth; egg-guide prominent, conical, and highly elongated; median longitudinal groove of genital chamber slender. Genitalia (Fig. 7 I): spermatheca thick, lacking an apical pocket, with a laminated appearance in the apical part; spermatheca duct slender, secondary diverticulum of spermathecal appendage of varying shape.
Color. General coloration brownish or reddish; eyes entirely black; head dark-red or brownish; labium, labrum, and mandible blackish; elytra light brown with dark-brown veins; lower-external, lower-internal, and medial-internal areas of hind femora blackish; hind tibiae sometimes brown in basal half and black in apical half.
Female. Antennae reddish brown; pronotum brown with dark-red tubercles; fore and middle femora, outer-medial, upper-external, and upper-internal areas of hind femora dark-red; fore and middle tibiae dark red; hind tibiae all brown in basal 2 / 3 and black in apical parts; tarsi blackish or dark-red; abdomen brownish; the posterior margins of the segments marked by red lines.
Male. Antenna light-brown; pronotum brownish with light-red tubercles in male; fore and middle femora, outer-medial, upper-external, and upper-internal areas of hind femora light-red; fore and middle tibiae light-red; hind tibiae all light-red in outer area and black in inner area; tarsi blackish or brownish.
Measurements.
Male. Body length 50.88–60.19 mm; Female. Body length 48.72–63.69 mm. Adults of L. impotens exhibit significant size variation in both males and females. Table 1 provides detailed measurements of various body parts for this species.
Geographical distribution
(Fig. 8). Loveridgacris impotens is a species that is found in East Africa. The species is known only from some of the Eastern Arc Mountains of Tanzania, on Zanzibar, and the Shimba Hills of Kenya.
Ecology.
Loveridgacris impotens is a geophilous species found in lowland wet forests. The species produces the toxic foams (see the black arrow on Fig. 1 F) by combining haemolymph with air through the spiracles.
description: Published as part of Yetchom Fondjo, Jeanne Agrippine, Husemann, Martin, Nzoko Fiemapong, Armand Richard, Missoup, Alain Didier, Kenne, Martin, Tindo, Maurice, Hawlitschek, Oliver, Duressa, Tarekegn Fite, Xu, Sheng-Quan, Zhu, Wenhui & Hemp, Claudia, 2024, Integrative taxonomic revision of the grasshopper genera Parapetasia Bolívar, 1884, and Loveridgacris Rehn, 1954 (Orthoptera, Pyrgomorphidae), with description of a new species of Loveridgacris, pp. 265-287 in Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 71 (2) on pages 265-287, DOI: 10.3897/dez.71.125877