Assamacris Uvarov 1942

Assamacris Uvarov, 1942

Assamacris Uvarov, 1942: 592–593; Willemse, 1957: 423; Yin, 1984: 59; Otte, 1995: 273; Yin, Shi & Yin, 1996: 76; Li & Xia, 2006: 507; Mao, Ren & Ou. 2007: 61–68; Mao, Ren & Ou. 2010: 125.

Tenuifemurus Huang, 1981: 69–70, figs. 21–24.

Traulitonkinacris You & Bi, 1983, syn. nov., in: You, Li & Bi, 1983: 165–166.

Type species: Assamacris striata Uvarov, 1942.

Generic diagnosis: Body medium-sized, surface punctured. Face oblique; frontal ridge between antennae distinctly protruding and about as broad as the first antennal segment, obsolete below ocellus; lateral facial carinae weakly visible or dissolved in middle. Pronotum cylindrical and slightly widened posteriorly; anterior margin straight or slightly concave in middle; posterior margin rounded; median carina weak; lateral carinae absent; all the three transverse sulci distinct. Prosternal spine conical. Brachypterous, tegmina not reaching apex of abdomen. Hind femur narrow; upper carina weakly serrate, and ending in a short spinule; lower genicular lobe angularly rounded. Male supra-anal plate almost shield shaped or tongue shaped; cercus stout, long and finely compressed, distally bifurcate. Valves of ovipositor without teeth; the lower valves narrow.

Remarks: The genus Assamacris Uvarov, 1942 is similar to Meltripata Bolívar, 1923 and Traulacris Willemse, 1933, sharing similar general morphology, especially on the frontal ridge distinctly projecting between antennae, the pronotum with posterior margin rounded, median carina weak, and lateral carinae absent. Assamacris is most similar to Meltripata especially on the frontal ridge between antennae being as broad as the first antennal segment, the antennae slender and antennal segments elongate, as well as the pronotum cylindrical and slightly widened posteriorly, but different from it by the prosternal spine conical (basally swollen and distally subacute in Meltripata), by the upper keel of hind femur terminating in an acute angle (a round angle in Meltripata), and by the male cercus distally bifurcate (wholly conical in Meltripata). Assamacris is also similar to Traulacris, but different from it by the moderately widened frontal ridge (narrower frontal ridge, about half as broad as the basal antennal segment in Traulacris) and by the pronotum cylindrical with slightly widened posteriorly (selliform with anterior margin moderately elevated in Traulacris).

The monotypic genus Traulitonkinacris You & Bi, 1983 was established to contain only the type species of T. bifurcatus from Guangxi, China. Since the monotypic species T. bifurcatus is transferred to Assamacris (see the remark under Assamacris bifurcata (You & Bi, 1983)), it follows that the genus Traulitonkinacris is a new junior synonym of the genus Assamacris.

The little-known genus Assamacris has long been identified a member of the subfamily Catantopinae within the family Acrididae, kept an uncertain affinity in Catantopinae (Otte, 1995; Cigliano et al., 2021).

The epithet Assamacris formed by “ Assam (the name of the type locality) + acris (locust)” should be feminine, so the gender of species names are corrected in the present paper.

Key to the species of the genus Assamacris Uvarov, 1942

1. Male cerci narrow and long, reaching or extending beyond the apex of subgenital plate.............................. 2

– Male cerci stout and short, not extending beyond the apex of supra-anal plate...................................... 5

2. Tegmina extending to or beyond posterior margin of 5 th –8 th abdominal tergite...................................... 3

– Tegmina extending to or beyond posterior margin of 2 nd –3 rd abdominal tergite..................................... 4

3. Face in lateral view strongly oblique in male; male cercus with acute, narrow dorsal branch; hind femur light olivaceous with two rather broad brown spots on outer side (Fig. 1)(India, Myanmar).......................... A. striata Uvarov, 1942

– Face in lateral view slightly oblique in male; male cercus with obtuse, wider dorsal branch (Fig. 2); hind femur yellowish brown with a brown fish-bone pattern on outer side (India).................. A. spinipicta Ingrisch, Willemse & Shishodia, 2004

4. Male cercus with ventral branch about 1/3 of whole cercus length (Fig. 3); mesosternal interspace 1.8–2.0 times as long as minimum width; lateral lobes of metasterum narrowly separate (China).................... A. longicerca (Huang, 1981)

– Male cercus with ventral branch about 1/6 of whole cercus length (Fig. 4); mesosternal interspace 1.4 times as long as minimum width; lateral lobes of metasterum widely separate (China)............................... A. curticerca (Huang, 1981)

5. Male cercus weakly bifurcate distally; hind femur yellow, with two dark maculations on upper and outer sides (Fig. 5)(China)................................................................... A. bifurcata (You & Bi, 1983), com. nov.

– Male cerci strongly bifurcate distally; hind femora olivaceous brown, with three black-margined greenish yellow maculations (including ring-like one before knee) on upper and outer sides.................................................. 6

6. Tegmen nearly reaching 5 th abdominal tergite or middle of hind femur in male, and 5 th –7 th tergites or faintly beyond middle of hind femur in female; male cercus stouter (Fig. 6)(China).......................... trimaculata Mao, Ren & Ou, 2007

– Tegmina nearly reaching 8 th –10 th abdominal tergite or 3/5 of hind femora in male, and 6 th –10 th tergite or 7/10 of hind femora in female; male cerci narrower............................................................................. 7

7. Male cercus with dorsal branch triangular, ventral branch slightly narrower and longer than dorsal branch; posterior margin of subgenital plate with two obtuse teeth in female (fig. 7) (China)..................... A. bidentata Mao, Ren & Ou, 2007

– Male cercus with dorsal branch cylindrical, ventral branch clearly narrower and longer than dorsal branch; posterior margin of subgenital plate nearly straight and triangularly convex in middle in female (fig. 9) (China).......... A. splendida sp. nov.