Research Article

Journal of Orthoptera Research 2021, 30(1): 1-6

A new species of Physocrobylus (Caelifera: Acridoidea: Acrididae:
Coptacrinae), with notes on the phenology and habitat of the genus

CLAUDIA Hemp!

1 University of Bayreuth, Department of Plant Systematics, Germany.

Corresponding author: Claudia Hemp (claudia.hemp @uni-bayreuth.de)

Academic editor: Daniel Petit | Received 18 April 2020 | Accepted 19 May 2020 | Published 2 February 2021

http://zoobank.org/CAAD742E-022D-43C7-A643-DC09BA3CB568

Citation: Hemp C (2021) A new species of Physocrobylus (Caelifera: Acridoidea: Acrididae: Coptacrinae), with notes on the phenology and habitat of
the genus. Journal of Orthoptera Research 30(1): 1-6. https://doi.org/10.3897/jor.30.53375

Abstract

A new species of Physocrobylus, P. venetus sp. nov., is described from the
Nguru Mountains of Tanzania. It is the third species in the genus restricted
to Tanzanian localities. While P. venetus sp. nov. and P. tessa Hochkirch
prefer moister forest communities from lowland to submontane forest in
the East Usambara and Nguru Mountains, P. burtti Dirsh is an inhabitant
of Miombo woodlands.

Keywords

East Africa, grasshopper, lowland forest, submontane forest, Tanzania,
taxonomy

Introduction

The genus Physocrobylus was erected by Dirsh (1951) on a sin-
gle female collected in the Kiboriani Hills, Mpwapwa District of
Tanzania. Dirsh placed it in Catantopinae. Jago (1978) assigned
Physocrobylus to Euryphyminae and described the male of P. burtti.
When Hochkirch (1996) detected a second species of the genus,
P. tessa, in the East Usambara Mountains, the genus Physocrobylus
was transferred to Coptacrinae because it shared a furcula and the
transverse fold on the subgenital plate with this subfamily.

Up to now, few specimens of the two members of the genus
Physocrobylus have been collected. In the entomological collection
of London (NHML), besides the female holotype of P. burtti, there
are a couple of specimens that were collected by Jago from a lo-
cality 44 miles north of Dodoma (East Chenene Forest Reserve).
Hochkirch collected specimens of P. tessa in the East Usambara
Mountains at Amani at an elevation of about 800-1000 m in
protected patches of submontane to montane forest. The East Us-
ambara Mountains were intensively surveyed by our team. Survey
sites included several lowland wet forest reserves such as Magoroto
Forest Estate, the Nilo Forest Reserve, and the Mtai Forest Reserve,
as well as the Amani Nature Reserve, the Kwamkoro Forest Reserve,
and other patches on the Amani plateau. Thus, more data on the
distribution and the habitat requirements of P. tessa became avail-
able and are presented in this paper. A third species of the genus

was discovered in the submontane forests of the Nguru Moun-
tains. Physocrobylus venetus sp. nov., a common inhabitant in the
Nguru Mountains, is here described.

Material and methods

Measurements.—The total body length refers to the body length of
the insect from head to the tip of the abdomen.

Depositories.—CCH: Collection of Claudia Hemp. NHML: Natural
History Museum, London, UK.

Results

Physocrobylus venetus sp. nov.
http://zoobank.org/C43E2622-D643-483E-8E81-EOC8E34EAADO

Type material—Holotype male. Tanzania, Nguru Mountains,
submontane forest, 1100-1200 m, 6.05336°S, 37.56076°E -
6.06702°S, 37.57339°E. June 2017. Depository: CCH.

Paratypes. 11 males, 13 females, 3 female nymphs, same data
as holotype and February 2017, March 2017, November 2017, Jan-
uary 2018, March 2019, and March 2020. Depository: CCH.

1 male (NHML 013454600), 1 female (NHML 013454558),
same data as holotype. Depository: NHML.

Description.—Male. General coloration: Dorsally broad brown fas-
cia running over head, pronotum, and abdomen; this brown fascia
medially with three fine white lines, interrupted at each segment;
end of abdomen light brown and white lines obsolete. Eyes red-
dish. Legs green, hind knees dark, tibiae bright blue (Fig. 1A-C).

Head and antennae. Antenna about body length or slightly
shorter; antennal segments much longer than wide. Eyes globular,
strongly protruding. Fastigium verticis very narrow between eyes,
appears only as a callous ridge; in front of eyes widening to rhom-
boid structure (Fig. 2A). Frontal ridge typical for genus, strongly
projecting in front of eyes; shallow concave and punctured; cari-
nae below the ocellus flat and almost obsolete.

JOURNAL OF ORTHOPTERA RESEARCH 2021, 30(1)

a C. HEMP

Fig. 1. Physocrobylus venetus sp. nov. A-C. Male; and D. Female.

Thorax. Thorax strongly wrinkled and impressed with dots,
deeply crossed by two sulci; lateral carinae absent. Anterior mar-
gin evenly rounded; posterior margin medially incurved (Fig. 2A).
Prosternal tubercle conical, laterally compressed. Tegmina strong-
ly reduced, elongate lobes with narrow anterior part, slightly wid-
ening posteriorly, broadly rounded and with reduced venation
(Fig. 3C). Alae absent.

Legs. Fore and mid femora round, with largest diameter in the
middle; unarmed. Hind femora stout; unarmed. Fore and mid tib-
iae also roundish, unarmed except for black spurs; fore tibiae with
three outer and two inner spurs, mid tibiae each with an outer and
an inner pair of spurs. Hind tibiae with double row of dorsal long
spines, white at the base, with black tips; on inner side, two large
and laterally flattened spurs, on outer side, a pair of smaller but
also enlarged stout spurs. Tarsi of light color; mid tarsal segment
very short, the other two segments about 3 times as long as the
middle one.

Abdomen. Supra-anal plate typical for Coptacrinae, elon-
gate, tongue-like with elevated lateral margins and a rounded tip

(Fig. 4C). Furcula of 10" abdominal tergite well developed. Cerci
slightly longer than supra-anal plate; inwardly curved and laterally
slightly compressed. Subgenital plate with well-developed trans-
verse fold. Epiphallus as in Fig. 5. Bridge divided (Fig. 5A), lophi
curved, almost tri-angular with acute apices (Fig. 5C, D), poste-
rior processes narrow and elongated with rounded apices, anterior
processes rounded (Fig. 5A). Ancorae well developed (Fig. 5A).

Female. Coloration similar to male but duller and also with
bright blue hind tibiae. Larger and stouter but with same spina-
tion of the legs (Figs 1D, 2C). Supra-anal plate elongate, anterior
part sculptured (Fig. 6A). Subgenital plate broad with acute tip at
posterior margin (Fig. 6B).

Measurements.—(mm) Males (n = 6). Body length: 14.7-16.7;
Median length of pronotum: 2.5-3.4; length of tegmina: 3.1-3.7;
length of hind femur: 10.1-11.2.

Females (n = 6). Body length: 20.1-22.0; Median length of
pronotum: 3.7-4.2; length of tegmina: 3.5—4.3; length of hind fe-
mur: 14.0-14.5.

JOURNAL OF ORTHOPTERA RESEARCH 2021, 30(1)

C. HEMP 3

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Fig. 2. Details of Physocrobylus venetus sp. nov. A. Male, head, dorsal view; B. Abdomen, dorsal view; and C. Female, dorsal habitus.

JOURNAL OF ORTHOPTERA RESEARCH 2021, 30(1)

. = ~~ : P x. a

Fig. 3. Right tegmen of male Physocrobylus species. A. P. burtti; B. P. tessa; and C. P. venetus sp. nov.

Fig. 4. Abdominal apices of male Physocrobylus species. A. P. burtti; B. P. tessa; and C. P. venetus sp. nov.

ancorae

posterior process

Fig. 5. Epiphallus of male Physocrobylus venetus sp. nov. A. Dorsal view; B. Lateral view; C. Anterior axial view as epiphallus is situated
when looking at opened apex of animal; and D. Posterior axial view.

JOURNAL OF ORTHOPTERA RESEARCH 2021, 30(1)

C. HEMP 5

Diagnosis.—In habitus and size, P. venetus sp. nov. is similar to
P. tessa from the East Usambara Mountains but is less stout, while
P. burtti is smaller and very stout (Fig. 7). Pronotum posteriorly
not as wide as in P. tessa. Also, the coloration of P. venetus sp.
nov. differs from both other Physocrobylus species. The femora are
bright green in P. venetus sp. nov. while they are brown or speck-
led brown in the other two species, although specimens of P. tessa
from the Nilo Forest Reserve population can also have partly dark
green legs or speckled green legs (Fig. 7). Easily distinguished also
by the bright blue tibiae in both sexes of P. venetus sp. nov., while
P. tessa has brown to green hind tibiae and P. burtti has brown
tibiae in both sexes. The tegmina in males of the three species are
of similar shape, all reduced to elongate lobes with reduced vena-
tion (Fig. 3). However, P. tessa has slightly broader tegmina com-
pared to the other two species. Differences are also found in the
outer genitalic morphology of the males (Fig. 4). The male cerci
of P. burtti are thick and rugose in the basal half with tips round
and marked darker brown to black. The cerci of both P. tessa and
P. venetus sp. nov. are laterally compressed, especially in the apical
half, and darker to black at their tips. All three species have differ-
ently shaped epiphalli (see fig. 1d, e in Hochkirch (1996), figs 5-7
in Jago (1978) and fig. 5). Similar to P. tessa, the ectophallus has
two sclerotized ridges.

Etymology.—From latin: -venetus = green, blue-green, because of
the blue tibiae and partly green body and legs.

Fig. 6. Abdominal apex of female Physocrobylus venetus sp. nov.
A. Dorsal view; and B. Ventral view. Distribution.—Tanzania, Nguru Mountains.

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Fig. 7. Dorsal habitus of male Physocrobylus species. From left to right: P. burtti, P. venetus sp. nov., and P. tessa.

JOURNAL OF ORTHOPTERA RESEARCH 2021, 30(1)

6 C. HEMP

Notes on the habitat of Physocrobylus species.—Both P. venetus sp.
nov. and P. tessa occur in submontane forests in the litter layer and
on low herbs; they are, however, restricted to different mountain
areas. P. tessa is a rather rare species in submontane and mon-
tane elevations in the East Usambara Mountains. Most adults are
found from November until about April. In the East Usambara
Mountains, several forest reserves offer protection for some of the
last lowland wet forests in eastern Africa. Numerous individuals
were collected in Magoroto Forest Estate at elevations between 670
to 880 m a.s.l., indicating that lowland wet forests harbor higher
numbers of this forest dwelling species, and in the Nilo Forest Re-
serve. In the latter, single individuals were even collected in July,
indicating that the species may be present year-round. Very few in-
dividuals of P. tessa have been found so far at Kwamkoro Forest Re-
serve on the plateau of the East Usambara Mountains near Amani
at elevations of around 900 m, although the area was surveyed for
P. tessa many times and at different times of the year. The Nguru
Mountains have been deforested below about 700 m, thus only
submontane and montane forests still exist in this area. Specimens
of P. venetus sp. nov. are more common during the warm time of
the year, from about November to April, but individuals were also
collected in June and July. Thus, the phenology is similar to P. tessa
in the East Usambara Mountains.

Little information is available for the third species, P. burtti.
Although the area where P. burtti occurs was visited several times
(Hemp and Heller 2019), this species was not collected by our team.
The holotype was collected in the Mpwapwa area of Tanzania, but
detailed information of the habitat is lacking. The type locality at
the Kiboriani Hills where the District city of Mpwapwa is located has
transformed almost completely to maize fields (see also Hemp and
Heller 2019) but formerly was covered by Miombo woodlands. P.
burtti was also collected 44 miles north of Dodoma, in the East Che-
nene Forest Reserve, which is also the type locality for other species
(e.g., Odonturoides insolitus Ragge, 1980). This forest reserve, today

heavily impacted by illegal charcoaling, consists of typical Miombo
woodlands at elevations between 1200 and 1550 m a.s.l. Thus, P.
burtti probably is a dweller of the ground layer in this forest type
and, thus, occupies a completely different ecological niche than the
other two Physocrobylus species, which prefer moister habitats.

Acknowledgements

I gratefully acknowledge grants from the Deutsche Forschun-
gsgemeinschaft. Part of this research received support from the
Synthesys Project http://www.synthesys.info/ financed by the
European Community Research Infrastructure Action under the
FP6 “Structuring the European Research Area Programme”, en-
abling me to visit the Natural History Museum of London, UK. I
also thank the Commission for Science and Technology, Tanza-
nia, and the Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute, Tanzania, for
granting research. The publisher's costs were paid by the Orthop-
terists’ Society. I thank the three reviewers: Hugh Rowell, Bruno
Massa, and Maria-Marta Cigliano, for improving the manuscript.

References

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tera). Proceedings of the Royal Entomological Society of London (B)
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Hemp C, Heller K-G (2019) Orthoptera (Tettigoniidae and Acridoidea)
from Miombo woodlands of Central Tanzania with the description
of new taxa. Zootaxa 4671: 151-194. https://doi.org/10.11646/zoo-
taxa.4671.2.1

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