Pterotiltus berlandi Ramme, 1929

Rowell, C. H. F. & Oumarou-Ngoute, Charly, 2025, Review of Pterotiltus Karsch, 1893 (Orthoptera, Acrididae, Oxyinae), European Journal of Taxonomy 986, pp. 1-104 : 56-57

12. Pterotiltus berlandi Ramme, 1929

Figs 32–34 ; Table 10

Pterotiltus berlandi Ramme, 1929: 316 .

Pterotiltus berlandi – Johnston 1956: 258. — Dirsh 1965: 236; 1970: 120. — Johnston 1968: 173. — Hollis 1975: 226 (note: misspelt as Pterotiltus berlandti ).

non Pterotiltus berlandi – Dirsh 1955: 68 (misidentification, most probably P. hollisi ).

Type material

Holotype

EQUATORIAL GUINEA • ♂; San Benito; 1885; L.P.L. Guiral leg; MNHN, MNHN-EO-CAELIF 3339 . (Only photo seen, Fig. 32 , specimen unavailable to us).

Paratype

EQUATORIAL GUINEA • 1 ♀ ( Fig. 33 ); same data as for holotype, but “ Riv. San Benito ”; MfN, DORSA BA 000029S01 .

Description

Examination of the female paratype ( Fig. 33 ) confirms Ramme’s description of a predominantly olive green and yellow animal with a red distal abdomen. Hind knees seem to be only partially reddish (on lobes and in midline in dorsal view), otherwise green. (Ramme described the knees as brownish, specifically not red). The female paratype differs from all other specimens of the genus in that the clypeus and upper labrum are bright red (well seen in the photo by S. Ingrisch shown in the OSF ( Fig. 33C )). In that photo there is a trace of red on the apex of fastigium too.

The male holotype ( Fig. 32 ) is in very poor condition, with almost no trace of the original colouration, and we were not permitted to borrow or dissect it. We therefore cannot say anything about its phallic structures.

Ramme’s (1929) description of the holotype reads: [Head light brown; Antennae broken, light brown; pronotum, metanotum and basal half of abdomen dirty olive and light brown, apical half of abdomen red. Fore and middle leg missing. Hind femur yellowish-olive, knee somewhat brownish, tibia olive].

(We think the Paris male holotype may have had red knees, perhaps a red vertex, and a red subgenital plate, though now very discoloured). Antennae are missing.

Measurements

See Table 10 .

Distribution

The type locality is extremely vague. All that can be said with certainty is that it was in the lower valley of the Rio San Benito in Rio Muni. The collector was Léon Pierre Louis Guiral, a French explorer (1858–1885). He led an expedition up the Rio San Benito (also called the Mbini) in what is now Rio Muni (the mainland territory of Equatorial Guinea). His journey was described by Künkel d’Herculais (1889), who relates that the party only penetrated some 150 km upstream before retreating to the coast again. This distance would not suffice to bring them out of Rio Muni into what is now Gabon, but was then known (to Europeans) as French Congo, the name appearing on the specimen labels. According to Wikipedia, there was much trespasss by French colonists from French Congo into the Rio Muni enclave in the late nineteenth century, which was when Guiral was active. The Treaty of Paris (1900), between France and Spain, first regularised Rio Muni’s present-day boundaries.

Dirsh (1955, 1970) refers to a specimen (RMCA Tervuren, examined ( Fig. 34 )) from Muhavura Mountain, Rwanda, that he examined and labelled P. berlandi . The present authors consider it likely that this is a misidentification of P. hollisi , and the matter is treated under that name below.

Status of taxonomic material

Poor. Further specimens, especially new males, would be necessary to characterize this species. Its uncertain provenance makes this rather unlikely to occur.

Figures

Fig. 32. Pterotiltus berlandi Ramme, 1929, holotype, ♂ (MNHN-EO-CAELIF 3339). A. Lateral view. B. Dorsal view. C. Labels (photos Simon Poulain, MNHN).

Fig. 33. Pterotiltus berlandi Ramme, 1929, paratype, ♀ (MfN, DORSA BA 000029S01). A. Lateral view. B. Dorsal view. C. Face, showing red colouration of clypeus and labrum (photo S. Ingrisch, from the OSF). D. Labels.

Fig. 34. Pterotiltus sp. indet. (RMCA). This specimen was identified by Dirsh as P. berlandi; the present authors think this erroneous. It may be P. hollisi; see text for discussion.