Ultragryllacris intermediata Dawwrueng, Gorochov et Suwannapoom 2023, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Dawwrueng, Pattarawich
name: Gorochov, Andrei V.
name: Suwannapoom, Chatmongkon
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Orthoptera
Gryllacrididae
Ultragryllacris
Ultragryllacris intermediata

description: Ultragryllacris intermediata Dawwrueng, Gorochov et Suwannapoom, sp. nov. Figs. 3, 11–14, 24–25, 35, 44, 53, 61, 69, 78, 85
Materials examined. Holotype – 1 male (AUP-02027); Thailand, Chiang Rai Prov., Mae Fah Luang District, Doi Tung, 1100–1250 m., 27 VIII 2022, coll. P. Dawwrueng & P. Pawangkhanant (AUP). Paratypes: 1 male, 2 females (AUP-02028–AUP-02030) same locality and date as holotype. (AUP)
Description. Male (holotype). Body similar to that of U. rubricapitis from China but with some characters different: coloration ivory-white in living condition (Fig. 85) and very light brownish after preservation (Fig. 3) as well as with following pattern: epicranium light reddish with a few brown to dark brown spots between eyes and antennal cavities, almost whitish yellow ocelli and blackish eyes (Fig. 11); clypeus blackish with light both median area in upper part and short lower part; labrum and visible parts of mandibles dark brown; maxillary palpi light brown with apical segment brown; three proximal antennal segments (including scape) and border around antennal cavity blackish, but latter one interrupted in middle parts of its ventral and lateral portions (Fig. 11); rest antennal flagellum reddish brown to light brown (Fig. 3); pronotum pale brown with two pairs of large blackish spots along anterior and posterior margins of disc (spots of each pair fused by dark stripe along these margins) as well as with blackish ventral border on each lateral lobe; tegmina semitransparent, very light but with light brownish venation; hind wings transparent, with yellowish to light brown venation; femora and tibiae pinkish in living specimen, with distal part of femora, basal part of tibiae as well as spines of fore and middle tibiae brown (but these spines with light apex), with apex of all femora having blackish spot ventrally, and with spines of hind legs brown to dark brown; all tarsi brown. Size and structure of body typical of Ultragryllacris but with following features: hind legs with 8–9 outer and 11–13 inner spines on ventral keels of femur and 7 similar but somewhat longer spines on each dorsal edge of tibia; wings long, reaching distal half of hind tibiae in rest position (Fig. 3); process of 9 th abdominal tergite large but moderately short, directed backward, narrowing toward to apex and with almost straight (barely concave) lateral edges (Fig. 35); distal half of this process widely and roundly truncated in apical part (see dorsal view; Fig. 35) as well as strongly inflated in lateral view (Fig. 44); ventral surface of this process almost flattened and with a pair of lobules near 10 th abdominal tergite (each of these lobules with heavily sclerotized ridge which somewhat triangular in shape and having one small tooth at apex; Fig. 53); 10 th abdominal terigite short, almost completely covered with 9 th abdominal tergite in rest position; subgenital plate short (transverse), with short styles similar in size and position to those of U. rubricapitis, and with apical lobe between these styles barely notched medially (also as in U. rubricapitis) but slightly longer than in this species (Fig. 61).
Variations. Paratype male with light parts of epicranium barely lighter than in holotype; compare Figs. 11 and 12), and its pronotum with blackish anterior spots clearly not fused with each other (Fig. 24); armament of hind legs also insignificantly varied.
Female. General appearance as in holotype but slightly distinguished by absence of dark median spots between eyes and antennal cavities (but smaller lateral spots between these structures developed) as well as by smaller dark spots on anterior part of pronotal disc which not fused with each other (Fig. 13–14, 25). Subgenital plate broad at base, triangular, with narrowly rounded apex, and with basal area having moderately small and ventrally almost fusiform transverse sclerotized stripe (Fig. 78); ovipositor dark brown with lightish basal area, barely curved upwards at proximal part (Fig. 69).
Length (in mm). Body: male 28.9–29.1, female 29.6–29.9; body with wings: male 43.7–44, female 38–48; pronotum: male 7–7.1; female 7.1–7.9; tegmen: male 33.7–35.2, female 34.1–37; hind femur: male 18.1–18.4, female 17.2–20.8; ovipositor 25.4–28.6.
Comparison. The new species is very similar to U. rubricapitis in general coloration but differs in the shape of the process of the male 9 th abdominal tergite: this process is narrowing toward to the apex (not clearly widened in its apical part) and having a more inflated distal portion in lateral view; sclerotized ridges of ventral part of this process broadly triangular (in U. rubricapitis, these ridges are in shape of narrow transverse stripes) The female of this new species differs from that of U. rubricapitis in the subgenital plate having a roundly angular apex, and a moderately small transverse sclerotized stripe on the ventral surface of its basal area (in U. rubricapitis, this plate is with a slightly bilobate apex and a longer (more transverse) and more arcuate transverse sclerotized stripe on the ventral surface of its basal area). The new species is also similar to U. alboclypeata by the shape of the process of the male 9 th abdominal tergite, but it is distinguished from the latter by a distinctly broader apical part and by some characters of body coloration and of female genital plate.
Etymology. The new name originates from the Latin word “intermedius” (intermediate, located between) because the new species is intermediate between U. alboclypeata and U. rubricapitis in the general appearance as well as in the shape of the process of the male 9 th abdominal tergite.
description: Published as part of Dawwrueng, Pattarawich, Gorochov, Andrei V. & Suwannapoom, Chatmongkon, 2023, Revision of the genus Ultragryllacris (Orthoptera: Stenopelmatidae: Gryllacridinae), with description of new species, pp. 445-458 in Zootaxa 5389 (4) on pages 453-454, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5389.4.3, http://zenodo.org/record/10417323