The species of the Poecilimon heroicus-group occur around the Caucasus (from north-eastern Turkey to south-eastern Ukraine). We describe the diagnostic morphological characters of all these species and the male calling song of three of the four species. Based on this data the following phylogenetic relationship is derived (P. tschorochensis (P. tricuspis (P. heroicus, P. bifenestratus))). Within the genus Poecilimon, the species can be recognised by a relatively wide pronotum and large tegmina. In one species, Poecilimon tschorochensis Adelung, 1907 (type species of the monotypic genus Artvinia Karabag, 1962, syn. n.; P. rammei Miram, 1938, syn. n.), the tegmina are very large and the song has unusually low spectral components. This species produced di-syllabic echemes at intervals of about 10 s. In two other species of the group, P. heroicus and P. bifenestratus, the calling song of males consists of an uninterrupted dense sequence of long syllables (syllable duration around 0.5 s; ca. 1 syllable/s at 20°C). In these species the auditory spiracles are reduced in size in both sexes, and the females have extremely small tegmina and are unable to respond to the male song acoustically, which would be typical for Phaneropteridae. The change in communication from acoustically responding to mute females has not been previously documented within a group of closely related species.
Phonochorion Uvarov (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae: Phaneropterinae) is a little known genus consisting of three species: Ph. satunini, Ph. artvinensis and Ph. uvarovi. The objective of this study is to conduct a thorough distributional, taxonomic and systematic revision of the genus Phonochorion using both bioacustic and external morphological characters. Field surveys indicate that the genus is distributed from the Trabzon region of Turkey to the Khulo province of Georgia however the exact limit of the eastern distribution of the genus remains unknown. Phonochorion species occur only on the northern slopes of the East Black Sea and Lesser Caucasus Mountains. The Coruh Valley, which seprates the East Black Sea and Lesser Caucasus Mountain ranges, seems to be an effective physical and climatic barrier and determines the distribution of these species. Ph. uvarovi can clearly be distinguished from Ph. satunini and Ph. artvinensis by the calling songs of males and external morphological characters. Ph. artvinensis and Ph. satunini differ in several taxonomic characters but the males have virtually identical calling songs. From a character evolution perspective, although geographically more distant, Ph. satunini is more closely related to Ph. uvarovi than Ph. artvinensis. Morphological similarities in several characters indicate Phonochorion to be most closely related to Polysarcus zacharovi and the Poecilimon heroicus-group. Within the genus Phonochorion, song structure and morphological characters clearly indicate Ph. uvarovi to be the basal taxon.
The Poecilimon ornatus group has an exclusively European distribution and includes the largest species in the genus. A revision of the taxa belonging to this group in Bulgaria and Macedonia (Central and Eastern Balkan Peninsula) is presented. Nine taxa described from Bulgaria are synonymised with 3 previously known species, as follows: Poecilimon ornatus (= P. mistshenkoi marzani, syn. n., P. mistshenkoi tinkae, syn. n., P. mistshenkoi vlachinensis, syn. n.), P. affinis s. str. (= P. mistshenkoi mistshenkoi, syn. n., P. affinis ruenensis, syn. n., P. affinis rilensis, syn. n., P. affinis medimontanus, syn. n., P. harzi, syn. n.) and P. hoelzeli (= P. kisi, syn. n.). The synonymy of P. poecilus with P. affinis and the subspecific status of P. affinis komareki are confirmed. One species, Poecilimon jablanicensis, sp. n., is described as new to science. A tabulated key, lists and maps of all known localities and oscillograms of the songs of all the species in this group are presented. The phylogenetic relationships and evolutionary trends in the Poecilimon ornatus group are discussed.
In this paper a combination of characters by which Poecilimon species (Orthoptera: Tettigonioidea: Phaneropteridae) can be recognised as members of the P. sanctipauli group are described. Most important are the wide fastigium, short ovipositor and song characters. The morphological characters are figured and described (Table 1), and the song patterns illustrated by oscillograms. The proposed phylogenetic relationships of the members of this group are written as [P. mytilenensis (P. pulcher, P. lodosi, P. sanctipauli)]. All species of the group are known from southwest Turkey and some east Aegean islands. The three species P. pulcher, P. lodosi and P. sanctipauli are morphologically and bioacoustically quite similar. P. sanctipauli and P. pulcher are distinct species, P. lodosi, however, possesses a combination of the key characters of the other two species. It may be a relict species or, in our opinion more probably, a species of hybrid origin.
Measurements of body temperature in the field demonstrate that Cicada orni Linnaeus regulates body temperature through behavioral mechanisms. Behavior is used to regulate body temperature to a range necessary for calling. As predicted, results showed a general decrease of echeme duration and an increase in inter-echeme interval with rising body temperature. However, no statistically significant correlations of body temperature for any of the variables studied were found, giving evidence that there is more variability in call parameters between individuals than any effect of body temperature. and Allen F. Sanborn, Paula C. Simões, Polly K. Phillips, José A. Quartau.