Tachycines (Gymnaeta) montana, Feng & Xiao & Zhao, 2025

Feng, Xueli, Xiao, Jie & Zhao, Zhengxue, 2025, Two new species of the subgenus Tachycines (Gymnaeta) (Orthoptera: Rhaphidophoridae: Aemodogryllinae) from a karst cave in China, Zootaxa 5594 (2), pp. 395-400 : 398-400

Tachycines (Gymnaeta) montana sp. nov.

( Figs. 3–5 )

Description. Male. Body medium size ( Figs. 3A–C ). Vertex of head divided into two conical tubercles, bases of the well-developed tubercles drawn together, obtusely rounded apices separated ( Fig. 3D ). Eyes normal, not reduced; ocelli distinct ( Fig. 3D ). Anterior margin of pronotum straight, posterior margin protruding caudad, ventral margin arc-shaped ( Fig. 3E ); posterior margin of mesonotum protruding caudad; posterior margin of metanotum protruding caudad.

Legs long and slender. Coxae with small medial projections. Fore femur about 1.8 times longer than the pronotum, ventrally unarmed, internal genicular lobe with 1 small spine, external genicular lobe with 1 long spine; fore tibia ventrally with 1 inner spine and 2 outer spines, apex with 1 small outer spine on dorsal surface and 1 pair of long spines on ventral surface, between the paired ventral spines with 1 small spine. Middle femur ventrally unarmed, internal and external genicular lobes with 1 long spine respectively; middle tibiae ventrally with 1 inner spine and 1 outer spine, apex with 1 pair of dorsal spines and 1 pair of ventral spines, between the paired ventral spines with 1 small spine. Hind femur ventrally unarmed; hind tibia dorsally with 67–76 inner spines and 73–76 outer spines, arrange in groups, ventral and dorsal surface with a pair of small subapical spines respectively, apex with 1 pair of long dorsal spines and 1 pair of long ventral spines; the longest dorso-apical spine not exceeding the dorso-apical spine of hind metatarsus ( Fig. 3F ). Hind metatarsus keeled beneath.

Abdominal sternites with short ventral projections. Epiphallus of male genitalia like the shape of “H”, the upper and lower end notched; median lobe of genitalia with 1 pair of apical lobules, divided by a deep notch; paired lateral sclerites rather large; dorsal and ventral pairs of lateral lobes almost equal in length ( Figs. 3G, H ).

Female. General appearance like that of male ( Figs. 4A–C ). Ovipositor shorter than the half of hind femur; base of ovipositor broad, narrowing to apex; apex pointed and slightly curved upwards; almost indistinct denticles on ventral edge of distal part of inferior valves ( Fig. 4D ). Subgenital plate with median lobe rounded triangular ( Fig. 4E ).

Coloration. Body brown, mottled with dark brown blotches. The two conical tubercles of vertex black. Face with 2 light brown longitudinal stripes under eyes. Legs with brown annular stripes.

Material examined. Holotype: 1♂, Lianhua Cave, Puding County, Anshun City , Guizhou Province, 7.IX.2024, coll. Jie Xiao, Zhengxue Zhao & Xueli Feng. Paratypes: 5♂, 12♀, same data as the holotype .

Measurements (mm). Body: ♂ 12.06–16.12, ♀ 13.50–14.28; pronotum: ♂ 5.00–5.60, ♀ 5.42–5.62; fore femur: ♂ 11.44–12.75, ♀ 10.80–12.46; hind femur: ♂ 22.00–22.27, ♀ 23.00–24.10; ovipositor: ♀ 10.00–10.08.

Distribution. China (Guizhou).

Discussion. T. (G.) montana sp. nov. and species T. (G.) Lianhuaensis sp. nov. were collected from Lianhua Cave ( Figs. 5A, B ), but the two new species are distributed in different spatial niches, with T. (G.) montana sp. nov. living in the cave entrance and T. (G.) Lianhuaensis sp. nov. living in dark places in a deep cave. While T. (G.) Lianhuaensis sp. nov. showing apparent troglomorphic features, is a clear cave-adapted species, the morphology of T. (G.) montana sp. nov. does not show significant degradation. A similar situation was reported by Feng et al. (2020) for the Shuangcha Cave in Guizhou, where T. (G.) shuangcha lives together with the less cave adapted species T. (G.) tongrenus ( Feng et al., 2020) .

Etymology. The specific epithet pertains to the fact that this species inhabits mountainous regions.

Figures

FIGURE 3. Tachycines (Gymnaeta) montana sp. nov. (male). A. habitus, lateral view; B. habitus, dorsal view; C. habitus, ventral view; D. vertex of head, showing conical tubercles; E. pronotum, dorsal view; F. hind tarsus, lateral view; G. genitalia, ventral view; H. genitalia, dorsal view.

FIGURE 4. Tachycines (Gymnaeta) montana sp. nov. (female). A. habitus, lateral view; B. habitus, dorsal view; C. habitus, ventral view; D. ovipositor, lateral view; E. subgenital plate, ventral view.

FIGURE 5. A. The entrance of Lianhua Cave. B. The skylight of Lianhua Cave.