Bioacoustics of Platycleidini

The new Albanian species clearly belong to the cluster of species of the four genera Amedegnatiana , Montana , Parnassiana and Metrioptera s. str. Species in the latter genera show general resemblance in the shape of pronotum, male cerci, ovipositor, tegmina (if reduced), epiphallus, as well as in coloration having two colour variants— brownish ones and specimens in which the pronotum and vertex are deep green. Amedegnatiana was described by Massa & Fontana (2011) for a single species, A. vicheti (Delmas & Rambier) , found in a small region in southern France . Morphological characters mentioned in the description to separate this genus from Parnassiana , in which it was originally placed, are the shape of pronotum, male anal tergite, female subgenital plate and ovipositor. The two Albanian species quite closely resemble Amedegnatiana , but they differ in the pronotum (pronotal disc more flattened in Amedegnatiana ) and the hind femur (wider in Amedegnatiana ). Besides, in male Amedegnatiana the cercus is slimmer, with a small side tooth in the apical third, whereas, in the Albanian species the cercus is wider, the side tooth bigger and placed in the medial third. Females differ in the subgenital plate with the hind margin being straight in Amedegnatiana , excised in the middle in the new Albanian species, and in the ovipositor, which is slimmer in the Albanian species. Montana was described by Zeuner (1941) for species in which the ovipositor is regularly curved, narrow, light coloured with a dark coloured tip, having relatively slender hind femora (opposed to Parnassiana with stout hind femora), and flattened pronotal disc (opposed to rounded as in Sepiana Zeuner ). Montana consists of a rather heterogeneous group of species with considerable variation in the shape of pronotum, length of the fore wings, shape of the hind femur, male anal tergite, cercus and titillator, as well as the female subgenital plate and ovipositor. The characters displayed by the new Albanian species do not differ from character states found across species assigned to Montana albeit some are only found in one or two species. Parnassiana was erected by Zeuner (1941) for a rather uniform group of species with stout hind femora, and relatively short fore wings. The new Albanian species share the stout hind femora, shortened wings, the shape of the male 10 th tergite and the rounded edges of the pronotum with Parnassiana . However, they differ from Parnassiana in the fore wings being slightly wider and longer (especially in females), the female subgenital plate being rectangular, without deep emargination and a slightly longer pronotum. Besides, the new Albanian species carry the distinct dark and light spots in the fore wings, typical of Platycleis sensu lato , but these spots are lacking in the fore wings of most species of Parnassiana . Metrioptera s. str. was redefined by Zeuner (1941) for species with shortened wings in which the female subgenital plate is bilobate, the 7th sternite unmodified, the ovipositor is regularly curved and compressed, and the hind femora are slender. Like Montana , the species of Metrioptera show variation in pronotum shape, wing length, absence or presence of black spots in the fore wing, shape of the hind femur, the male anal tergite and the ovipositor. In addition to the black spots on the fore wings, which are lacking in most species of Metrioptera (but present in M. hoermanni and M. karnyana ), the new Albanian species have a more convex pronotum, shorter fore wings, and the hind femur is more compact. Males also differ in the titillator, which in the new Albanian species has spines on both apical and basal arms, whereas in Metrioptera spines are only present on the apical arm. Females differ in the ovipositor being wider and more curved in Metrioptera but again this is less so in M. hoermanni and M. karnyana . In song pattern, both new species differ clearly from all other Montana and Metrioptera s.str. species with known song (see Heller 1988 ; Ingrisch & Pavićević 2012; Ivković et al . 2017 ). They are also easily distinguished from Parnassiana species, which all have complex echemes (phrases) consisting of microsyllable and macrosyllable part, both composed of pairs of syllables ( Heller 1988 ; Willemse et al . 2018 ). Amedegnatiana vicheti , however, seems to have a quite variable song with different patterns during day and night ( Barataud 2025 ). Here more research is necessary to achieve safe conclusions. Overall, the new taxa considered here fit less well into Amedegnatiana , Parnassiana and Metrioptera , while showing a good match with Montana . Because differences with Montana are small, the erection of a new genus is not required, and thus the new species have been assigned to Montana .