Page:Paraplangia sinespeculo, a new genus and species of bush-cricket, with notes on its biology and a key to the genera of Phaneropterinae (Orthoptera, Tettigonioidea) from Madagascar.pdf/3

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* Only Mimoscudderia paulyi Massa, 2017 with unusually wide tegmina.

Brunner von Wattenwyl (1891) combined several genera in Amblycoryphini using the key character “fastigium as wide or wider than scapus”. This may well be a convergently evolved character, but as long as no better grouping is available, it is useful for placing and finding similar genera. The group included and still includes (even after the splitting by Cadena-Castañeda 2014, 2015) African and American genera which were separated in Brunner von Wattenwyl (1891)’s key but not by Cadena-Castañeda (2014). According to the preliminary molecular tree (Mugleston et al. 2013), Amblycorypha, the type genus, is deeply nested among New World genera from different tribes. In other molecular studies, Eurycorypha and Plangia are closely related (Mugleston 2016), with Isopsera nearby (Liu Cx unpubl.). Indogneta Ingrisch & Shisodia, 2002, which also has a broad fastigium, certainly belongs to Isopserae (see Kang et al. 2014), and Isopsera has ant-like nymphs like Eurycorypha.

We also include Corycomina Karsch, 1896 because of its similarity to some Eurycorypha (E. flavescens was considered as member of Corycomina Karsch, 1896; see Massa 2017c).

When splitting up Amblycoryphini, Cadena-Castañeda (2015) listed the similarities between Amblycoryphini s.s. and his Plangiae. They had all generic characters in common except the eye shape. We consider this single trait to be insufficient for excluding Plangia and Monteiroa from the tribe, especially since Plangiae obviously do not have any similarities to other phaneropterine genera, but share e.g. nymphal properties with Eurycorypha, the largest genus of the tribe (see Hemp in preparation). Despite some doubts, we retain the group as a subtribe and include Madagascarantia Massa, 2017, which is a sister genus to Plangia, Pseudoplangia Massa, 2014, and Paraplangia gen. n.

After having seen photos of one of the syntypes of Plangia albolineata (described as Turpilia albo-lineata), it turned out that Madagascarantia bartolozzii is conspecific with this species. Since Madagascarantia is considered as generically distinct from Plangia, we propose the following taxonomical corrections.

Type species of the genus.—Paraplangia sinespeculo sp. n., here designated.

Description.—Large size, short head, wide round eyes, fastigium verticis as wide as or slightly wider than scapus of antennae, in contact with fastigium frontis, fronto-genal carinae very indistinct. Antennae shorter than tegmina. Pronotum without lateral carinae, length shorter than height, two small pits at two-thirds point on midline; prozona hardly separable from metazona, anterior margin straight, posterior margin rounded, with evident lateral excisions where wings are inserted. Prothoracic spiracle slit-like, very