Abstract
A new genus is proposed for a new East African Phaneropterinae species, Lunidia viridis, occurring on Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. Based on 33 records, notes on distribution and habitat are given, as well as acoustical data provided. Climate and vegetation parameters obtained along several transects on Mt. Kilimanjaro were evaluated describing the ecological niche of the new species. This interdisciplinary approach allows not only a profound characterisation of the ecological demands of the new genus but also predictions of the potential distribution area, which is tested for the first time for an African bush cricket species. Lunidia viridis n. gen. n. sp. occurs within humid and perhumid forests and Chagga home gardens, avoiding subhumid conditions on the mountain. It is found from 1,330 m upwards on the southern slopes, whereas the same ecological conditions are expressed from 1,930 m upwards on the drier northern slopes. Lunidia viridis has an unusually complex and variable song, which is described from field and laboratory recordings. The FISH technique for characterizing chromosomes is applied for the first time for an African species; L. viridis exhibits a karyotype typical for most Tettigoniidae.
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Acknowledgements
Many thanks to David Ragge for help with the characterization of the new genus. Part of this research received support from the Synthesys Project (http://www.sysnthesys.info/) financed by the European Community Research Infrastructure Action under the FP6 “Structuring the European Research Area Programme”, enabling us to visit the relevant collections in London and Tervuren. Special thanks to Stéphane Hanot (Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium) for assistance with image-taking, and to Drs. Eliane de Coninck and Marc de Meyer (at the same institution) for their support during work in the collection. We thank David Rentz and an anonymous reviewer for their valuable help improving this paper. I gratefully acknowledge grants by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft and the Tanzanian Commission for Science and Technology for permitting research.
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Hemp, C., Heller, KG., Warchałowska-Śliwa, E. et al. A new genus and species of African Phaneropterinae (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae), with data on its ecology, bioacoustics and chromosomes. Org Divers Evol 10, 215–226 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13127-010-0013-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13127-010-0013-3