Nocaracris minutus Unal, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Ünal, Mustafa
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2016
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Orthoptera
Pamphagidae
Nocaracris
Nocaracris minutus

description: Nocaracris minutus Ünal, sp. nov.
(Figs. 536, 577, 677–678, 845)
Type locality. Turkey: Hakkari, İkiyaka Dağları. Holotype: female (NMW).
Material examined. TURKEY: Hakiare [Hakkari], Sat-Dag [İkiyaka Dağları], 1♀ (Holotype) (NMW) (det. as Nocarodes s.l.).
Description. Female (Holotype): Body (Figs. 677, 678) very small and slender as for the genus, distinctly depressed dorso-ventrally. Fastigium of vertex (Fig. 577) broad, sloping, very weakly depressed. Frontal ridge very slightly narrowed and incised just below the median ocellus, frontal groove weak. Vertex wide between the eyes, 1.1 times wider than vertical diameter and 1.2 times wider than transversal diameter of eye; vertex convex in lateral view, with blunt carinulae; median carinula wavy and grooved; supraocular foveola open. Eye (fig. 577) quite wide, only 1.06 times longer than wide. Antennae lost. Pronotum (Figs. 677, 678) depressed dordo-ventrally, with distinct lateral carinae; median carina slightly raised with a thin but distinct longitudinal sulcus slightly wider in anterior part, slightly convex in lateral view; anterior margin slightly convex, posterior margin straight in dorsal view; pronotal carinae and tubercles blunt, not strongly raised. Prosternum swollen, anterior margin very slightly raised, weakly tridentate, with a small wide triangular median projection, pointed but not very sharp. Mesosternal interspace wide, 2.5 times wider than its length, clearly wider than mesosternal lobes. Hind femur (Fig. 677) slender, 2.9 times longer than its height, dorsal margin slightly convex with indistinct small denticles, ventral margin more convex; regularly narrowing towards genicular lobes. Hind tibia with 9 inner, 8 outer spines, the outer preapical spine absent (not broken) in both legs. Mesonotum and metanotum with grooved median carinae. Abdominal tergites (Figs. 677, 678) simple, not raised and not protruded posteriorly. Metanotum and the first 2 abdominal tergites with irregular lateral carinae. Tympanum (Fig. 536) very distinct and large, slightly larger than the neighbour stigmal area. Subgenital plate slightly wider than long.
Male: unknown.
Coloration. Body brown with black spots and short stripes. Around lateral ocelli black. Frontal ridge 2 wide transversal black bands. Typical light band on posterior margin of paranota weak, anterior one absent; anterior margin with a series of short black stripes; both sides of median carina and pronotal surface with small black spots. Femora with irregular sparse black spots. Anterior part of abdominal tergites pale greenish-brown, posterior margins darker brown. Inner surface of hind femur mainly dark red with a large black band along the median part; inner half of ventral surface dark red, outer half yellowish; inner side of genicular lobes blackened with reddish ventral lobe. Inner surface of hind tibia bright red with inner spines, outer half of dorsal surface with outer spines yellowish. All spines with black tips. Tarsus red. Ventral surface of body strongly darkened, blackish dark brown with partly and slightly body color.
Diagnosis. This new species is easily recognizable by the small body, the large tympanum, slightly larger than the neighbour stigmal area and the widened eye, almost as wide as long. The slender body shape, the pronotum and leg structures somewhat similar to N. karadagi sp. nov., N. monticolus sp. nov. and N. van. But it is different by the presence of a large tympanum, the wide and short eye and the smaller body. N. judithae sp. nov. has also a large tympanum like this new species. But, the smaller body, 25.5 mm (very larger, 46.4–54.1 mm, in female of N. judithae), the median carina of pronotum with a thin longitudinal sulcus (very widely grooved in N. judithae), the shape of hind femur (dorsal margin almost straight and ventral margin strongly expanded in N. judithae), the red hind tibia (dark bluish-green in female of N. judithae) are very different. It is also near to N. furvus (Mistshenko) by the large tympanum. But this similarity is certainly superficial and all the other characters including the distributions (while N. furvus is found in western end of Turkey, the new species is found in the south eastern margin of Turkey) are very different.
Measurements (mm). Holotype (female): body length 25.5; pronotum length 4.9; pronotum height 5.2; pronotum width anterior 4.9; pronotum width posterior 7.2; hind femur length 9.3; hind femur height 3.2.
Etymology. This species name “ minutus ” indicates the small body size.
Remarks. İkiyaka Mountain is located by the Iraqi border of Turkey in Yüksekova district of Hakkari Province.
description: Published as part of Ünal, Mustafa, 2016, Pamphagidae (Orthoptera: Acridoidea) from the Palaearctic Region: taxonomy, classification, keys to genera and a review of the tribe Nocarodeini I. Bolívar, pp. 1-223 in Zootaxa 4206 (1) on pages 164-165, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4206.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/208260