Salomona

Morris, Glenn K, Ingrisch, Sigfrid, Willemse, Fer, Willemse, Luc, De Luca, Paul A. & Klimas, Dita, 2025, Stridulation songs of some Tettigoniidae (Ensifera, Orthoptera) from Papua New Guinea, Zootaxa 5600 (1), pp. 1-81 : 47-51

Salomona ‘darth’ undescribed species

( Figs 46–50 )

Specimens studied. Holotype male: Papua New Guinea, WEI, Coll. G.K. Morris, 25 viii 1981 ( NBC, L) missing 2024).

Paratypes: PNG, WEI, 4 viii 1981 (male) & 12 viii 1981 (male), G.K. Morris ( NBC, L) , missing 2024).

Description. Male.—Relatively small for the genus but thickset ( Figs 46–48 ). Head a little wider than pronotum; frons ( Fig. 48C ) with outer furca and lateral keels indicated as rugose keels, no inner furca and median keel, surface in middle dull, with very fine and sparse impressed points and lines, subocular area and lateral part of head with some transverse, irregular low ridges. Fastigium of vertex shorter than length of scape, tip acute and downcurved, dorsobasally with a minute tubercle, ventrobasally joining acute tip of fastigium of frons.

Pronotum slightly longer than broad, surface of lateral lobes a little impressopunctate; anterior margin dorsally almost straight, laterally rounded; posterior margin dorsally slightly rounded, laterally almost straight; ventral margin very weakly sinuate, anterior angle broadly rounded, posterior angle narrowly, almost rectangularly rounded. Thoracic auditory spiracle as described above under S. ustulata , 1.3 X 0.4 mm.

Wings extending well beyond abdomen and hind knees, reaching basal third of hind tibia. Elytron strongly tapering apically, greatest width in basal fourth; Sc and R nearly straight and parallel to hind margin of elytron; C area in basal third as wide as remainder of elytron, in mid third strongly tapering and in apical third narrow.

Stridulatory area of both elytra of similar appearance; mirror as long as wide (1.8 mm), basal and lateral edges straight, apical edge broadly convex; left stridulatory file narrow, slightly fusiform, length 1.9 mm, at widest 0.16 mm in distal third, in ventral view straight, in profile slightly concave in proximal and almost straight in apical half; total number of teeth about 46, distally closer set, spacing in mid part 6 teeth per 0.25 mm.

Legs remarkably short and thick. Fore femora with 5 spines on both ventral margins; mid femora with 2 basal spines on ventro-internal and 5–6 spines on ventro-external margin, hind femora with 8–9 spines on ventro-external margin, internal side unarmed. Internal knee-lobes of fore and mid femora spined, external ones obtuse; both inner and outer knee-lobe of hind femur spined. Internal and external tympanum of fore tibia slit-like.

Tenth tergite tapering apically into a pair of short obtuse, down-curved processes separated from each other by a broad U-shaped median emargination. Cercus thick, short, in apical fourth tapering into a strong obtuse tooth; external side straight with weak lontgitudinal depression; internal side expanded medially, in its midpart forming a large process slightly flattened dorsally, slightly concave ventrally and showing a strongly sclerotized ridge with 3–5 teeth at its top. Subgenital plate longer than broad, ventral surface with a short median keel apically, posterior margin widely V-shaped emarginated, styles slender. Outer pair of titillators forming a weakly sclerotized triangular sheet. Inner pair of titillators bar-like structures, basally divergent and widened, tip provided with a tiny median tooth ( Fig. 49 AB).

General colour olive green ( Figs 46 , 47 ). Head dark olive green, ventral parts of cheek and frons dark reddish brown, clypeus pale yellowish with a pair of brown spots, mandibles black, labrum carmine red, median ocellus creamish, eyes brown, fastigium of vertex yellow, scape brown. Antennae pale brown, unicolorous or distal margin of proximal segments dark brown. Pronotum and remainder of thorax of general colour. Elytron with basal parts of main veins and their bordering archedictyon greenish, remainder of venation creamish, membrane of basal part of C area and scattered spots over remainder of elytron infuscate. Abdomen and legs from pale green to pale brown, armature of legs with tips dark brown. Dorsal side of fore tibia between tympana and all tarsi brown.

Female.—Unknown.

Measurements (Length in mm) (male n = 4): body 31–34; pronotum 9.0–9.3; fore femur 8.3–8.8; mid femur 7.7–8.4; hind femur 14–15; elytron 24–28.

Comments. The new species is readily recognizable by its thickset appearance with short legs, strongly tapering elytra, sculpturation of the frons, shape of cercus and its green coloration. The short robust appearance, short legs and the short and strongly tapering elytra are, among the genus, only shared with S. buergersi C. Willemse, 1959 , known from “Malu”, Sepik River. Male cercus, sculpturation of face and coloration however are quite distinct.

Distribution and Habitat. Known only from the type-series collected by G.K. Morris and D. Klimas, originating from the surroundings of Wau, Morobe District, NE New Guinea. Singing in trees on institute grounds; one male apprehended by GKM by climbing several metres up a tree.

Stridulation. Like its congener S. ustulata , S. ‘darth’ constructs a long-lasting buzzing song ( Fig. 50A ) from trains of incompletely time-separated sinusoid pulses ( Fig. 50D ). The song is irregularly interrupted by pauses in both species. The trains of S. ‘ nameless ’ are less stereotyped, than those of S. ustulata . Four such trains are shown in Fig. 50B and part of one at higher resolution in Fig 50D . These pulse trains repeat with a stable period of about 80 ms ( Fig. 50B ). Unlike S. ustulata , the fluctuations in amplitude allow one to distinguish the pulses. Thus Fig. 50D shows about 8 poorly time-spaced pulses. As with the two Rentziella species, this insect seems to be making short sinusoids at a velocity of the scraper falling just below that needed for resonance and with perhaps more than one file tooth contributing to each poorly time separated pulse.

Figures

FIGURE 46. Salomona ‘darth’ sp. nov.: habitus of male lateral view, (intended male holotype).

FIGURE 47. Salomona ‘darth’ sp. nov.: frontal view. Male’s vivid head colours inspired field name of Darth Vadir.

FIGURE 48. Salomona ‘darth’ sp. nov. undescribed species: A) Lateral aspect habitus, Fer Willemse intended paratype male; B) dorsal aspect habitus, intended holotype male; C) frontal view of head paratype male.

FIGURE 49. Salomona ‘darth’: A) titillators in ventroapical view; B) same, tip enlarged; scale of B 1 mm.

FIGURE 50. Salomona ‘darth’ acoustic analysis: A) Calls at coarse time resolution [dorsal 13 cm 17.5°C QMC] short to long trains of contiguous transient pulses; B) 5-phonatome time sample chosen to reflect train variations; C) Fourier power spectrum of time sample B showing low-Q intense audio carrier band ~7–11 kHz; D) high-resolution waveform suggesting multiple tooth events per pulse.