Bioacoustics of Copiphora hastata

C. hastata can be easily identified among Costa Rican members of the genus by the presence of a dark brown patch covering most of the face, and the shape of the fastigium of vertex. Females of this new species as well as those of C. cultricornis have consistently the longest ovipositors among all Copiphora spp. in Costa Rica (and, in fact, all Tettigoniidae ). From the closely related C. cultricornis it differs in the coloration of the face (yellow in C. cultricornis ) and tegmina (posterior edges of tegmina reddish in C. hastata , green in C. cultricornis ), shape of the fastigium of vertex (distinctly longer and more flattened laterally in C. cultricornis ), characteristics of the male’s stridulatory file (file with more teeth in C. cultricornis ) as well as the characteristics of the male’s call ( Figs. 55 D-E). Tremulations of these two species, however, are virtually identical, suggesting that they play little or no role in species recognition.

Diagnostic description.— Body large, with wings in both sexes extending well beyond apex of abdomen ( Figs. 7 A, 36E). Fastigium of vertex forming large horn, somewhat flattened laterally, especially in its apical part, fastigium always slightly dilated subapically, about 3 times as long as eye diameter; dorsal part of fastigium strongly granulose ( Fig. 7 C). Face convex; genal carinae of head well developed, granulose. Pronotum smooth, flat dorsally; anterior dorsal margin straight, posterior margin weakly convex; lateral lobe of pronotum about 1.6 times longer than high. Male stridulatory file weakly curved, 3.2 mm long, 275 μm wide, with 147 teeth; teeth in proximal half of file wider, thinner and more densely arranged, transition between two types sudden ( Fig. 42 C); mirror approximately oval; small, parallel vein next to AA 1 present. Ventral spines of femora relatively short and thin, green; all genicular lobes armed with sharp spines, sometimes spine on anterior lobes of fore femur obtuse. Male cercus thick, blunt, and somewhat incurved, slightly thicker at midlength than at base; ventral, subapical spine of cercus long, thin and pointed; apex of cercus with sharply triangular lobe underneath ( Fig. 7 D). Male subgenital plate narrowed toward apex, apex straight; styli short, about 2.5 times as long as wide. Female subgenital plate approximately triangular, with distinct, triangular apical incision. Ovipositor extremely long, straight, more than 3 times as long as hind femur (ratio ovipositor/hind femur 3.3-3.5) ( Fig. 7 ). Coloration .— General coloration light green ( Fig. 36 E). Fastigium of vertex yellowish-brown; face with large, oval, brown spot covering most of the frons, upper portion of the clypeus, and mandibles ( Fig. 7 B); remainder of head yellow. Pronotum green, with two dark brown to dark olive green stripes along lateral dorsal edges of pronotum. Tegmina green, never mottled with dots; edges of tegmina, especially in their apical portions, red; male stridulatory file usually green; legs green, with green femoral spines. Abdomen green. Measurements .— Table 4 . Bioacoustics.— Copiphora hastata has a call similar to that of C. cultricornis , although the series of chirps are shorter and the intervals between individual chirps are much shorter. Also, each chirp consists of a much higher number of pulses than that of C. cultricornis . Individual series of chirps last about 3.5 s and are separated by several seconds to several minutes of silence ( Fig. 55 D). Each chirp lasts 153.2 - 241.5 ms and their length increases towards the end of the series. The chirps consist of 5 - 14 pulses, and the amplitude increases towards the end of each pulse ( Fig. 55 E). Most of the energy of the call is allocated between 8.6 and 11.6 kHz.