Psorodonotus specularis subsp. inermis Ramme 1951, stat. rev.

Psorodonotus specularis inermis Ramme, 1951, stat. rev.

(Figs 1, 19, 33, 47, 48, 62, 76, 90, 104, 118, 132, 133, 134 B, 136, 137A, 156, 157; Tables 1–4)

Psorodonotus specularis inermis Ramme 1951: 263.

Psorodonotus specularis (Fischer von Waldheim); Stolyarov 1983:18 (including P. s. inermis Ramme as a subspecies).

Type specimen information. Holotype, male, Caucasus, Georgia, Gudaur; Paratypes, 3 males, 4 females from the same locality; 2 males, 3 females—Kasbek (Kazbegi), 1800–2000 m.

Material examined. See Table 1. Additionally: GEORGIA: 1M, 2M (paratypes), 5F (paratypes), Kaukasus, Gudaur, 2100m. 23.9.1927 (leg. Ramme) (MfN); 1M, Gudaur, V. Kavkaz, Tiflis, 8000 ft, 9.1912 (NHM); 1F, Gudaur, prov. Tiflis, 25.8.1915, Mus. Caucas. 94–15 (leg. B. Uvarov) (NHM); 1M, 2F (paratypes), Kaukasus, am Kazbek, 1800–2200 m, 24.9.1927 (leg. Ramme) (MfN).

Remarks. P. specularis inermis differs from the nominate subspecies by the short song-phrase duration and the hind margin of male anal tergite with a narrow incision and two large rounded processes (it is almost truncate in Psorodonotus specularis specularis). The diagnostic characters of P. specularis inermis indicated by Ramme (1951) are also observed in a population from the Western Greater Caucasus (GeorgiaMestia), including the shorter and less widened metazona of pronotum (compare Figs 18, 19 with 13–17), wider male subgenital plate with slender styli (compare Figs 89, 90 with 84–88) and unarmed ventral side of the hind femur. However, the GeorgiaMestia population differs from the typical P. s. inermis by the truncated hind edge of male anal tergite, while being bilobate in the GeorgiaKitochi population (compare Fig. 61 with 62) and by much deeper excision of the female subgenital plate (compare Fig. 131 with 132). Unfortunately, we do not dispose with song recordings of specimens from GeorgiaMestia.

Distribution. Known from the central main ridge of the Greater Caucasus Mountains. Its distribution to the west may border the range of Psorodonotus inflatus. Yet, we failed in revealing the taxonomic status of the population collected in Mestia (Georgia), near the suspected type locality of P. inflatus. The GeorgiaMestia population showed intermediate characters between P. specularis specularis and P. specularis inermis.