Eurycorypha paraspicula, Hemp & Massa & Heller, 2025

Hemp, Claudia, Massa, Bruno & Heller, Klaus-Gerhard, 2025, Description and bioacoustics of three new Eurycorypha (Orthoptera, Tettigonioidea) species from Tanzania and Ghana, with notes on their biology, Journal of Orthoptera Research 34 (2), pp. 187-200 : 187-200

Eurycorypha paraspicula sp. nov.

Material examined. —

Holotype: ♂; TANZANIA • East Usambara Mountains, Nilo Forest Reserve ; 1500 m; montane forest; February 2021; CCH . Paratypes: 3 ♂; TANZANIA • same data as holotype; CCH • 1 ♂, same data as holotype; March 2021; CCH .

Description. —

Male. General habitus and color. A medium-sized species with a distinctly roundish appearance (Fig. 1 A, B ). The tegmina display a pattern of white to yellowish veins on a dark green ground color. The rest of the body is speckled yellowish-green. In life, yellow fasciae are visible on the head and body. Head and antennae: Antennae thin, typical of Eurycorypha , reaching approximately to the tips of the flexed tegmina. Fastigium verticis about twice as wide as the scapus of the antenna; it meets the equally broad fastigium frontis along a well-developed horizontal line. The face bears callose carinae, yellow when alive. Eyes elongate and oval, typical for the genus. Thorax: Pronotal disc flat and smooth; anterior margin broadly incurved, posterior margin broadly rounded. Wings: Tegmina very roundish, about 2.3 times longer than broad; hind wings (alae) hardly visible. Legs: Fore coxa with a short, stout spine. Fore and mid femora dorsally unarmed; ventrally with 3–4 outer spines, lacking inner spines. Hind femora with 5–8 irregularly spaced spines near the apex on the ventral side. Fore and mid tibiae with a ventral double row of numerous spines. Hind tibiae with four rows of spines and three slender spurs on each side. Abdomen: Last abdominal tergite bearing two slender and sharply pointed spines at the posterior margin (Fig. 1 B, D ). Cerci thick at the base, tapering toward rounded apices, each with a distinct sclerotized ridge (Fig. 1 C – E ). Subgenital plate broad at the base, narrowing posteriorly; posterior margin incised, forming two short lateral processes; styli present (Fig. 1 E ).

Female. — Unknown.

Measurements. —

(in mm) Males (n = 5) Total length: 30.3–31.8; body length: 18.2–22.7; pronotum length: 4.8–5.2; pronotum depth: 3.9–4.3; length of tegmina: 24–26.7; width of tegmina: 10.0–11.0; length of hind femur: 16.5–17.7.

Habitat and notes on biology. —

Montane forest at around 1500 m. a. s. l. Currently, this species has been collected only at the highest points of the East Usambara Mountains in the Nilo Forest Reserve. Despite regular visits to this area (19 times between 2012 and 2024), no females have been encountered. Similar to other montane Orthoptera species, it is likely present only during the warmer times of the year.

Distribution. —

Tanzania (East Usambara Mountains).

Diagnosis. —

Males of E. paraspicula are characterized by an unusually roundish habitus, which is uncommon within the genus. This species is morphologically most similar to E. spicula from the Nguru Mountains, but can be distinguished by the more rounded shape of the male body, longer paired spines on the posterior margin of the tenth abdominal tergite, and notably thicker cerci. The male cerci of E. paraspicula are robust and terminate in a distinct sclerotized ridge, whereas in E. spicula they are more slender with narrower tips. Most significantly, the acoustic signals of E. paraspicula differ from those of E. spicula , providing a reliable means of species recognition. The female of E. paraspicula is currently unknown.

Bioacoustics. —

The male song consists of groups of polysyllabic, crescendoing echemes (Figs 8 A , 9 A ). An echeme contains 7.7 ± 0.5 syllables (4 males; 68 measurements; range 5–9), produced at an SRR of 41 Hz corresponding to a syllable period 24.4 ± 0.8 ms (range 20–28 ms; T = 24–25 ° C). One group of echemes typically contains 1.9 ± 0.3 elements (4 males; 35 measurements; range 1–3), repeated at periods of 1.56 ± 0.56 s (4 males; 37 measurements; range 1.2–2.4). These groups are separated by intervals of 8.7 ± 1.6 s (4 males; 32 measurements; range 4.6–24.2) from the next. The spectrum of the song shows a relatively narrow peak around 13 kHz (Fig. 11 ; see Table 1 for other details). Stridulatory file, tooth number, and tooth intervals are in the range typical for Eurycorypha (Table 1 ; for comparison, see Heller and Hemp 2020).

Figures

Fig. 1. Eurycorypha paraspicula. A, B. Male; C. Lateral view of male abdominal apex of alive specimen; D. Dorsal view of male abdominal apex; E. Ventral view of male abdominal apex with subgenital plate.

Fig. 8. Oscillograms of male calling songs, overviews (10 s sections). In E. willschi, two slow are followed by one fast echeme.

Fig. 9. Oscillograms of male calling songs and male – female duets, details (1 s sections).

Fig. 11. Power spectra of male calling song of Eurycorypha species. In species with restricted frequency range, short black lines mark its end. Blue lines indicate power spectra of female responses, and the green broken line in E. binasuta indicates the power spectro of the short pulse-like male syllables.