Abstract
The genus Pediella Roberts, described originally from the Venezuelan Páramos is reviewed. Three new species from the Peruvian Puna are described. The genus shows a striking disjunct distribution. It is the only Melanoplinae genus known to occur at the Páramos and Puna highlands above 3000 meters. Pediella exhibits a homogeneous morphology across species. Differences among species are rather small, observed mostly in the shape of the male cerci, phallic complex, and coloration of the hind tibiae. The edition of this paper has been formatted with embedded links to images of type specimens, maps based on geo referenced specimen data and species key available on the Orthoptera Species file online (http://orthoptera.speciesfile.org).References
Amedegnato, C. (1974) Les genres d'acridiens néotropicaux, leur classification par familles, sous-familles et tribus. Acrida, 3, 193–204.
Amedegnato, C. (1976) Structure et evolution des genitalia chez les acridiens et families apparentées. Acrida, 5, 1–15.
Amedegnato, C. (1977) Étude des Acridoidea centre et sud américains (Catantopinae sensu lato), anatomie des genitalia, classification, répartition, phylogénie. Thèse, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris. (Unpublished), 385 pp.
Cigliano, M.M. & Lange, C.E. (2007) Systematic revision and phylogenetic analysis of the South American genus Chlorus (Orthoptera, Acridoidea, Melanoplinae). Zoologica Scripta, 36, 241–254.
Cigliano, M.M. & Otte, D. (2003) Revisionary study of the Melanoplinae genus Pedies Saussure (Orthoptera: Acridoidea). Transactions of the American Entomological Society, 129, 111–132.
Chintauan-Marquier, I., Jordan, S., Berthier, P., Amedegnato, C. & Pompanon, F. (in press). Multiple Origins of a Short-Horned Grasshopper Subfamily: the Melanoplinae (Orthoptera: Acrididae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution
Dinerstein, E., Olson, D.M., Graham, D.J., Webster, A.L., Primm, S.A., Bookbinder, M.P. & Ledec, G. (1995) Una Evaluación del Estado de Conservación de las Ecorregiones de América Latina y el Caribe. Publ. Banco Mundial - Fondo Mundial para la Naturaleza, Washington D.C. 135 pp.
Eades, D.C. & Otte, D. (2009) Orthoptera Species File Online. Version 2.0/3.5. Available from: http://Orthoptera.SpeciesFile.org (10/19/2009).
Hadley, A. (2006) CombineZ5. Available from: http://www.hadleyweb.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/CZ5/combinez5.htm
Liebermann, J. (1968) Lista alfabética preliminar de las tucuras de la tribu Dichroplini de la región neotropical (Orth. Acrididae). Revista de la Sociedad Entomológica Argentina, 30(1967), 27–36.
Luteyn, J., Cleef, A. & Rangel, C.O. (1992) Plant diversity in Paramo: towards a checklist of paramo plants and a generic flora. In: Balslev, H. and Luteyn, L. J. (Eds.), Paramo and Andean ecosystem under human influence. Academic Press, London, pp. 71–74.
Otte, D. (1981) The North American Grasshoppers. Vol. 1. Acrididae: Gomphocerinae and Acridinae. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 275 pp.
Otte, D. (1995) Orthoptera Species File. Vol. 5. Grasshoppers (Acridomorpha) D. The Orthopterists’ Society and The Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, 630 pp.
Roberts, H.R. (1937) Studies on the family Acrididae (Orthoptera) of Venezuela. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 89, 343–368, pl. 13–14.
Ronderos, R.A. (1985) Consideraciones sobre la biogeografía de los Melanoplinae en Sudamérica (Orthoptera: Acrididae). Proceedings of the 3rd Triennial Meeting of the Pan American Acridiological Society, 5–10 July 1981, 53–54.
Vuilleumier, F. & Monasterio, M., Eds. (1987) High Altitude Tropical Biogeography. Oxford University Press, USA.