Systematic Study of four species of Genus Hedotettix of family Tetrigidae (Califera: Orthoptera) with three new records from Sindh, Pakistan

Abstract

Pygmy grasshoppers are ⁓14-20 mm in length, and are recognizable by a long pronotum, that extends over the length of the abdomen. Pygmy grasshoppers usually found near water, such as ponds and steams. Occasionally found in dry habitats, woodlands, rice fields and in sandy areas with lichen. These grasshoppers especially eat roots of plants, seedlings, mosses, fungi, algae and cause considerable damage to crops. In this regard four species of the family Tetrigidae were recorded and three species, namely Hedotettix costatus Hancock, 1912, H. rusticus Bolivar, 1887, H. angustivertex (Bolivar, 1908) are recorded as new country and state records. An attempt has been made to reveal the systematics of Tetrigidae in Sindh by identification based on morphological characterization, ecological distribution, photographs, line drawings and measurements of different parameters to produce a taxonomic key to the species of Sindh.