VARIATION IN DISTRIBUTION, MORPHOLOGY AND 
CALLING SONG OF TWO POPULATIONS OF 
PTEROPHYLLA CAMELLIFOLIA 
(ORTHOPTERA: TETTIGONIIDAE) 1 
By Robert C. North 2 and Kenneth C. Shaw 
Department of Zoology 
Iowa State University 
Ames, Iowa 50011 
Introduction 
There are more than 200 species of singing katydids, crickets, and 
cicadas in the eastern United States. Among these, Pterophylla 
camellifolia (Fabricius) is unique in that several populations, identifi¬ 
able by differences in song and morphology, are separated by zones 
of intergradation (Alexander 1968). This unique situation is asso¬ 
ciated with a history of taxonomic confusion. 
Fabricius (1775) described two species of the genus Locusta: 
camellifolia and perspicillatus. L. camellifolia (female specimen) was 
described in the sentence preceding L. perspicillatus (male specimen). 
Subsequently, Kirby and Spence (1828) placed camellifolia and per¬ 
spicillatus in the genus Pterophylla. Burmeister (1838) placed perspi¬ 
cillatus within the new genus Cyrtophyllus. Caudell (1906) divided 
Cyrtophyllus into three genera, Cyrtophyllus, Paracyrtophyllus and 
Lea, and described three new species of Cyrtophyllus: elongatus, 
furcatus and intermedius, as well as retaining perspicillatus. Kirby 
(1906) synonymized Cyrtophyllus with Pterophylla. Rehn and 
Hebard (1916) combined Caudell’s C. perspicillatus and elongatus 
into Pterophylla camellifolia camellifolia, and C. intermedius became 
P. camellifolia intermedia. Hebard (1941) recognized two species of 
Pterophylla, camellifolia and furcata, with camellifolia divided into 
three subspecies (P. c. camellifolia, P. c. intermedia, and P. c. dentif- 
era) and furcata into two subspecies (P.f furcata, and P.f laletica). 
Hebard believed there were racial differences among specimens col- 
■Part of a thesis submitted by the first author to the Graduate College, Iowa State 
University, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of 
Science, June 1978. 
2 Present address: Department of Entomology, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 
50011. 
Manuscript received by the editor February 22, 1980 
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