Arantia (Euarantia) scurra Karsch, 1896 (Figs. 38, 41–42, 65, 99)

http://lsid.speciesfile.org/urn:lsid: Orthoptera.speciesfile.org:TaxonName:464815

Karsch (1896). Stett. Entomol. Z., 57: 331.

Type locality: CAMEROON. Lolodorf. Depository: MFN, Berlin. Kind of type: holotype male.

Material examined. CAMEROON. Lolodorf (♂ holotype) (MfN). IVORY COAST. Taï National Park, Res. Station 20–23.III.2017 (light trap), B. Massa (5♂). Taï National Park, Res. Station 16.III.2017, platform 40m (light trap), B. Massa (1♂). Taï National Park, Res. Station 4.IV.2017 (light trap), P. Moretto (4♂) (BMCP, CHB).

Measurements. Males (N=4). Body length: 31–32.7; pronotum length: 7.8–8.1; pronotum height: 8.0–8.7; hind femur: 26.1–28.0; hind tibiae: 29.8–32.8; tegmina: 50.2–52.9; tegmina width: 14.3–14.7; tegmina length/ width: 3.4–3.7; tegmina width/pronotum length: 1.8–1.9.

Characters. A. scurra has small to medium size (body length ♂ 26.5–33 mm). Karsch (1896) described it on one male, on the following characters: head, pronotum, legs and abdomen ochreous, antennal segments pale with dark rings and ochreous basal segment, face reddish-black, basal lobe of pronotum, apex of fore femora, base of fore tibiae and apex of hind femora reddish, hind tibiae with dark rings, fore and hind femora with black spines, tegmina more or less rectangular with some black spots on their base (Fig. 38). The face is also dark and the palps have a dark apex. Fore and mid femora unarmed, hind femora with 5 inner and 7 smaller ventral spines. Male cerci are in-curved, slightly sinuous, long and stout and have a black round and wrinkled apex, styli are small and black (Fig. 99).

Affinities. A. scurra belongs to a group of Arantia species with stout and sinuous male cerci ending in a club that is black, brownish or has the same colour as the cerci. A. rectifolia males have a small club on the tip of the cerci which has the same colour as the cerci or is slightly brownish, A. excelsior has strongly sinuous male cerci with a large club which is black. Also A. fasciata has stout sinuous male cerci with a well developed club that is slightly coloured. A. excelsior and A. scurra also share brown to black grooves at the anterior margin of the tegmina.

Remarks. A. scurra is morphologically closely related to A. excelsior. The only characters delimitating A. scurra from A. excelsior are the dark brown pronotum and the smaller size. The male cerci are very similar and A. scurra shares the darkened tympana and anterior dark parts of the fore femora with A. excelsior. The stridulatory file (Fig. 65) is very similar to that of A. excelsior. Also very apparent are the dark brown and black grooves on the anterior margin of the fore tegmina shared by both A. scurra and A. excelsior specimens. At present the male holotype of A. scurra was unique, no collection studied so far had further specimens which would have supported the status of this species. A. scurra is known from Cameroon and thus also overlaps in its locality with the known distribution of A. excelsior. Only more material will clarify whether A. scurra is conspecific with A. excelsior.

Distribution. Central Africa (records from Cameroon and the Central African Republic).