Steirodon (Posidippus) major Gorochov, 2025

Gorochov, A. V., 2025, Systematics of the American Katydids (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae). Communication 12: the subtribes Steirodontina and Anaulacomerina, Proceedings of the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences 329 (1), pp. 13-47 : 23

Steirodon (Posidippus) major Gorochov nom. nov.

( Figs 34 , 65–67 )

= Posidippus validus Saussure et Pictet, 1898 , junior secondary homonym of Steirodon (Steirodon) validum Stål, 1874 .

= Steirodon (Posidippum) stalii : Emsley (1970).

Material. MEXICO: 2 males, Chiapas State, Ocosingo Distr. near Guatemala, Selva Lacandona (between Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve and Bonampak Natural Monument), environs of Lacanja-Chansayab Vill., primary forest, at light, 20–27 May 2007, M. Berezin, E. Tkacheva ( ZIN) .

Note. Emsley (1970) assumed that Posidippus stalii was collected in the northern part of Brazil ( Brunner-Wattenwyl 1878: “San Francisco in Brazilien”), and he synonymized it with Posidippus validus described from Nicaragua and distributed from Central America to possibly the northern Brazil. For the southern part of Brazil (anoth- er zoogeographical region), he described a similar species, S. (Posidippum) dentiferoides . After Emsley (1970: p. 166), one of differences between these species as well as between them and S. (P.) dentiferum (these three species are most similar to each other) is following: pronotum in S. (P.) dentiferum and S. (P.) dentiferoides has a median denticle on the anterior pronotal edge, but in the third (northern) species, this denticle is absent. However, this character is distinctly developed only in S. (P.) dentiferum (as well as in S. dohrni with distinctly narrower tegmina and in a new species; Figs 59, 62 ), but in S. (P.) dentiferoides paratypes (judging by their photographs in OSF), this denticle is less distinct and may look exactly as in one of my Mexican males ( Fig. 65 ) (my other Mexican male lacks this denticle; Fig. 66 ); thus, this character cannot help to distinguish the Central American species from S. (P.) dentiferoides . The other differences after Emsley are in the tegminal stridulatory apparatus structure (the stridulatory vein in the northern species is about 3.5 mm in length and with 45–49 ventral teeth, and this vein in S. dentiferum and S. dentiferoides is about 4 and 4.5 mm in length as well as with 54–62 and approximately 85 such teeth, respectively), but Posidippus stalii was described from a female only, and recently its type locality was corrected as “São Francisco” in “ Brazil Southeast” ( OSF). So: the latter name belongs to a species living in a zoogeographical region quite distant from Central America, this species cannot be distinguished from S. (P.) dentiferoides also distributed in this southern region, and in this connection, it is reasonable to consider S. (P.) stalii as a senior synonym of S. (P.) dentiferoides . Moreover, the name Posidippus validus Saussure et Pictet was correctly proposed for the northern species, but this name is a junior secondary homonym of Steirodon validum Stål (an older name for a species from the nominotypical subgenus), and for the above-mentioned northern species, I here establish a new replacement name instead of P. validus .

Figures

Figs 24–37. Steirodon, males. 24, 25 – S. (Steirodon) suberbum sp. nov. (holotype); 26, 27 – S. (Peucestes) para sp. nov. (holotype); 28, 29 – S. (P.) dentatum woronovi subsp. nov. (paratype); 30–33 – S. (Posidippus) minor sp. nov. (30–32 – holotype; 33 – paratype); 34 – S. (P.) major nom. nov.; 35–37 – S. (P.) dentiferum (35 – Guyana; 36, 37 – Peru). Stridulatory apparatus of left (24, 26, 28, 30) and right (25, 27, 29, 31) tegmina from above; stridulatory vein of male left tegmen from below (32–37).

Figs 58–73. Steirodon, males. 58–61 – S. (Posidippus) minor sp. nov. (58–60 – holotype; 61 – paratype); 62–64 – S. (P.) dentiferum (62, 63 – Guyana; 64 – Peru); 65–67 – S. (P.) major nom. nov.; 68–70 – S. (Frontinus) irregulariterdentatum (68, 70 – neotype); 71–73 – S. (F.) planifemur sp. nov. (holotype). Epicranium in front (58, 68, 71); epicranium with pronotum (59, 62, 65, 66, 69) or only pronotum (60, 61, 63, 64, 67, 70, 72, 73) from above (59, 62, 65, 66, 70, 72) and from side (60, 61, 63, 64, 67, 69, 73).