Bioacoustics of Hephathus freyi

Remarks. H. tshakaranus was described based on four females from the midlands of North-Eastern Afghanistan ( 1850 m above sea level) ca. 25 km from the boundary with Tajikistan ( Dlabola, 1957 ). This form differs from European H. freyi in darker coloration (Fig. 68) and larger size: body length of females from the type series is 4.1–4.3 mm, whereas in three other species it ranges 2.8–3.6 mm in males and 3.3–4.0 in females. Specimens agreeing with Dlabola's description of H. tshakaranus were found in Tajikistan , Kyrgyzstan (Central Tien Shan), Iran and Armenia ( Tishechkin, 2000 , 2002 ). On average, specimens from these localities are larger than H. freyi from Southern Russia and Kazakhstan ; e.g. in population from Central Tien Shan (Lower Suu-Samyr and Kekemeren River Valleys, Figs. 89–94 ) body length is 3.3–3.7 mm in males and 3.9–4.2 in females; specimens from Iran ( Figs. 83–84 ) are even larger: 3.3–3.8 mm and 4.2–4.7 mm, respectively. However, in all populations, from which we have a sufficient sample, specimens with light coloration as in European H. freyi are present together with dark coloured ones fitting the description of H. tshakaranus ( Figs. 89–94 ). Moreover, in large series of males from Kulyab, Tajikistan ( 250 km North-West of the type locality of H. tshakaranus .) all specimens are light coloured with reduced black pattern ( Fig. 107 ), but in body length (3.3–3.6 mm) they are somewhat larger than typical H. freyi . Thus, it is impossible to distinguish between these two forms in size and coloration. Investigation of calling signals of large dark coloured males from Central Tien Shan (2 individuals from the environs of Suu-Samyr Village and 6 individuals from Kekemeren River Valley, Figs. 23–24, 30 ) showed that in acoustic traits they do not differ from typical H. freyi from other regions of Central Asia, Transcaucasia and European Russia ( Figs. 22, 29 ). On this basis we establish the synonymy H. freyi ( Fieber, 1868 ) = H. tshakaranus Dlabola, 1957 .