Wednesday 7 January 2015

Two new species of Katydids from Pakistan.


Katydids (or Buschcrickets), Tettigonioidea, are Members of the Insect Order Orthoptera, which also includes Crickets and Grasshoppers. They are voracious eaters and can consume a wide variety of plant (and sometimes animal) material; as such many species are considered to be serious agricultural pests.

In a paper published in the journal ZooKeys on 18 December 2014, Riffat Sultana, Waheed Ali Panhwar and Muhammad Saeed Wagan of the Department of Zoology at the University of Sindh and Imran Khatri of the Department of Entomology at Sindh Agricultural University describe two new species of Katydids from Rawalakot Province (check) in Pakistan. Both are placed in the genus Sathrophyllia.

The first new species is named Sathrophyllia saeedi, in honour of Muhammed Saeed Wagan of the Department of Zoology at the University of Sindh. The species is described from a single female specimen, 29 mm in length and light brown in colour. The specimen was collected from agricultural land between dunes in valleys with highly diverse plant communities.

Sathrophyllia saeedi, adult female. Sultana et al. (2014).

The second new species is named Sathrophyllia irshadi, in honour of Muhammad Irshad of the National Agricultural Research Council in Islamabad, for his contributions to entomology. This species is also described from a single female specimen, 38 mm in length and light brown in colour. It was collected from high-nutrient grasslands, again in an area of high plant biodiversity.

Sathrophylliairshadi, adult female. Sultana et al. (2014).

See also…

http://sciencythoughts.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/three-new-species-of-katydid-from-china.htmlThree new species of Katydid from China. Katydids of the genus Xizicusand its close relatives are found across eastern Asia, though the taxonomy of the group is currently somewhat confused, in part due to publications being published in different languages...
Katydids (or Bush Crickets) are members of the Cricket and Grasshopper Order, Orthoptera, noted for their exceptionally long antennae and the way in which they...

Bush Crickets, or Katydids, are large Insects in the Order Tettigoniidae, related to Grasshoppers and True Crickets. The are distributed widely around the globe, but reach their maximum diversity in the tropics and in temperate North America. The males of each species attract their mates with a distinctive call, made by...
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