Pseudolebinthus lunipterus sp. nov.: a striking deaf and mute new cricket from Malawi (Orthoptera, Gryllidae, Eneopterinae)

Karen Salazar; Raymond J Murphy; Marion Guillaume; Romain Nattier; Tony Robillard

doi:10.7717/peerj.8204

Pseudolebinthus lunipterus sp. nov.: a striking deaf and mute new cricket from Malawi (Orthoptera, Gryllidae, Eneopterinae)

PeerJ. 2020 Jan 21:8:e8204. doi: 10.7717/peerj.8204. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Karen Salazar^{1

2}, Raymond J Murphy³, Marion Guillaume¹, Romain Nattier¹, Tony Robillard¹

Affiliations

¹ Institut de Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité (ISYEB), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, EPHE, Université des Antilles, Paris, France.
² Grupo de Investigación Insectos de Colombia, Instituto de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia.
³ Unaffiliated, Mzuzu, Malawi.

Abstract

This article presents an intriguing new cricket species of the tribe Xenogryllini discovered in Northern Malawi. This is the first case of mute and deaf species in the subfamily Eneopterinae; it shows no stridulatory apparatus on short male forewings and no tympana on either side of fore tibiae in both sexes. We introduce the new species and its complete mitogenome and assess phylogenetic relationships based on molecular data obtained from next-generation sequencing genome skimming method. Phylogenetic analyses place the new species within the genus Pseudolebinthus in Xenogryllini, as the sister species of Pseudolebinthus gorochovi Robillard. We describe Pseudolebinthus lunipterus sp. nov., provide illustrations of main morphology, male and female genitalia, photographs of living specimens and information about habitat and update the identification key for species of genus Pseudolebinthus. We discuss the differences between the new species and related taxa and the striking loss of acoustic communication in this cricket.

Keywords: Acoustic communication; Africa; Cricket; Evolution of communication; Malawi; Mitogenome; Molecular phylogeny; New species; Taxonomy; Xenogryllini.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by funding from the program Actions Thématiques Muséum (Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle and Institut Systématique Evolution, Biodiversité), and financial support for the doctoral studies of Karen Salazar was provided by the government agency Colciencias-Colombia (Program Number 756-2016). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.