Acrida indica Dirsh 1954
Creators: name: Kumar, Hirdesh
name: Usmani, Mohd. Kamil
name: Chand, D. Suresh
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Orthoptera
Acrididae
Acrida
Acrida indica

description: Acrida indica Dirsh, 1954
Acrida indica Dirsh, 1954: 122, 151 (Holotype – Male; India, Maharashtra, Nasik; Paratype – Female; India, Maharashtra, Mumbai; deposited in Natural History Museum, London).
Redescription
Male (Figure 1A): Large-sized body, robust. Antennae (Figure 2E) 17 segmented, as long as or slightly shorter than head and pronotum together. Head (Figures 2A, D) robust, strongly broadened at basal part, longer than pronotum. Frons (Figure 2D) oblique, in profile weakly incurved. Fastigium of vertex (Figure 2A) moderately long, slightly narrowing towards apex, longer than wide, apex obtuse angular, shorter than eye length in top view. Width of vertex between the anterior margins of eyes more than 5.5 times wider than the frontal ridge between the antennal sockets. Eyes elongated oval, maximum diameter of an eye more than 2.6 times longer than the vertex between the anterior margins of eyes. Frontal ridge (Figure 2B) very narrow and deeply sulcated with high lateral carina reaching up to the clypeus. Lateral carinae of pronotum (Figure 2A) straight and almost parallel in its whole length, transverse sulcus beyond the middle of pronotal disc, posterior margin of pronotum acute angular and pointed. Mesosternal lobes (Figure 2C) rounded, slightly wider than long, interspace narrow, 1.6 times longer than wide; metasternal pits separated. Elytra slightly surpassing the apex of hind knee, broad, with short little narrowed apical part, apex subacute. Wing shorter than elytra, broad. Lateral lobe of hind knee (Figure 2I) short and acute, upper lobe broader than lower one; upper internal lobe (Figure 2H) very slightly longer than the external, median projection weak. Hind tibiae shorter than the hind femur with 28 spines on both outer and inner margins, inner spur on inner side of hind tibia (Figure 2J) almost two times longer than external one; arolium medium (Figure 2K).
Terminalia: Supra-anal plate (Figures 2F, 3A) broadly angular with median apical bulb, slightly longer than wide, apex obtuse; cerci cylindrical, extended beyond the apex of supra-anal plate, more than three times as long as wide, apex obtusely rounded. Subgenital plate (Figures 2G, 3B) broad, moderately long, apex acute; in profile with large obtuse projection basally (Figures 2L, 3B). Epiphallus (Figure 3C) with moderately broad median bridge; lophi bilobed, inner lophi oval and outer lophi rounded; ancorae large, peglike, apex obtuse. Aedeagus (Figure 2D) flexured, apical valve narrow, broad medially, curved, apex rounded, longer than basal valve, connected with basal valve with flexure; basal valve narrow, gonopore process narrowing towards its obtuse apex.
Female (Figure 1B): Body longer and more robust than male. Head more robust, and more strongly broadened at basal part; frons in profile less incurved. Lateral carinae of pronotum slightly converge in prozona. Wing distinctly shorter than elytra.
Terminalia: Supra-anal plate (Figures 2M, 3E) obtuse angular, wider than long with obtusely rounded apex; cercus conical, shorter than supra-anal plate, less than two times as long as wide, with obtuse apex. Subgenital plate (Figures 2N, 3F) long, posterior margin trilobate median lobe as long as lateral lobes, posterior margin setose; eggguide broad and long, apex obtuse. Spermatheca (Figure 3G) with both apical and preapical diverticulum long and tubular, preapical diverticulum longer than apical diverticulum. Ovipositor (Figures 2O, 3H), dorsal valve much broader, much shorter than lateral apodeme, more than two and a half times longer than wide, apical tip curved and blunt; ventral valve broad, apical tip curved and obtuse; mesial valve dilated apically with obtuse apex.
Acknowledgements
The authors are highly thankful to the Director, Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata, for providing the necessary facilities and encouragement. We wish to extend our gratitude to the Ministry of the Environment Forest and Climate Change, New Delhi, for providing financial assistance during the tenure of a major research project (Ref. No. 23/14/2010 – RE; Dt: 23.01. 2012) being carried out on “Diversity of Acridoidea (Orthoptera) in different parts of Western Ghats of India ”.
Materials examined: 2 females: India, Himachal Pradesh, District Solan, Rabaun, 30.895165N, 77.115365E, 03.x.1981, coll. Jagdish; 1 female: Happy Valley, 30.907012N, 77.078449E, 14.x.1981, coll. Jagdish; 1 male: District Mandi, Rewalsar, 31.632035N, 76.834098E, 23.x.1981, coll. Jagdish; 1 male, 1 female: Maharashtra, District Nashik, Anjaneri, 19.953302N, 73.587965E, 20- x-2012, on grasses, coll. H. Kumar.
Measurements (in mm)
Male: Length of body: 42.0-44.0; length of pronotum: 7.0- 8.0; length of tegmina: 34.0-37.0; length of hind femur: 27.0-30.0.
Female: Length of body: 60.0-83.0; length of pronotum: 10.5-15.0; length of tegmina: 55.0-69.0; length of hind femur: 35.5-49.0.
Distribution (Figure 4): India: Arunachal Pradesh (Mandal et al., 2006), Himachal Pradesh (Saini, 2021), Jammu and Kashmir (Tandon & Shishodia, 1976), Maharashtra (Dirsh, 1954; Kulkarni & Shishodia, 2004; Kulkarni & Shishodia, 2005) and Punjab (Shishodia et al., 2006; Sharma et al., 2019).
References
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Slifer, E.H. 1939. The internal genetalia of female Acridinae, Oedipodinae and Pauliniinae (Orthoptera, Acrididae). Journal of Morphology, 65: 437-470. https://doi.org/10.1002/jmor.1050650304
Tandon, S.K. and Shishodia, M.S. 1976. Acridoidea (Insecta: Orthoptera) collected along the banks of River Tawi (Jammu and Kashmir) India. Newsl. Zoological Survey of India, 2 (2): 58-61.
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description: Published as part of Kumar, Hirdesh, Usmani, Mohd. Kamil & Chand, D. Suresh, 2023, Redescription and distribution of Acrida indica Dirsh, 1954 (Orthoptera: Acrididae), pp. 27-32 in Records of the Zoological Survey of India 123 (1) on pages 27-32, DOI: 10.26515/rzsi/v123/i1/2023/168776, http://zenodo.org/record/10956322