Scintharista notabilis (Walker, 1870)

Felix, Rob, Bouwman, Jaap, Odé, Baudewijn, Ketelaar, Robert, Pham, Duc Minh & Bailey, James, 2025, The grasshoppers and crickets (Orthoptera) of the Socotra Archipelago (Yemen): a comprehensive overview and a description of a new Oecanthus Tree Cricket (Oecanthidae), Contributions to Entomology 75 (1), pp. 21-166 : 21-166

Scintharista notabilis (Walker, 1870)

Figs 76 , 77

References for Socotra.

Guichard 1992: 186 [as Schintharista [sic] notabilis ]; Wranik 2003: 324, plate 156.

Diagnostic notes.

Scintharista notabilis resembles S. forbesii at rest, but in flight, the coloured hind wings are unmistakable. No other taxon in the Archipelago combines a large body size with the following pattern of its hind wing: a yellow to red basal half bordered by a dark fascia of medium width reaching the posterior margin (Fig. 76 ). The distal part of the wing is transparent, except for a dark apex. Hind tibiae are orange in the distal two-thirds.

The OSF ( Cigliano et al. 2024 a) distinguishes eight subspecies of Scintharista notabilis , of which Uvarov (1941) treats seven, accompanied by a key. The two males with spread wings collected by Guichard on Abd el Kuri show a combination of characters not exactly fitting one of the subspecies in Uvarov’s key ( Uvarov 1941). They mostly resemble S. notabilis blanchardiana (Saussure, 1888) , a subspecies known to occur in Arabia ( Uvarov 1941; Ingrisch 1999). According to Uvarov (1941), the yellowish colour of the male hind wing does not match the red hind wings of male blanchardiana, a feature given only for females (but this is probably variable), nor does the absence of a bluish colour near the anal margin of the hind wing and the relatively narrow dark fascia. The orange colour of the hind tibiae and the banded tegmina are otherwise consistent with the Arabian subspecies.

Distribution and occurrence.

S. notabilis is widespread in Africa and Southwest Asia. It occurs on Abd el Kuri and potentially on Socotra. The specimen collected by Wranik at Hadiboh, Socotra, in 1984 is the only record known from the island. As S. notabilis is a rather conspicuous species with red or yellow wings, it is remarkable that it has not been recorded during other explorations on Socotra. Therefore, the sole record at Hadiboh, the island’s main town, may represent a stowaway, vagrant or a case of mislabelling. Natural vagrants, if occurring, could be searched for on the western coastline of Socotra.

Three specimens collected by Guichard in 1967 on Socotra (Hadiboh Plain, Hamadero, Kalansiya), placed in a draw between S. notabilis in the collection in NMHUK, are identified as S. forbesii , based on the darker colour, especially the distal half of the tegmina. The wings are closed, so it is difficult to identify the wing colour. Guichard (1992) only mentioned Abd el Kuri as a collecting site of S. notabilis .

Habitat and biology.

For a description of the habitat at the northern slopes of Jebel Saleh, see the species account of Sphingonotus albipennis Krauss, 1902 . Remarkably, Guichard did not collect this species, which must have been present on the site where he collected Scintharista notabilis and Heteracris annulosa .

Bioacoustics.

The only song known to us is a series of up to about 20 very short clicks. Clicks are repeated at the rate of about 12 / s and show a frequency spectrum between 5 and 20 kHz (e. g. Baudewijn Odé, XC 786780, accessible at https://www.xeno-canto.org/786780).

Figures

Figure 76. Scintharista notabilis (Walker, 1870), male. Collected on Abd el Kuri by Kenneth Guichard in 1967. Scale bar: 1 cm (photograph Rob Felix).

Figure 77. Distribution of Scintharista notabilis (Walker, 1870) in the Socotra Archipelago.