Pseudotrigonidium Chopard, 1915

Desutter-Grandcolas, Laure, 2009, New and little known crickets from Espiritu Santo Island, Vanuatu (Insecta, Orthoptera, Grylloidea, Pseudotrigonidium Chopard, 1915, Phaloriinae and Nemobiinae p. p.), Zoosystema 31 (3), pp. 619-659 : 623

Genus Pseudotrigonidium Chopard, 1915

TYPE SPECIES. — Pseudotrigonidium sarasini Chopard, 1915: 152 .

DISTRIBUTION. — New Caledonia (Chopard 1915; Otte et al. 1987; Desutter-Grandcolas 1997a), New Guinea, Bismark archipelago, Java, Solomon islands ( Gorochov 1999).

Pseudotrigonidium was placed by Chopard (1968, 1969) in the subfamily Itarinae , together with Itara Walker, 1869 , Phaloria Stål, 1877 and a few other genera. Gorochov created the tribe Phaloriini Gorochov, 1985 and later the subfamily Phaloriinae to include both Phaloria and Pseudotrigonidium (among other genera), while he maintained Itara in Itarinae s.s. (e.g., Gorochov 1995). Even though they adopt the Phaloriinae subfamily, Eades & Otte (2009) kept Pseudotrigonidium in Itarinae without comment. Both hypotheses will have to be tested by the analysis of the relationships of Pseudotrigonidium , Itara , Phaloria and other related genera, which is far beyond the aim of the present paper. Pseudotrigonidium is consequently considered incertae sedis until conclusive evidence about its relations is available.

REMARK

The type species of the genus, P. sarasini , originates from New Caledonia. Its male genitalia, broadly figured by Chopard (1915), looks very similar to those of the new caledonian species presently placed in the genus Tremellia Stål, 1877 ( Eades & Otte 2009), with which Pseudotrigonidium had been synonymized for many years (Chopard 1968; but see Gorochov 1996 for synonymy removal). These New Caledonian species must clearly be transfered to Pseudotrigonidium , i.e. Pseudotrigonidium alpha ( Otte, 1987) n. comb., P. aptera (Desutter-Grandcolas, 1997) n. comb., P. beta ( Otte, 1987) n. comb., P. caledonica ( Otte, 1987) n. comb., P. noctifolia (Desutter-Grandcolas, 1997) n. comb. and P. tiwaka ( Otte, 1987) n. comb.