Poecilimon (Poecilimon) boncukdagensis Uluar, Chobanov & Çıplak, 2025

3.9. Poecilimon (Poecilimon) boncukdagensis Uluar, Chobanov & Çıplak sp. nov.

Description.

Holotype, male. Head. Fastigium of vertex equal or slightly narrower than half of scapus. Thorax. Pronotum short, slightly constricted in the middle, median sulcus located after the middle, cylindrical in prozona and distinctly raised in metazona, caudal margin of the disc concave, median carina occurs as a weak yellowish line; paranotal margin almost straight along prozona and oblique along metazona. Tegmina short, extending beyond the posterior margin of pronotum and reach to half of the second abdominal tergite; stridulatory vein almost totally covered by pronotum; stridulatory file with ca. 60 teeth. Male terminalia. Cercus cylindrical, gradually tapering toward apex, prominently incurved at apical half, incurved roughly as L-shaped, with a cylindrical distal branch almost as long as proximal branch and with 4–5 distinguishable denticles on external margin of distal branch and 3–4 denticles along the tip. Subgenital plate as wide as or slightly wider than long, with a quadrangularly concave caudal margin. Song. Male song consists of 11.3 (9–16) syllable duration (ms) and 14.65 (10–21) impulse number per syllable with occasional after-clicks following the main syllable at 20–30 ms. The peak frequency spectrum lies between 35 and 50 kHz. Thus, it is very similar to the song of P. denizliensis (see under the latter). Male song is exemplified in Figure 9 View Figure 9 and song measurements are provided in Table 3 View Table 3 . — Female. Similar to male in general. Pronotum slightly raised in metazona, tegmina well visible beyond hind margin of pronotum. Coloration. General coloration black with a creamish pattern; vertex black or with black dots on a creamish brown background, antennae black with regular white rings as in the group. Thorax. Disc of pronotum with black patterns or spots on a creamish brown background at the beginning of prozona, black in the middle and reddish brown in metazona; ventral half of the paranota creamish and dorsal half with black pattern; tegmina with typical black / light (marble or yellow) pattern; all legs are black dorsally. Abdomen. Abdominal terga black in front 3 / 4 and light in the remaining part, the black bands do not extend to subsequent tergum laterally. Female terminalia. Subgenital plate triangular, ovipositor typical of the group.

Diagnosis.

The new species, P. boncukdagensis sp. nov., shows sister group relationships with P. ciplaki + P. datca . P. boncukdagensis sp. nov. was suggested as a separate identical species by bPTP and GMYC while was placed within P ciplaki by ASAP delimitation tests. However, the new species and P. ciplaki well differ from each other by male cercus. Cercus is weakly incurved, with rounded apex, denticles constitute a single row along the tip in P. ciplaki , while strongly incurved, L-shaped and with truncate apex, denticles constituting two lines, one along the tip and the other along external margin in P. boncukdagensis . Additionally, male subgenital plate is as wide as long or slightly wider than long in the new species, while it is longer than wide in P. ciplaki . The new species and P. datca are not monophyletic and no delimitation test suggested it belongs within P. datca , but the new species is rather similar to P. datca montana especially by the male cercus. The new species differs by the distal branch of cercus as long as proximal branch (longer than the half-length of the proximal branch), while it is at most as long as the half-length of the proximal branch in P. datca datca . Additionally, the distal branch of cercus is black in the new species while dark but not black in P. datca . Apart from the male cercus, P. datca and P. boncukdagensis sp. nov. can also be distinguished by the male calling song; a syllable consists of 1–4 and 10–21 impulses in the first and second species respectively (Table 3 View Table 3 ). Along with these phenotypic characters, there are 8 mutations, detected in the concatenated matrix of COI + ND 2 + VAL by applying a PAUP analysis (File S 1), specific to the ancestral node of P. boncukdagensis sp. nov., which we considered further diagnostic characters of the species, at the position 873 (T → C), 1322 (A → G), 1331 (C → T), 2039 (T → C), 2063 (A → G), 2498 (A → G), 2499 (G → T), 2500 (T → G) and 2897 (G → A).

Derivatio nominis.

The name of the new species is established by the name of range area “ Boncuk Dağları ” Mts., located between Muğla and Denizli Provinces of Turkey.

Remarks.

Currently the new species, P. boncukdagensis sp. nov., is known only from the type locality Tuzla Pass of Boncuk Mts., but this altitudinal chain is isolated by lowlands from surrounding highlands. Regarding this statement, the record of P. zonatus zonatus from Sandras Mt. in Muğla Province (close to Tuzlabeli) by Sevgili et al. (2018) may refer to P. boncukdagensis but needs confirmation. The male song consists of 11.3 (9–16) ms of 14.65 (10–21) impulses and with occasional after-clicks following the main syllable at 20–30 ms. The peak frequency spectrum lies between 35 and 50 kHz. Male song is exemplified in Figure 9 View Figure 9 and song measurements are provided in Table 3 View Table 3 .

Material examined.

See population 10 in Table 1 View Table 1 . Type material: TURKEY, Muğla, Boncuk Mts. Tuzlabeli Pass, 36.87161N, 28.16340E, 1401 m, 30. 05. 2021 (leg. B. Çıplak and Ö. Yahyaoğlu). Two males (including holotype) and 2 females, Turkey, Muğla, Boncuk Mts. Tuzlabeli Pass , 36.87161N, 28.16340E, 1401 m, 30. 05. 2021 (leg. B. Çıplak and Ö. Yahyaoğlu) (in alcohol in MEVBIL) GoogleMaps ; 1 male, 4 females, Turkey, Muğla, Fethiye, Tuzlabeli Pass , 1650 m, 29. 07. 1997 (leg. B. Çıplak) (in AUZM) . For descriptive structures see Figure 8 View Figure 8 , and for calling song Figure 9 View Figure 9 . The Mgt population given under the P. ciplaki in Kaya, 2018: p. 87, Fig. 1 View Figure 1 . represents this new taxon.