Thursday, August 25, 2016

[Entomology • 2016] Three New Ground Wētā Species; Hemiandrus luna, H. brucei & H. nox and A Redescription of Hemiandrus maculifrons


Hemiandrus brucei 
 Taylor-Smith, Trewick & Morgan-Richards, 2016


ABSTRACT

Taxonomy lies at the heart of species conservation, yet many large New Zealand orthopterans remain undescribed. Among New Zealand’s anostostomatid wētā, Hemiandrus (ground wētā) is the most speciose genus but also the most poorly characterised and thus most in need of taxonomic and ecological work. Here we redescribe H. maculifrons and describe two new species of ground wētā previously encompassed by the specific name Hemiandrus maculifrons: Hemiandrus luna sp. nov. and H. brucei sp. nov. We also describe a morphologically similar and related species, Hemiandrus nox sp. nov.

KEYWORDS: Anostostomatidae, Hemiandrus, Orthoptera, species complex, wētā, 




B.L. Taylor-Smith, S.A. Trewick and M. Morgan-Richards. 2016.  Three New Ground Wētā Species and A Redescription of Hemiandrus maculifronsNEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF ZOOLOGY.  DOI: 10.1080/03014223.2016.1205109 
http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:71EA0879-A2F9-46B2-A105-E97A9AB25061 http://zoobank.org/References/71EA0879-A2F9-46B2-A105-E97A9AB25061