Frontifissia elegans Key 1937

A vivid green brachypterous grasshopper. The female is told from the female Frontifissia laevata by the striking silvery white spots on thorax and abdomen. The males of the two species look very similar.

Original description & illustrations in:
Key, K.H.L. (1937) New Acrididae from South Africa. Annals of the South African Museum, 32
https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/127105#page/203/mode/1up
Fairly small, but robust; body pilose, especially in the male. Antennae fairly short and thick, filiform. Pronotum coarsely punctured. Elytra lateral, lobe-like, covering well-developed tympana. Wings absent. Abdomen only very lightly punctured, with a broad, low, callous, median keel.

Female:
Head green, with several indistinct whitish markings on the face; median carina on the occiput white; eyes and antennae purple- brown. Pronotum green, with the median line white and white marks.
Mesonotum without markings, except for the pale median carina. Metanotum with two white patches in the same relative positions as those occurring on the abdominal terga. Elytra green, darker at the base than at the apex; lower margin with a white stripe, upper margin white at the base. Abdomen dark green, the median keel dirty white; two rows of large white spots on each side of the abdomen, each row consisting of one spot on each tergite; the upper row is in line with the large oblique spot on the shoulder of the pronotum; the lower row lies just above the lower margins of the tergites.

Body length: 23 mm.

Male:
About half the size of the female and much less striking. Top of head green, except the fastigium, which is dark; frontal ridge and lateral frontal areas red-brown; cheeks green; antennae deep purple-brown; eyes buff; clypeus and mouth parts deep purple-brown. Pronotum green, with median carina and lower and hind margins of lateral lobes buff, and with a bright maroon mark on the shoulder just inside the hind
margin. Abdomen green, with a median buff stripe bounded on either side by a row of small black dots;
hind margins of tergites buffish.
Body length: 10.5 mm.

Type locality: South Africa, Western Cape, Cape Peninsula
Syntypes from Hermanaus and Paarl.

Photos in OSF: https://orthoptera.speciesfile.org/otus/815440/overview

iNat observations:
Female: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/17172721
Male: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/19097646

Posted on March 23, 2024 09:33 AM by traianbertau