Perixerus triqui Fontana & Mariño-Pérez & Sanabria-Urbán & Woller 2017, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Fontana, Paolo
name: Mariño-Pérez, Ricardo
name: Sanabria-Urbán, Salomón
name: Woller, Derek A.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2017
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Orthoptera
Baissogryllidae
Perixerus
Perixerus triqui

description: Perixerus triqui sp. nov.
(Figs. 1E,F, 30–34)
http://lsid.speciesfile.org/urn:lsid: Orthoptera.speciesfile.org:TaxonName:498236
Diagnosis. This species is very similar to P. obscurus in terms of general external morphology both in males and females, although parts of the terminalia and internal genitalia are fairly unique among conspecifics. Male: general coloration dark often with a more orange to reddish colorations, pronotum more rugose with longer metazona, absence of median carina, and larger tegmina cell than in P. squamipennis. Furculae vestigial with long gap between, supra-anal plate triangular overall with slightly rounded apex and shallow, median groove that extends apically for approximately ½ the total length, cerci longer and curved strongly inwards. Phallic complex with the following unique characters: ancorae of epiphallus curving strongly inwards and valves of aedeagus relatively complex compared to conspecifics, with dorsal valves forming a large, mostly fused ½ hourglass shape and the ventral valves forming prominent flower-like structures. Female: markedly similar to that of P. obscurus, but mainly differs from its congeners by its shorter and more compact ovipositor valves.
Coloration. Antennae blackish, pronotum dark brown; tegmina light brown with contrasting dark reticulation; eyes pale orange; head, fore and middle legs blackish; abdominal tergites blackish-brown with orange to reddish posterior margins; hind femur with upper and lower margin yellowish to orange and dark blue to blackish medial area on external surface; hind tibia blackish with basal portion orange to reddish; ventral portion of the body orange to reddish (Figs. 1E,F, 30, 33).
Pronotum and Tegmina. Generally, pronotum with raised metazona in lateral view, rugose both in prozona and metazona; median carina not detectable; metazona about 4/9 of total length of pronotum, except in nymphs; pronotum from above with almost parallel sides in males, more divergent in females; posterior pronotal margin widely rounded, partly emarginated; tegmina reaching the end of 2nd abdominal tergite, meeting on dorsum, reticulation with bigger cells than in P. squamipennis (Figs. 30 & 33).
Terminalia. Male, external: Furculae vestigial with long gap between. Supra-anal plate triangular with slightly rounded apex and longer than in P. obscurus sp. nov.; lateral sides sinuous and with shallow, median groove that extends apically for approximately ½ the total length. Cerci elongate compared to conspecifics: wider at base and narrowing in middle and then expanding towards apices, which are spoon-shaped (sometimes with sharper ventral edge); strongly curving inwards beginning around midway point. Subgenital plate short with pointed apex (Fig. 31C,D). Internal phallic complex: overall, typical for a melanopline, with the following unique characters: Epiphallus: ancorae relatively short, subtriangular and more robust than conspecifics, and curve strongly inwards; lophi prominent, subrectangular, and typically bent slightly anteriorly; post-epiphallic lobe moderately wrinkled, similar to conspecifics, and covered in raised microstructures (Figs. 31C,D & 32A,B). Ectophallus: rami prominent, fairly robust, and resembling a stretched-out “N” shape, extending well below valves of aedeagus. Sheath of aedeagus composed of two lobes of similar size that are attached to apical 1/3rd of rami with each side extending upwards to the lower edges of the dorsobasal region of the dorsal valves of aedeagus, meeting only occasionally along ventral margins; covered in raised microstructures resembling those on the post-epiphallic lobe (Figs. 31C,D & 32A,C,D). Endophallus: arch of aedeagus well-developed. Dorsal valves of aedeagus do not meet flexures with overall shape resembling ½ of an hourglass with lower apices extending a bit further and narrowing to points that project posteriorly; majority fused with narrow medial cleft beginning at midway point and extending apically; when viewed dorsally, apex of component often appears to almost completely cover ventral valves. Ventral valves of aedeagus meet flexures and are relatively complex compared to P. obscurus and P. triqui sp. nov.; when viewed posteriorly, apices resemble two sets (left and right) of lightly sclerotized, lobe-like flowers that the apices of the dorsal valves rest upon, with the center of both flower sets containing more darkly sclerotized microstructures; when viewed lateroventrally, it can be seen that these flower shapes are created by a deviation of the apical 1/3rd of the valves with one portion forming the center structures and the other portion bending ventrally and then back up to form a ring-like frame from which the lobe portion of the flowers emerge (Figs. 31C,D & 32A,C,D). Female, external: as in P. squamipennis and P. obscurus: supra-anal plate subtriangular and cerci relatively small and subconical; dorsal valves of ovipositor with small teeth along dorsobasal margin; ventral valves of ovipositor without teeth; both dorsal and ventral valves appear to be slightly more compact compared to P. squamipennis and P. obscurus sp. nov. (Fig. 34).
Male measurements (in mm) (n=3) (Table 1): Body length 20.12–22.44 (20.99 ± 1.26); pronotum length 5.03–5.73 (5.28 ± 0.39); prozona length 2.67–2.74 (2.70 ± 0.04); metazona length 2.34–2.99 (2.58 ± 0.36); hind femur length 11.12–11.95 (11.55 ± 0.42); and tegmina length 4.00–5.10 (4.60 ± 0.56). Female measurements (in mm) (n=1) (Table 1): Body length 25.92; pronotum length 6.92; prozona length 3.63; metazona length 3.29; hind femur length 14.07; and tegmina length 5.55.
Etymology. This species is named after the ancient Triqui people, who still live and preserve their culture and language, in the northwestern highlands of Oaxaca, the only region from which this species is known so far. The specific name is a male noun in the genitive case.
Holotype. Male (Figs. 30–32). Mexico, Oaxaca, Near San Andres Huaxpaltepec on Km 14 Highway #200 Pinotepa Nacional-Puerto Escondido. 16°20’06”N 97°55’46”W (WGS84). 210 m. a.s.l. 3-IX-1980. (E. Barrera and A. Cadena). (CNIN-UNAM).
Additional type material. 10 Paratypes. [3 adult males, 1 nymph male, 3 adult females (2 of them in ethanol), 1 nymph female]. Mexico, Oaxaca, San Andrés Chicahuaxtla. 97°50'27.15" W; 17°10'2.47" N. 2459 m a.s.l. (18- X-2015 and XI-2016) Legit Salomón Sanabria-Urbán (CNIN-UNAM). 1 male and 1 female. Mexico, Oaxaca, San Martin Itunyoso 97°52'23.62" W; 17°12'5.72" N. 2469 m a.s.l., (18-X-2015) Legit Salomón Sanabria-Urbán. (TAMUIC)
Geographic distribution. This species is distributed in elevation ranging from 210 to 2,469 m.a.s.l. on the outer slope of the Sierra Madre del Sur mountain range and almost reaching the Pacific Coast of Oaxaca, Mexico (Fig. 36).
description: Published as part of Fontana, Paolo, Mariño-Pérez, Ricardo, Sanabria-Urbán, Salomón & Woller, Derek A., 2017, Studies in Mexican Grasshoppers: Three new species of Dactylotini (Acrididae: Melanoplinae) from Mexico and a review of existing conspecifics with comments on their geographical distributions, pp. 301-343 in Zootaxa 4337 (3) on pages 336-341, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4337.3.1, http://zenodo.org/record/1024814