A new species of pygmy mole cricket (Orthoptera: Tridactylidae) from the Lake Wales ridge of Florida and new records of Ellipes eisneri from the northern Brooksville ridge

By

Woo, Brandon

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2021-9-27

Original Publication

Journal of orthoptera research : JOR

Volume

30

Series / Issue

Issue: 2

Pages

131--143

Subjects

Distribution , Florida endemics , sandhill , scrub , taxonomy , Tridactylinae

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Philadelphia, Penn Orthopterists' Society 1992-

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/jor.30.65603

 

Abstract

Pygmy mole crickets (Orthoptera: Tridactylidae) are usually associated with the edges of ponds and streams, but in the sandy uplands of Florida, at least two lineages of these insects have evolved to live in xeric scrub and sandhill habitats. Very little work has been done with scrub tridactylids since they are tiny and often difficult to collect. In this paper, the pygmy mole cricket Ellipes deyrupisp. nov. is described from the northern Lake Wales Ridge of Florida. It is sympatric at all known locations with another scrub tridactylid, Neotridactylus archboldi Deyrup & Eisner, but has not been found co-occurring with the closely related Ellipes eisneri Deyrup. The habits of this new species are convergent with both N. archboldi and E. eisneri. In addition, new records of Ellipes eisneri are presented, extending this species’ known distribution to the Northern Brooksville Ridge. Both species of scrub Ellipes are found in restricted geographic ranges and suffer from a lack of study and recognition. Conservation implications for these two species are discussed.