Assamacris curticerca
Creators: name: Mao, Ben-Yong
name: Niu, Yao
name: Huang, Jian-Hua
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2021
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Orthoptera
Baissogryllidae
Assamacris
Assamacris curticerca

description: Assamacris curticerca (Huang, 1981) (Fig. 4)
Tenuifemurus curticerca Huang, 1981: 69–71, 82, figs. 22–24, 27.
Assamacris curticerca (Huang, 1981): Yin, 1984: 61, figs. 124–125; Li & Xia, 2006: 510–511, fig. 264; Mao, Ren & Ou, 2007: 61–68.
Type material examined. Holotype, male, IOZ(E)200273, CHINA: Xizang: Medog: Hanmi, Ani bridge, alt. 1090– 2150 m, 1974-VIII-24, coll. Fu-Sheng HUANG, deposited in IZCAS.
Other material examined. 2 females, CHINA: Xizang: Medog: Beibeng, Ani bridge, alt. 900–1250 m, 2003- VIII-11, coll. Guo-Dong REN, deposited in the Biological Science Museum, Dali University (BMDU), Yunnan Province, China.
Description. Female. Head and thorax densely foveolate, abdomen smooth.
Head clearly shorter than prozona. Fastigium prominent forwards and downwards; dorsal surface weakly concave, without foveola. Vertex with interocular distance 1.3 times as wide as frontal ridge between antennae, median longitudinal carina of vertex weak. Face foveolate, in profile finely oblique; frontal ridge projecting between antennae and subobsolete below transverse facial sulcus, margins somewhat parallel; lateral facial carinae interrupted in middle by dots. Antennae narrow, reaching hind coxa, 9 th –11 th segment longest, each mean 4.5 times longer than wide. Eyes long oval, longitudinal diameter 1.4 times as long as horizontal one, and 1.4 times as long as subocular furrow.
Pronotum cylindrical, posteriorly widened, surface dotted and rugose; anterior margin broadly rounded, with a shallow emargination in middle; posterior margin roundly angular; median carina faint, intersected by three sulci; lateral carinae absent; prozona 1.4 times as long as metazona. Prosternal spine conical, apex subacute. Brachypterous, tegmina nearly reaching the middle of 3 rd abdominal tergite or 1/5 of hind femur. Mesosternal lobes as wide as long; mesosternal interspace 1.4 times as wide as long; lateral lobes of metasterum broadly separate. Hind femur 5.1 times as long as wide; upper carina weakly serrate, terminating in a short spine; lower knee lobes roundly angular. Hind tibia with 9–10 spines on both dorsal margins; inner spines longer than outer spines, outer apical spur absent. Hind tarsi with 1 st and 2 nd segments nearly as long as 3 rd segment; arolium somewhat shorter than length of claw. Tympana opening oval.
Supra-anal plate almost rhombic with lateral areas sloping; with a broad and shallow median longitudinal furrow, interrupted by a transverse fold in middle. Cerci conical; apex subobtuse. Valves of ovipositor narrow, without teeth along margins; apices faintly hooked. Posterior margin of subgenital plate roundly convex, with a short angular flap in middle.
Coloration. Body generally yellowish brown. Head brown expect postocular bands dark-brown and darkmarginated; antennae with basal 12 segments brown, apical 12 segments black; eye yellowish brown. Pronotum with disc yellowish brown between lateral carinae, lateral lobes yellowish brown except dorsal area brown. Tegmen with anal area yellowish brown, other brown and dark-marginated. Fore and middle legs greenish yellow. Hind femur greenish yellow, external and internal surfaces with incomplete dark brown fish bone patterns continued as faint dark spots on dorsal areas; hind knee indistinctly brown. Hindtibia yellowish, but brownish black at base and near base; spines black. Abdomen yellowish brown with a brown strip on lateral area of tergites.
Measurements (mm). Length between fastigium and hind knee: female 35.0; length of pronotum: female 8.4– 8.7; length of tegmen: female 9.5–10.2; length of hind femur: female 18.4–18.5; length of antenna: female 17.0– 17.5; length of eye: female 2.8–2.9; interocular distance: female 1.0–1.1.
Distribution. China: Xizang.
Remarks. The species was firstly reported as Tenuifemurus curticerca Huang, 1981, with a single male specimen from Medog County (alt. 1090–2150 m), Xizang, China. Then, it was transferred to genus Assamacris by Yin in 1984. Li & Xia (2006) figured the head (in anterior view) of A. curticerca. In this paper, two female collected from the type locality in August 2003 are believed to be conspecific with the male based on external features, and should be regarded as topotypes. The female is similar to the female of A. longicerca, but different from it by: 1) each of 9 th –11 th antennal segments 4.5 times as long as wide (3 times in the latter), 2) mesosternal interspace 1.4 times as wide as long (as wide as long in the latter), 3) tegmina reaching the middle of 3 rd abdominal tergite (not reaching the posterior margin of 2 nd abdominal tergite in the latter). Here, its female was described for the first time.
description: Published as part of Mao, Ben-Yong, Niu, Yao & Huang, Jian-Hua, 2021, Taxonomic review of the genus Assamacris (Orthoptera: Acrididae: Catantopinae) with a new species and a newly discovered female, pp. 542-556 in Zootaxa 4985 (4) on pages 546-548, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4985.4.7, http://zenodo.org/record/4964305