Bioacoustics of Pteroplistes

Description . Body of medium length ( 12–19 mm ); dorso-ventrally flat head and abdomen. Short setae on head, pronotum and legs; TIII very hairy. Head wider than high in front view; vertex completely flat; face and vertex making an obtuse angle in lateral view. Fastigium wider than scape. Eyes bulging, ellipsoidal in shape. Median ocellus dorsal in position and larger than lateral ocelli; ocelli arranged in triangle, the distance between lateral ocelli twice the distance between lateral and median ocelli. Epistemal suture convex and very deep; area between antennal pit and epistemal suture bulged with deep concavity in the middle. Clypeus slightly bulging. Maxillary palpi short; 3rd, 4th and 5th joints variable in length, 4th equal to or longer than 3rd and 5th; dorsal side of 5th joint concave; distal end angular. Pronotum transverse and wider than head, narrowing anteriorly; DD anterior margin slightly concave and raised; DD posterior margin convex; LL very short, obliquely truncated posteriorly. TI with large inner tympanum; small outer tympanum (absent in Indian species); one pair of ventral apical spurs; inner apical spur twice longer than outer. TII inflated; with a pair of ventral apical spurs. TIII with 3 pairs of apical spurs; inner ventral spur the smallest; median inner spur the longest, twice as long as median outer apical spur. TIII dorsally flattened, with strong lateral margins, 2 inner and 2–3 outer subapical spurs. Basitarsomeres III higher than wide; furrowed dorsally with series of spines on either side. FW and HW present in both males and females. Cerci very thick and long. Male. FW and HW upto or sometimes longer than abdomen; HW longer than FW. FW with all stridulatory structures: file without teeth on ascending part; harp with 6–7 veins; mirror divided by two veins and located on anterior half; additional vein between mirror and 1st chord making anterior angle of mirror flat ( Fig. 2 E, L). Mirror cell separated from apical field by a narrow, transverse undivided cell. Other venation: CuP thicker than CuA and extending upto 2nd or 3rd harp vein; two short horizontal veins between mirror and CuA. Apical field long with 4–5 cell alignments. Lateral field with 11–19 oblique veins. Supra-anal plate with a median structure more or less subdivided and prolonged into a pair of dorsal spine like structure, diverging from common base. Subgenital plate high and wide, apically not truncated ( Fig. 2 N). Male genitalia. Pseudepiphallic sclerite transverse with a pair of dorsal lophi ( Fig. 4 A, D); pseudepiphallic apodeme and parameres absent. Rami often long, wide sub-anteriorly and irregular in shape; rami connected to pseudepiphallic sclerite posteriorly. Ectophallic fold long, partly membranous and with a pair of sclerotized upper processes (ectophallic hooks) ( Fig. 4 A, F). Anterior part of endophallic cavity sclerotized and with a pair of endophallic hooks ( Fig. 4 B, E). Female. FW variable in length, slightly overlapping; venation made of equally strong longitudinal and transverse veins, delimiting many squared to diamond-shaped cells. Ovipositor flat laterally, smooth and sword like. Subgenital plate short or very short, wider than long and indented apically. Female genitalia. Copulatory papilla very flat, variously sclerotized; apex rounded. Coloration. Body rufous to dark brown. Head rufous and dark brown mixed. Pronotum LL brown; DD light brown. Legs yellowish; femora with brown dots; FI and FII with sub distal brown rings. Female forewing veins pigmented ( Fig. 1 A, C, E). Habitat. From observations of males and females, P. kervasae Jaiswara , n. sp. and P. masinagudi Jaiswara , n. sp. are nocturnal crickets hiding under raised barks during the day; they are active high on tree trunks; males were observed singing at 2–2.5 m high on small trees near main branch forks. These observations on Indian species confirm Gorochov’s (2004) data.