Rentziella, Morris & Ingrisch & Willemse & Willemse & De Luca & Klimas, 2025

Rentziella gen. nov.

( Figs 35–38 View FIGURE 35 View FIGURE 36 View FIGURE 37 View FIGURE 38 , 40–44 View FIGURE 40 View FIGURE 41 View FIGURE 42 View FIGURE 43 View FIGURE 44 )

Type-species Rentziella rufa sp. nov. here designated.

Description. Male.—Size comparatively small. Head with fastigium verticus short, projecting horizontally, strongly narrowing anteriorly, tip acute and from there extending downward as sharp keel joining fastigium frontis. Eyes globose. Pronotum short, surface irregularly coarsely rugose, without spines or tubercles, deeply cut by two transverse sulci, pro- and mesonotum slightly convex from above, metazona from above slightly depressed in the middle, laterally somewhat raised; disc roundly merging with lateral lobes in pro- and mesozona, in metazona angularly inserted; anterior margin slightly convex, ventro-anterior angle narrowly, ventroposterior angle broadly rounded; posterior margin of lateral lobe without humeral sinus, margin of disc truncate to faintly convex. Prosternum with two, basally wide, slightly divergent spines; meso- and metasternal lobe obtusely pointed. Thoracic auditory spiracle narrow, inconspicuous, not covered by pronotum, diameters 0.4- and 0.1-mm. Elytra wide, remarkably coriaceous and almost not pliable, when flexed reaching just beyond tip of abdomen and close to base of hind knee, considerably overlapping each other dorsally. Venation strongly reduced, replaced by dense archedictyon, only Sc and R well visible, widely separated from each other, running about parallel, reaching anterior margin near the tip. Stridulatory area strongly folded along Cu1, remarkably large, extending posteriorly along proximal half to third length of elytron and laterally along two thirds of basal width of elytron; stridulatory file of left elytron as seen from above just recognizable; mirror of right elytron large, elongate with a prominent overmirror fold. Hind wing well developed, cycloid, as long as elytron. Fore coxa with dorsal spine of variable and moderate size, mid and hind coxa unarmed. Legs from normal size and length to slender and long, armature moderate, knee-lobes with a single spine, those of fore legs small; fore tibia with an outer and inner dorsal apical spine, tympanum oval, completely open, no trace of a fold. Supra-anal plate with posterior margin slightly excised. Cercus slightly tapering distally, slightly hairy, incurved apically, tip rounded with a tiny hook-shaped superimposed tooth. Subgenital plate elongate, with a weak median keel, posterior margin deeply v-shaped excised giving rise to a pair of processes terminating into styles.

Female.—As male, slightly larger. Elytra less wide. Subgenital plate broad, posterior margin rounded with a shallow median incision. Ovipositior short, strong, basally widest, upcurved, lower margin scarcely crenulate, tip acute.

Comments. From the pointed fastigium verticis, the absence of spines, tubercles, teeth or other processes of the pronotum and the well-separated Sc and R veins of the elytra, the genus belongs to the Mossula -group of Mecopodinae . The combination of open tibial tympanum, the undivided fastigium verticis, the short elytra, the single-spined knee lobes and short ovipositor, exclude almost all known genera of the group.

A few genera only remain to be discussed. Ocica Walker, 1869 is represented by 5 species: Ocica lutescens Walker, 1869 (type species), Ocica nitida and Ocica lineata (both Redtenbacher, 1892), all three from Fidji Is., Ocica salomonis (C. Willemse, 1940) from Solomon Is. and Ocica karschi ( Karsch 1891, Karny 1920, Kevan 1987) from Caroline Is. The new genus has been compared with Ocica lutescens , Ocica nitida and Ocica salomonis . In Ocica the fastigium verticis is weakly sulcate dorsally and separated from the fastigium frontis, the pronotal surface much smoother, the dorsum of the metazona roundly not angulately merging with its lateral lobe, elytra less coriaceous with wider archedictyon and folded along R (resembling the Sympaestria-group of Phaneropterinae ) and the legs conspicuously slenderer and long and the ovipositor also longer and less curved. It is noted here that Ocica nitida could well be synonymous with Ocica lutescens and that from the quite peculiar male abdominal terminalia the generic arrangement of Ocica salomonis under Ocica should be considered doubtful.

Dasyphleps Karsch, 1891 is monotypic (Beier 1966): Dasyphlebs novaeguineae (de Haan, 1842) described after two females from “Southwest New Guinea collected by Muller” [translated from Dutch] (de Haan 1842). The species is poorly known. A century and a half later, further material is still not available. Also, Karny (1920) in his study of de Haan’s types gives but little more information on its morphological characters. The syntypes are now before us, two females in bad condition (Leiden Museum) ( Fig. 39 View FIGURE 39 ). The species was thought to belong to the Mossula -group ( Karny 1924a, C. Willemse 1961b, Beier 1966). However, the pronotum ( Fig. 39 View FIGURE 39 CD) presents tubercle-like processes at the lateral margins of the dorsum, one in the pro-, a divided one in the meso- and one in the anterior part of the metazona, which agrees more with the arrangement under the Phricta -group of genera.Apart from the distinct pronotal lateral keels, D. novaeguineae differs from Rentziella in the not raised [flush?] pronotal metazona, very slender and long legs, the strongly stylate eyes, the knob-like fastigium verticis, the shorter elytra not reaching the tip of the abdomen, in lacking any indication of main veins and in the narrower thicker ovipositor. The history of the nomenclatural validity of generic ranking of Dasyphleps is complicated (e.g., Redtenbacher 1891; Karny 1920, 1924a; Beier 1966; Kevan 1987). In addition, comparison of Dasyphlebs novaeguineae with a male before us representing Diaphlebus bivittatus Redtenbacher, 1892 makes clear that these genera are very close.

Going through other genera of Mecopodinae , the new species has also been compared with Gressittiella C. Willemse 1961 . This monotypic genus, however, has a strongly different pronotum, provided with conspicuous thorns scattered over its surface and is therefore considered as belonging to the Phricta- group of Mecopodinae . The male elytra, however, are of a strikingly similar appearance. Though the elytra in Gressittiella are still shorter with coarser archedictyon, the stridulatory file is much the same. The file of the latter presents also a transversely placed, raised ridge at the distal end upon the hind margin of the wing and only spacing and number of teeth are different between Gressittiella and Rentziella .

Etymology. Named [by Fer Willemse] in recognition of the distinguished orthopterist David Rentz.