Micronotus Hancock 1902
Creators: name: Cadena-Castañeda, Oscar J.
name: Gonzalez, Gloria Raquel Dávila
name: Rodríguez, Martha Carolina Vásquez
name: Rodríguez, Diana Marcela Trujillo
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2021
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Orthoptera
Tetrigidae
Micronotus

description: Micronotus Hancock, 1902
Redescription. Body granulate, robust, and brachypronotal (Figs. 1A, 2A, 3A, 4A, 5A). Head: frontal costa bifurcation located near the top of the vertex, between the compound eyes; scutellum slightly narrow, with carinae as inverted V-shaped; lower margin of the antennal grooves located between of the lower margin of the compound eyes (Figs. 1C, 2C, 3C, 4C, 5C). Eyes subglobose, with rounded dorsal surface and straight ventral margin (in lateral view) and very slightly elevated higher than vertex; lateral ocelli placed about between the middle of the eyes, medial ocellus located on the lower margin of the scutellum (Figs. 1C, 2C, 3C, 4C, 5C). Antennae filiform and 12-13 segmented; vertex little wider than one of the eyes, truncate anteriorly; median carinae present and short (Figs. 1B, 2B, 3B, 4B, 5B). Facial outline sub-vertical, waving between the connection of the facial carinae and the frontal carinae. Fastigium of the vertex produced in lateral view; fastigio-fascial angle rounded; frontal costa mid-length and connected with the facial carinae and reaching near the middle of the face (Figs. 1A, 2A, 3A, 4A, 5A); palpi with first three segments cylindrical and last two rounded and flattened, with the same color as the predominant coloration of the body (Figs. 1C, 2C, 3C, 4C, 5C). Pronotum: Robust, not surpassing the tip of hind femora, or if it does exceed it, it slightly exceeds it. Pronotal disc flattened, tectiform, widened between the humeral angles; anteriorly straight, posterior apex pointed (Figs. 1A, 2A, 3A, 4A, 5A). Humeral angles and lateral shoulder carinae rounded; lateral lobe subrounded below, slightly outwardly; infra-scapular area slim and short; lateral area moderately widened. Post humeral spot present (Figs. 1B, 2B, 3B, 4B, 5B). Wings. Tegmina lanceolate, wings often undeveloped, rarely well developed, but never surpassing the pronotum apex. Legs. Fore and mid-femora compressed, slightly to strongly carinated; hind femora with ante-genicular tooth little developed; genicular and femoral lobes small; hind tibia scarcely ampliated near the apex; the first article of the tarsi of the hind leg, subequal to the second and third articles united (Figs. 1A, 2A, 3A, 4A, 5A). Terminalia: Male. Tenth tergite constricted, epiproctus triangular; cerci conical and reduced; subgenital plate short, with the apex of the dorsal edge in a triangular shape. Female. Epiproctus lanceolate, valvae normal developed; subgenital plate rectangular, slightly longer than wide, apex with a shallow distal notch, and forming a lobe on each side partially covering the base of the inferior valva (Fig. 4A).
Taxa included. Micronotus quadriundulatus (Redtenbacher, 1892) (Type species by original monotypy) (Fig. 1), M. asperulus (Bolívar, 1887) (Fig. 3) and M. andeanum (Hebard, 1923) n. comb. (transferred from Tetrix) (Figs. 4 and 5).
Distribution. This genus is widely distributed in different bioregions. M. quadriundulatus is recorded mainly in the Caribbean region, between Panama and the Lesser Antilles such as St. Vincent, Trinidad, and Tobago. M. asperulus is registered in the South of Brazil, in the Mata Atlantica. M. andeanum n. comb. is registered in the limits of the high Andean Forest and paramo of the Colombian Andes. However, among the localities recorded for the genus, there is a considerable gap in the distribution, which may contain more data to be recorded for known species, and most likely new taxa to be discovered (Map 1).
Comparison. Micronotus is similar to the brachypronotal forms of Tetrix and Paratettix, differing from these two genera by having the midline of the pronotum sub-elevated and wavy, tegmina lanceolate and short, in contrast to the other two genera, which do not have the midline elevated and the tegmina are ovoid. Regarding head characters, Micronotus has a prolonged fastigium as in Tetrix species, thus differentiating it from Paratettix.
Another genus of similar appearance is Liotettix since its species are brachypronotal, the tegmina are reduced or absent, and poorly developed hind wings. It differs from Micronotus because it does not have a prolonged fastigium, the infrascapular area is not developed, and instead of this, there is the widened lateral area, occupying from the humeral region to the apex.
Comments. Currently, four species are included in the genus, but in this contribution M. dubius n. syn. is synonymized under M. quadriundulatus. The original description of M. dubius n. syn. is short, but when comparing the two types of specimens, no differences were found to maintain the two species as valid, having the same structure of the fastigium shape, frontal costa, and shape of the middle femur; differing only in the undulations of the midline, a little more pronounced in the type specimen of M. dubius n. syn. then in the type specimen of M. quadriundulatus. However, the undulations of the pronotum are variable, especially in females, and this was one of the causes that in the past M. hancocki was synonymized under M. quadriundulatus (Hebard, 1924).
T. andeanum is included in Micronotus, as it fits into the diagnostic characteristics of the genus, ruling out the presence of the genus Tetrix for South America, restricting its distribution in the New World to just North America. M. andeanum n. comb., has the midline of the pronotum elevated with the typical undulations of the Micronotus species, the tegmina are short and lanceolate, the fastigium has a similar shape as some Tetrix species; perhaps, for this reason, it was located in the genus Acrydium Geoffroy, 1762, in its original description (Hebard, 1923).
The status of M. asperulus is reviewed, and it fits the characteristics of the genus. M. caudatus is included in the new genus Danielatettix n. gen., which is here described. Below is provided a key to species considered valid to Micronotus:
description: Published as part of Cadena-Castañeda, Oscar J., Gonzalez, Gloria Raquel Dávila, Rodríguez, Martha Carolina Vásquez & Rodríguez, Diana Marcela Trujillo, 2021, The status of Micronotus Hancock, 1902 species (Orthoptera: Tetrigidae), pp. 129-144 in Zootaxa 5082 (2) on pages 132-133, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5082.2.3, http://zenodo.org/record/5785332