A new genus and species of African Phaneropterinae (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae), with data on its ecology, bioacoustics and chromosomes

Abstract

A new genus is proposed for a new East African Phaneropterinae species, Lunidia viridis, occurring on Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. Based on 33 records, notes on distribution and habitat are given, as well as acoustical data provided. Climate and vegetation parameters obtained along several transects on Mt. Kilimanjaro were evaluated describing the ecological niche of the new species. This interdisciplinary approach allows not only a profound characterisation of the ecological demands of the new genus but also predictions of the potential distribution area, which is tested for the first time for an African bush cricket species. Lunidia viridis n. gen. n. sp. occurs within humid and perhumid forests and Chagga home gardens, avoiding subhumid conditions on the mountain. It is found from 1,330 m upwards on the southern slopes, whereas the same ecological conditions are expressed from 1,930 m upwards on the drier northern slopes. Lunidia viridis has an unusually complex and variable song, which is described from field and laboratory recordings. The FISH technique for characterizing chromosomes is applied for the first time for an African species; L. viridis exhibits a karyotype typical for most Tettigoniidae.

Review of the Plangia graminea (Serville) complex and the description of new Plangia species from East Africa (Orthoptera: Phaneropteridae, Phaneropterinae) with data on habitat, bioacoustics, and chromosomes

“…The presence of rDNA loci only on a single bivalent, preferentially located in the paracentromeric region distally, was previously observed in other Phaneropterinae with different chromosome numbers in the European genera Odontura (Grzywacz et al 2014). The present study demonstrates clearly that the telomeric regions of the chromosomes in Plangia are composed of the (TTAGG) n telomeric repeats similar to the African Lunidia viridis (Hemp et al 2010a) and other tettigoniids (e.g., Warchałowska-Śliwa et al 2011Warchałowska-Śliwa et al , 2013Grzywacz et al 2011). In conclusion, our results on mechanisms changing the morphology of the X chromosome resulting in differences of the heterochromatin composition and distribution on the chromosomes are probably good markers to illuminate genomic evolution in Plangia species.…”

“…Most African genera investigated up to nowAltihoratosphaga, Horatosphaga, Monticolaria (Hemp et al 2010b), Lunidia (Hemp et al 2010a), and Tropidonotacris (Hemp et al 2014)-exhibit such a plesiomorphic condition. The cytotaxonomic analysis of the two species of the African genus Plangia in this study now shows that the ancestral chromosome number is reduced to 2n=29 (X0), implying a more derived condition.…”

“…Cytogenetic analysis of the African species of the genera Lunidia (Hemp et al 2010a) and Eurycorypha (Hemp et al 2013a, b) also revealed one rDNA-FISH signal/active NOR located in the distal region of the large autosome or interstitial region on the short autosome, respectively. The presence of rDNA loci only on a single bivalent, preferentially located in the paracentromeric region distally, was previously observed in other Phaneropterinae with different chromosome numbers in the European genera Odontura (Grzywacz et al 2014).…”

Changes in the numbers of chromosomes and sex determination system in bushcrickets of the genus Odontura (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae: Phaneropterinae)

“…in tiger beetles (Zacaro et al, 2004), grasshoppers (e.g. Loreto et al, 2008), and tettigonids (Warchaowska-liwa et al, 2009;Hemp et al, 2010). In Odontura, the 18S rDNA loci revealed by FISH are coincident with active NORs visualized by Ag-NOR staining.…”

Ecology, acoustics and chromosomes of the East African genus Afroanthracites Hemp & Ingrisch (Orthoptera, Tettigoniidae, Conocephalinae, Agraeciini) with the description of new species

“…Grzywacz et al , 2014Warchałowska-Śliwa et al 2011Warchałowska-Śliwa et al , 2013 and some African phaneropterines (Hemp et al 2010b;2013a, b). Mapping of the location rDNA/NORs clusters and two heterochromatin classes may be used to identify some chromosome markers useful for studying genomic organization and diversity of Afroanthracites and Afroagraecia as well as for a comparison with earlier described karyotypes in Agraeciini.…”