Tettigoniidae (Insecta: Orthoptera) collected in tropical forests of Zambia, Cameroon, Gabon and São Tomé during the entomological expeditions of African Natural History Research Trust

Abstract

Summary The present study is based on a significant sample of Orthoptera, mainly Tettigonoidea, collected by the African Natural History Research Trust in four African countries; a total of 109 taxa was found, of which 32 were in Zambia, 37 in Cameroon, 76 in Gabon and only four in the island of São Tomé. The complete list of species is annotated and commented. Sixteen species (45.7%) were previously unrecorded in Zambia, five (13.5%) in Cameroon, 52 (67.5%) in Gabon, while all the species found at São Tomé were already known from that island. It is evident that Zambia and Gabon are countries unexplored from the orthopterological point of view, in particular because many unrecorded species in these countries are widespread in tropical Africa. The list of the species contains 11 new species; in the present paper six new species are described (Horatosphaga hemporum n. sp., Eulioptera richardsmithi n. sp., Dioncomena takanoi n. sp., Eurycorypha klausgerhardi n. sp., Arantia (Arantia) marginata n. sp., Tetraconcha fusca n. sp.), while one species of Leiodontocercus was already described and the description of the others is in progress within the revision of the genus Eurycorypha. Overall, collected material from Zambia contained four new species (12.5%), that from Gabon seven new species (9.2%), of which one is common to Gabon and Cameroon. Based on the results presented here, the orthopterofauna of Gabon is particularly rich and additional sampling will result in the discovery of further unknown species. Interestingly, Desaulcya pictipennis from Gabon was known only from the type material described 113 years before in Cameroon, and Rhinodera spinifrons also from Gabon was known only from the type described 64 years before in Cameroon.