On the neotropical species described under the genus Isophya (Orthoptera, Tettigoniidae, Phaneropterinae)

Abstract

At the time of writing this little paper, the genus Isophya contains 90 valid species and 11 subspecies, according to Orthoptera Species File Online (Eades & Otte), subsequently abbreviated OSF. The distribution of these brachypterous katydids comprises Europe and western Asia, with most species occurring in the eastern Mediterranean. Only six of the species are from South America. In a revision of the genus Ramme (1951) excluded the neotropical species, which he considered to belong to a particular genus (footnote p. 136). In 1960, encouraged by Uvarov, Karabag already had transferred two Isophya species from Paraguay to his new genus Anisophya: A. hamata and, although not explicitly, A. borellii (both Giglio-Tos 1894). He was unable to study the types of any neotropical “Isophya” species, and based the diagnosis on a male and a female in the Natural History Museum, London, that have been identified by “some unknown authority” as I. hamata. He mentioned also 3 females identified as I. borellii, as well as 2 males and 1 female from Brazil that were not identified to species level. In the introduction to a recent revision of Isophya species from Turkey, Űnal (2003) wrote that the generic affinity of the neotropical species needed confirmation. After identifying a very recently collected female of “I. brasiliensis”, which shares all diagnostic features Karabag listed for his genus Anisophya, I decided to finally move the remaining six neotropical “Isophya” species to that genus.