A new species of Tachycines Adelung, 1902 (Orthoptera, Rhaphidophoridae, Aemodogryllinae, Aemodogryllini) from karst caves in Guizhou, China

Xulin Zhou; Weicheng Yang

doi:10.3897/zookeys.937.49173

Review Article

A new species of Tachycines Adelung, 1902 (Orthoptera, Rhaphidophoridae, Aemodogryllinae, Aemodogryllini) from karst caves in Guizhou, China

Xulin Zhou^‡, Weicheng Yang^‡

‡ Guizhou Normal University, Guiyang, China

Corresponding author: Weicheng Yang ( yangweicheng0908@sina.com )

Academic editor: Tony Robillard

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Citation: Zhou X, Yang W (2020) A new species of Tachycines Adelung, 1902 (Orthoptera, Rhaphidophoridae, Aemodogryllinae, Aemodogryllini) from karst caves in Guizhou, China. ZooKeys 937: 21-29. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.937.49173

ZooBank: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:3449D912-0517-4B14-8616-EB707861552F

Abstract

Tachycines (Gymnaeta) trapezialis sp. nov. (梯形裸灶螽) is described with specimens collected from Diaosiyan and Sanjiaoshan caves in Ziyun County, Guizhou, China. The unique trapezoidal shape of the epiphallus in males and the subgenital plate in females, which separate the new taxon from its congeners, are illustrated.

Keywords

Orthoptera, Tachycines (Gymnaeta), Ziyun

Introduction

During scientific expeditions to the proposed Ziyun Nature Reserve for Hume’s pheasant (Syrmaticus humiae) in Ziyun County, Guizhou, China, nymphs and adults of a new species were collected in Diaosiyan and Sanjiaoshan caves in Ziyun County, Guizhou, China, in June and October of 2019.

These specimens were found to belong to the subgenusGymnaeta Adelung, 1902 in the genus Tachycines Adelung, 1902 and Tachycines (Gymnaeta) trapezialis sp. nov. is described herein. Nine valid species of the subgenus have been recorded from Guizhou Province, i.e. Tachycines (Gymnaeta) ferecaecus (Gorochov, Rampini & Di Russo, 2006), Tachycines (Gymnaeta) proximus (Gorochov, Rampini & Di Russo, 2006), Tachycines (Gymnaeta) chenhui (Rampini & Di Russo, 2008), Tachycines (Gymnaeta) latellai (Rampini & Di Russo, 2008), Tachycines (Gymnaeta) zorzini (Rampini & Di Russo, 2008), Tachycines (Gymnaeta) solida (Gorochov, Rampini & Di Russo, 2006), Tachycines (Gymnaeta) borutzkyi (Gorochov, 1994), Tachycines (Gymnaeta) dispar (Qin, Liu & Li, 2019) and Tachycines (Gymnaeta) lalinus (Feng, Huang & Luo, 2019) (Gorochov, 1994; Gorochov et al. 2006; Rampini et al. 2008; Feng et al. 2019; Qin et al. 2019). Six of them have been found in caves of Guizhou (Gorochov et al. 2006; Rampini et al. 2008; Wen. 2018; Feng et al. 2019).

Materials and methods

All specimens used in this study were preserved in 75% ethanol. Details of the morphology were studied under an Olympus SZ61 stereomicroscope. Male genitalia were preserved in mixture solution of ethanol and glycerin. Photographs were taken by an Olympus DP22 digital camera and processed with Adobe Photoshop CS6.

All specimens are deposited in the Institute of Karst Caves, Guizhou Normal University, Guizhou Province, China (IKCGZNU). The morphological terminology follows Qin et al. (2019).

Taxonomy

Tachycines (Gymnaeta) trapezialissp. nov.

http://zoobank.org/00CE3ED0-336F-46C9-9BFD-AB3FB447CA6E

Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Diagnosis

This new species is very similar to T. (G.) lushuicus Qin, Liu & Li, 2019, T. (G.) parvus Qin, Liu & Li, 2019, and T. (G.) bifurcatus Gorochov, 2010, but differs from them in having the epiphallus of the male genitalia trapezoidal, without upper and lower deep notches and the hind tibia provided with 54–60 spines on each side for the new species. In T. (G.) lushuicus Qin, Liu & Li, 2019, the epiphallus of the male genitalia has an upper deep notch, and the hind tibia above has 61–67 spines on each side. In T. (G.) parvus Qin, Liu & Li, 2019, the epiphallus of the male genitalia has an upper and lower deep notch, and the female subgenital plate is triangular. In T. (G.) bifurcatus Gorochov, 2010, the epiphallus is strongly transverse, with a slightly notched upper part and medial projections on the lower part, and with a pair of large, almost oval lateral sclerites in males.

Type locality

Holotype , 1♂, Diaosiyan Cave, Ziyun County, Guizhou, 25°35.06'N, 106°12.32'E, 1110–1120 m alt., October 2, 2019, collected by Xulin Zhou; paratypes, 1♀, same data as holotype.

Specimens examined

Diaosiyan Cave, Ziyun County, Guizhou Province: nymphs 11♂♂ 10♀♀, June 10, 2019, collected by Xulin Zhou, Juan Liao and Yi Du; 13♂♂ 9♀♀, October 2, 2019, collected by Xulin Zhou, Haixia Luo, Panpan Ren, Meizhen Deng and Suqin Zhao. Sanjiaoshan Cave, Ziyun County, Guizhou Province: 2♀♀, 25°35.35'N, 106°12.31'E, 1109m alt., October 2, 2019, collected by Xulin Zhou, Haixia Luo, Panpan Ren, Meizhen Deng and Suqin Zhao.

Description

Male. Body medium-sized (Fig. 5). Vertex divided into two conical tubercles (Fig. 1A, B). Ommateum normal, not reduced; ocelli visible. Legs elongate and slender; fore femur about 1.6–1.8 times longer than the pronotum, ventrally unarmed, internal genicular lobe with a small spine; external genicular lobe with one elongate movable spur; ventral side of fore tibiae with two external spurs and two internal spurs. Mid femur ventrally unarmed, internal, and external genicular lobes with one elongate movable spur respectively; ventral side of mid tibiae with one external spur and one internal spur. Hind femur without spines ventrally; hind tibiae with 55–60 outer spines and 54–58 inner spines, arranged in groups. Supra-internal spurs of hind tibiae not exceeding ventral apex of hind tarsus (Fig. 1C). Hind tarsus keeled ventrally and with one dorsal apical spine. Male genitalia with trapezoidal epiphallus, lateral sclerites and median process divided at apical fourth (Figs 2A, B, 3A, B).

Figure 1.

Tachycines (Gymnaeta) trapezialis sp. nov. A male; head and pronotum, dorsal view B male; head and pronotum, lateral view C male; hind tarsus in dorsal view D female, subgenital plate in ventral view E ovipositor in lateral view.

Figure 2.

Tachycines (Gymnaeta) trapezialis sp. nov., male genitalia A dorsal view B ventral view.

Female. Other characters are similar to male (Fig. 6). Subgenital plate wider than long and with three lobes; median lobe large and nearly trapezoid with apex transverse, paired lateral lobes small and nearly triangular with blunt apex (Fig. 1D). Ovipositor (Fig. 1E) shorter than half the length of hind femur.

Figure 3.

Illustration of male genitalia A dorsal view B ventral view.

Coloration

Body brown. Frons with two dark longitudinal bands (Fig. 1A). Pronotum and mesonotum margins dark brown. Apexes of abdominal tergites dark brown. Hind femur with darkish stripes laterally.

Figure 4.

Tachycines (Gymnaeta) trapezialis sp. nov. nymphs from Diaosiyan Cave A male B female.

Measurements (mm)

Body ♂16.2–17.6, ♀14.8–17.9; pronotum ♂6.3–6.6, ♀6.1–6.4; fore femur ♂10.8–11.3, ♀10.3–113; hind femur ♂16.3–17.6, ♀21.1–22.4; ovipositor 8.1–9.2.

Figure 5.

Holotype. Tachycines (Gymnaeta) trapezialis sp. nov. (male habitus) A lateral view B ventral view C dorsal view.

Etymology

The name refers to trapezoidal epiphallus in males.

Habitat

Individuals of the new species live in groups in subtropical karst caves (Figs 4, 7).

Distribution

Guizhou, China.

Figure 6.

Tachycines (Gymnaeta) trapezialis sp. nov. (female habitus) A lateral view B ventral view C dorsal view.

Figure 7.

The entrance of Diaosiyan Cave (photographed by Yi Du from Luga village, Ziyun County, Guizhou).

Discussion

Species distribution of the subgenus (Fig. 8) presents a complexity which may reflect the degree of troglomorphism and parapatry distribution. Many species of this subgenus were found both inside and outside of cave. Eyes of these species vary from fully developed to reduced or absent, as in the totally blind T. (G.) omninocaecus. The geographical distribution pattern might be explained by the evolutionary scenario of zones of secondary admixture following epigean dispersal among lineages diverged from allopatry, as proposed by Ketmaier et al. (2013).

Figure 8.

Distribution map for species of Tachycines, subgenusGymnaeta.

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to all collectors of the specimens cited in this paper. We thank to Shulin Yang, Xiaolan Wu, Tengjiang Zhou, and two reviewers for their help on the manuscript. We also thank Xianlin Zeng, Qingbei Weng and Qianquan Chen for help with access to the microscope. This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 30560024), Science-technology Foundation projects of Guizhou Province (黔科合LH字LKS[2016]7207号, 黔科合支撑 [2017]2811号, 黔科合重大专项字[2016]3022号, 黔科合J字[2011]2181号), Doctoral fund of Guizhou Normal University, and the fourth high-level innovative talents “thousand level” program of Guizhou Province of 2017.

References

Adelung N (1902) Beitrag zur Kenntnis der palaarktischen Stenopelmatiden (Orthoptera, Locustodea). Extrait l’Annuaire Musee Zoologique l’Academie Imperiale Science St. Petersbourg 7: 55–75.

Cigliano MM, Braun H, Eades DC, Otte D (2019) Orthoptera Species File. Version 5.0/5.0. http://Orthoptera.SpeciesFile.org [Accessed on: 2019-10-26]

Feng XL, Huang SH, Luo CQ (2019) A new species of the subgenus Tachycines (Gymnaeta) (Orthoptera: Rhaphidophoridae) from karst caves of southern Guizhou, China. Zootaxa 4674(4): 491–495. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4674.4.8

Gorochov AV, Rampini M, Di Russo C (2006) New species of the genus Diestrammena (Orthoptera: Rhaphidophoridae: Aemodogryllinae) from caves of China. Russian Journal of Entomolgy 15(4): 355–360.

Ketmaier V, Di Russo C, Rampini M, Bernhardt N, Tiedemann R, Cobolli M (2013) Molecular divergence and evolutionary relationships among Aemodogryllinae from southern China, Laos and Thailand (Orthoptera, Rhaphidophoridae). Subterranean Biology 10: 25–35. https://doi.org/10.3897/subtbiol.10.4154

Qin YY, Wang HQ, Liu XW, Li K (2019) Review of the subgenus Tachycines (Gymnaeta) Adelung, 1902 (Orthoptera, Rhaphidophoridae, Aemodogryllinae, Aemodogryllini). Zootaxa 4560(2): 273–310. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4560.2.3

Rampini M, Di Russo C, Cobolli M (2008) The Aemodogrylliane cave crickets from Guizhou, southern China (Orthoptera, Rhaphidophoridae). Monografie Naturalistiche 3: 129–141.

Wen Q (2018) A Preliminary Study on Insect Taxonomy of Karst Cave in Guizhou Province. Guizhou Normal University, Guiyang, Guizhou, 104 pp.