Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Responsive image
Issue: Vol. 4193 No. 1: 15 Nov. 2016
Type: Correspondence
Published: 2016-11-15
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4193.1.12
Page range: 195–196
Abstract views: 63
PDF downloaded: 3

The type specimen and generic placement of Tridactylus galla Saussure, 1895 (Orthoptera: Caelifera: Tridactylidae)

Illinois Natural History Survey, Prairie Research Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1816 South Oak Street, Champaign, Illinois 61820, USA
Muséum d’histoire naturelle, C.P. 6434, CH-1211, Genève 6, Switzerland
Orthoptera Caelifera Tridactylidae

Abstract

Tridactylus galla was described by Henri de Saussure (1895) on the basis of a single adult female collected during Vittorio Bottego’s first expedition to the Horn of Africa in 1892 and 1893. The species appears in lists compiled by Fenizia (1896), Lucas (1898) and Kirby (1906), but aside from a brief mention by Günther (1995), is entirely overlooked by subsequent authors and is absent from Otte’s (1997) catalogue. During the course of compiling an annotated catalogue of the Orthoptera described by Saussure (Hollier and Heads, 2012) we were able to relocate the type of Tridactylus galla in the collection of the Museo Civico di Storia Naturale “Giacomo Doria” in Genova, Italy. Our examination of the specimen confirmed Günther’s (1995) assertion that its placement in Tridactylus Olivier, 1789 is erroneous, and the species is herein formally transferred to the genus Xya Latreille, 1809.

 

References

  1. Fenizia, C. (1896) Relazione sulle specie nuove riportate dall’esplorazione del Giuba. Bollettino della Società Africana d’Italia, 15, 65–69.

    Günther, K.K. (1990) Zwei neue Xya-Arten aus dem Mittelmeergebiet (Orthoptera: Tridactylidae). Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift, 37, 119–136.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/mmnd.19900370125

    Günther, K.K. (1995) Die Tridactyloidea des südlichen Afrikas (Orthoptera, Caelifera). Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift, 42, 213–286.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/mmnd.19950420202

    Hollier, J. & Heads, S.W. (2012) An annotated list of the Orthoptera (Insecta) species described by Henri de Saussure, with an account of the primary type specimens housed in the Muséum d’histoire naturelle de Genève, Part 1: The Tridactyloidea (Caelifera). Revue Suisse de Zoologie, 119, 149–160.

    Kirby, W.F. (1906) Orthoptera Saltatoria. Part 1 (Achetidae et Phasgonuridae). A Synonymic Catalogue of Orthoptera (Orthoptera Saltatoria, Locustidae vel Acridiidae). Vol. 2. British Museum of Natural History, London, 562 pp.

    Latreille, P.A. (1809) Genera crustaceorum et insectorum secundum ordinem naturalem in familias disposita, iconibus exemplisque plurimus explicata. Tomus 4. Amand Koenig, Parisiis et Argentorati, 399 pp.

    Lucas, R. (1898) Bericht über die wissenschaftlichen Leistungen im Gebiete der Entomologie während de Jahres 1895. Orthoptera. Archiv für Naturgeschichte, 62, 84–99.

    Olivier, G.A. (1789) Histoire naturelle. Insectes. Encyclopédie méthodique. Entomologie, ou histoire naturelle des crustacés, des arachnides et des insectes. Tome 4. Pankouke, Paris, 331 pp.

    Otte, D. (1997) Orthoptera Species File No. 6: Tetrigoidea and Tridactyloidea (Orthoptera: Caelifera) and Addenda to Vols. 1–5. The Orthopterists’ Society, Philadelphia, 261 pp.

    Saussure, H. de. (1895) Esplorazione del Giuba e dei suoi affluent, compiuta dal Cap. V. Bottego durante gli anni 1892-93 sotto gli auspicii della Società Geografica Italiana. Risultati Zoologici V. Ortotteri. Annali del Museu Civico di Storia Naturale di Genova, 35, 67–93.