Studies in Guatemalan Ensifera: Mayacephalus (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae) a new cone-headed katydid genus
Author
Cadena-Castañeda, Oscar J.
Author
Monzón-Sierra, José
Author
Cortés-Torres, Carolina
text
Zootaxa
2016
2016-02-25
4084
2
293
300
journal article
31383
10.11646/zootaxa.4084.2.9
048ec6c6-7d27-40ed-bf59-c32ca24c9700
1175-5326
1054019
DDC20A41-31A2-4B65-8ED2-28F819803374
Mayacephalus
n. gen.
Diagnosis.
Fastigium of vertex elongated, slender and horizontally directed, dorsally with lateral furrows with tubercles. Eyes small and rounded, located in the inferior and lateral part of antennal cavities. Lateral lobes of pronotum with humeral sinus moderately pronounced. Both sexes brachypterous, males with tegmina covering first segment and females the second, posterior wings vestigial. Tenth tergite not modified, male cerci divided, with dorsal branch flattened and ventral one thin, not flat. Ovipositor longer than body, slender, without serrations.
Type
species.
Mayacephalus dickmanorum
n. sp.
, described below.
Etymology.
The first part of the name of this genus is for the Mayan culture that inhabits southern
Mexico
and northern Central America. The second part of the name –
cephalus
is common in various names of genera in the
Conocephalinae
subfamily.
Comparison.
This new genus is similar to
Toledopizia
Chamorro-Rengifo & Braun, 2010
,
Copiphora
Serville, 1831
and
Daedalellus
Uvarov, 1940
. The similarity with
Toledopizia
and
Daedalellus
is for its brachypterous condition; from the first genus it can be distinguished by the shape of the pronotum, and that in the new genus the humeral sinus is visible, pronotal disc with well developed furrows, external genicular lobules from anterior and medial femora unarmed;
Toledopizia
with pronotal furrows and humeral sinus not developed, all genicular lobes are armed; male of
Toledopizia salesopolensis
(
Piza, 1980
)
is not known so that comparison is not possible.
Mayacephalus
n. gen.
, differs from
Daedalellus
by having head and fastigium extraordinarily elongated (fastigium five or six times as long as antennal scape), pronotum three times longer than wide, metazona covering stridulatory area, male cerci branches asymmetrical, cerci dorso-ventrally divided, dorsal branch wide and flattened.
Daedalellus
with head and fastigium moderately elongate (fastigium less than three times antennal scape length), pronotum 1.5 times as long as wide, not covering stridulatory area, branches of male cercus slender, similarly shaped and divided in the latero-internal margin of cercus.
The proposed new genus can be distinguished from
Copiphora
mainly by the development of the wings,
Mayacephalus
n. gen.
, is brachypterous and
Copiphora
is macropterous. The shape of the fastigium in the new genus is similar in shape to
Copiphora azteca
Saussure & Pictet, 1898
,
C. gracilis
Scudder, 1869
and
C. longicauda
Serville, 1831
. Mesotibiae dorsally armed with spines in
Copiphora
,
unarmed dorsally in
Mayacephalus
.