Habetia Kirby 1906
Creators: name: Ingrisch, Sigfrid
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2021
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Orthoptera
Tettigoniidae
Habetia

description: Habetia Kirby 1906   
Figs 1–19  
 Habetia Kirby 1906: 260; Karny 1909: 26; Karny 1911: 339; Karny 1912a: 21; Karny 1912b: 5; Karny 1926: 197; Otte. 1997: 29; Cigliano et al. 2021.— Agroecia Brunner 1898: 266.— Orthoxiphus Dohrn 1905: 240.— Spada Karny 1907: 67.   
 Type species of Habetia: Agroecia spada Brunner, by monotypy (= Habetia spada), inherited from replaced name.   
 Generic diagnosis. Medium sized to moderately large but always narrow, slender species of nearly uniform coloration, in preserved specimens yellowish to light or medium brown; basic color of alive specimens unknown, at least some specimens might be green when alive. Face of same color as body, few species with a pair of black lateral bands and very rarely (only 2 specimens seen) face fully black; mandibles black in some species, of general color in others; antennal scrobae can be also partly darkened. Legs of general color, only the genicular area between hind femur and tibia black in some species. Tegmina of general color; cells between veinlets often darkened, but the intensity of the dark color and the area of tegmen concerned variable between specimens and species. Rarely, one species so far, the black color extends over a larger part of the body.   
Face long-oval; fastigium verticis little projecting, the furrow between fastigium verticis and fastigium frontis only slightly expressed; all three ocelli present. Pronotum narrow elongate, disc with anterior margin convex or sometimes slightly concave in middle, dorsal surface convex, transverse furrows weak, posterior margin varying from slightly convex to truncate; apical area of disc often slightly elevated but not conspicuous; lateral lobes rather narrow, ventral margin faintly concave or substraight, descending posteriorly; area above thoracic auditory spiracle oval, little conchate; humeral sinus only faintly indicated. All femora with spines on both ventral margins. Prosternum with a pair of medium long spines. Hind knee lobes bi-spinose.  
 The genus Habetia has a similar habitus as the genus Philmontis Willemse, 1966, which is also in need of revision. Both genera share the general habitus with low lateral lobes of pronotum, also the male cerci show some basic similarity in that they have the apical area in-curved or with internal projection and a pre-apical widening of the cercus stem that arises however from dorsal margin in Habetia while from ventral margin in the type species of Philmontis, P. nigrofasciatus Willemse, 1966. The basic structure of the male titillators differs however strongly between both genera. The male titillators of Habetia are so far known unique and consist basically of a pair of sclerotized, curved stabs that are in some species nearly U-shaped curved. That most simple shape is modified by proximal and distal expansions connected by soft septa in the derived forms, while in Philmontis the titillators are simpler with compressed and sclerotized basal and central areas that are moderately widened and little out curved, while in apical area they are semi-sclerotized and terminate into an apical crest. The females of both genera differ strikingly by the shape of the ovipositor, which is prolonged and straight in Habetia but short and curved in Philmontis. Both genera differ also by the basic general coloration that is mostly of uniformly light color in Habetia but with extended black ornamentation, at least with black lateral bands on pronotum and tegmen in Philmontis.   
 Description. Fastigium verticis conical, shorter than scapus; ventral margin compressed, separated by a shallow sinuosity from fastigium frontis. Frons shining, sub-smooth with few shallowly impressed dots. Pronotum shining, sub-smooth; disc with lateral angles rounded, only in very apical area shouldered and disc faintly raised and flattened; anterior margin broadly rounded but truncate or slightly concave in middle; posterior margin slightly convex, almost straight, or truncate, in few species distinctly convex; first transverse sulcus little expressed, interrupted in middle; second sulcus distinct on paranota. Paranota longer than high; ventral margin slightly concave or almost straight, weakly descending posteriorly, ventro-posterior angle little produced, humeral sinus hardly expressed. Prosternal spines of medium length, shorter than coxa, only little varying between species. Mesosternal lobes varying from obtuse angular to little conical; metasternal lobes rounded or angularly rounded with hind margin often nearly truncate; medial plate with a spine at both posterior angles. Wings varying from just covering abdomen to distinctly surpassing hind knees; tegmen narrow, anterior margin convex in proximal area, narrowing posteriorly, in apical fourth to third with sub-parallel fore and hind margins; tip rounded; male stridulatory area free or only basal area little covered; hind wings of about same length as tegmen.   
All femora with spines on both ventral margins, on ventro-external margin of hind femur spines often start behind basal quarter or third or rarely nearly in mid-length and increase in size toward end of femur; on ventrointernal margin of hind femur the spines start closer to base and are very small or minute in basal half, and often, but not in all species, there are long gaps between successive spines in apical half, and only a few distinct or long spines near tip, in other species there are no large gaps and the spines increase regularly in size to tip. Knee lobes of fore and mid femur with a spine on both sides, posterior spine on anterior femur often small; hind femur bi-spinose on both sides, as exception in very few specimens only uni-spinose on one hind femur but not on both. Anterior tibia with tibial tympana conchate, anterior surface below tympana convex or flattened with both angles rounded, posterior angles provided with spines.  
Coloration. Most species of uniformly light general color, in museum specimens yellowish or brown, in few with remnants of green; alive individuals might be often green. Face of general color, only few species with black ornaments; mandibles either of general color or partly or fully black. Tegmen usually with little suspicious dark spots within cells, in some individuals or species these dark spots very conspicuous thus that the tegmen appears brown with the veins and veinlets yellowish. Female ovipositor for the greatest part light brown, sometimes darkened.  
Male. Cerci elongate, little curved or nearly straight, with a subapical or apical internal process that usually divides at tip; cercus trunk at least in apical area with a dorsal rim or other elevation varying in shape between species. Subgenital plate in basal area broad, apical area varying between species; the apical margin can be incised, subtruncate, projecting, or divided into a pair of more or less upcurved projections that carry the short styli at tip.  
Male phallus. The basic shape of the sclerotized parts of the male phallus consists in the simplest form of a pair of about U-shaped titillators that have the basal area connected by a very narrow septum but are still somewhat moveable against each other, with the very base free, faintly widened, and little curved, while the end of the titillators is truncate or rounded without modifications. That basic shape is found, with variations, in the largest species of the genus. In two of them, the subgenital plate shows unique modifications. In most species of the genus the titillators are modified and can become highly complex in some of them. One of the most common modification is the division of both titillators at about the curvature into pairs of basal and apical branches. While the basal branches are rather short and less modified, the apical branches are prolonged and modified in various ways. The structure can become more complex by semi-sclerotized septa between the basal and the re-curved apical area or by the separation of the apical areas from the basal branches. Apart from that there exists a pair of elongate lateral sclerites that are formed of a central spindle with three projecting lamellae that are widest in about mid-length, narrow at both ends; and there is also a pair of small rounded sclerites in the membranes on top of the titillators. The latter two pairs of sclerites are rather uniform between species except for size.  
Female. Subgenital plate variable between species, often with basal area rather strongly upcurved on both sides, ventral disc prolonged behind and terminating into a pair of usually upcurved, spine-like projections. Ovipositor laterally compressed and long to very long and, except at base, straight, with shape and length varying between species; the dorsal margin varies and can be straight, convex, or strongly raised. The valves of the ovipositor are laterally compressed and obtuse at tip thus probably not strong enough to burrow into the soil. The ovipositor might be adapted to deposit eggs into the leaf-sheaths of tall grasses or other plants. Oviposition in plant tissue is also known for other Conocephalinae.  
 Discussion. The genus Habetia comprises species with very long ovipositor, which is about one and a half time as long as the body from head to tip, and other species, in which the ovipositor is about as long as the body. In both groups the female subgenital plate ends into a pair of long apical projections with acute tip, and in most species the baso-lateral area of the subgenital plate is, to a variable degree, extended dorsad. In few species it is only faintly or not dorsally extended, e.g., in the type species H. spada. The males that belong to species with very long female ovipositor have so far known always sclerotized but simple, strongly curved and thus nearly U-shaped titillators, while males of species with moderately long female ovipositor have more complex titillators by adding additional branches or connecting septa between more basal and apical areas. But their basic shape is also based on the Ushaped curvature. An intermediate species is H. dentata sp. nov. that has simple titillators as in the first group but the female subgenital plate resembles more the species in the second group.   
 Regarding the male subgenital plate, there are several species-specific modifications. But in most species, they consist of a basal disc with convex and upcurved lateral margins, that are toward end narrowed and with straight or little concave lateral margins and then end into narrow extensions with the styli at tip. In the males that belong to species with long female ovipositor the apical extensions are rather short, while in the second group the apical extensions are usually strongly prolonged and usually upcurved. From the species of the first group, the subgenital plate of H. pedala sp. nov. is most closely to an intermediate form.   
 The stridulatory file on the underside of the male left tegmen also shows a difference between both groups of species. In the large species there is a distinct step in the subapical area of the file that is missing in the file of the smaller species. However, in H. dentata, that agrees in titillators with the species of the first group, there is a weak step in subapical area of the file, which is thus intermediate between the shapes of the files in both groups.   
 A common character uniting both groups is the basic shape of the male cerci that are cylindrical or slightly conical and little curved mediad or substraight. They carry in apical area a dorsal carina or a crest and are provided at or little before end with a compressed internal projection that is at end divided into two short branches, which vary however between species in size, length, and orientation, in few species one of the apical branches is reduced. Only H. dentata has that basic shape of the cerci more strongly modified.
description: Published as part of Ingrisch, Sigfrid, 2021, Revision of the genera Habetia Kirby, 1906 and Parahabetia gen. nov. from New Guinea (Orthoptera, Tettigoniidae, Conocephalinae, Agraeciini), pp. 201-256 in Zootaxa 5020 (2) on pages 204-206, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5020.2.1, http://zenodo.org/record/5223173