Systematics of Proscopiini Serville, 1838 (Orthoptera: Proscopiidae: Proscopiinae), with description of four new genera

For the first time, a phylogenetic study of internal groups of Proscopiidae is conducted. This study presents a taxonomic and morphological phylogenetic analysis of Proscopiini, a poorly studied group due to the predominance of its species in the Amazon, a region of difficult access and with few specimens available in collections. The objectives of this study were to test the monophyly of Proscopiini and its genera based on morphological characters and align these results with the taxonomy. The data matrix comprised 80 characters (3 related to general external morphology, 32 to male external morphology, 6 to female external morphology, 35 to male genitalia, and 4 to female genitalia) and 51 terminal species, of which 7 were used as outgroups. The parsimony analysis resulted in a single most parsimonious tree (L = 156, CI = 60, and RI = 90). Although not the main focus of this study, we recovered the paraphyly of Proscopiinae, as Cephalocoema, Orienscopia, and Stiphra were recovered outside the subfamily. The first two genera showed a closer relationship to each other, whereas Stiphra was recovered closer to Hybusinae. Nevertheless, Proscopiinae was supported by four synapomorphies and three homoplasies. Tetanorhynchus was recovered as more closely related to Proscopiini than Cephalocoema and Orienscopia, indicating the paraphyly of Tetanorhynchini. The monophyly of Proscopiini was supported by seven synapomorphies, with Prosarthria recovered as sister group to all remaining Proscopiini, supported by two synapomorphies and five homoplasies. Subsequently, a large monophyletic group was recovered, supported by two synapomorphies and three homoplasies, subdivided into two monophyletic groups described as follows: one composed of (((Paraproscopia) + (Apioscelis)) + ((gen. nov. 3) + ((gen. nov. 2 + Carbonellis xaripe) + ((Apioscelis davidcastanedai) + ((Proscopia + species of Carbonellis))))), supported by one homoplasy; and another group composed of (((Rowellscopia + Albascopia) + ((gen. nov. 1) + ((species of Pseudoproscopia + gen. nov. 4) + (Milenascopia + species of Pseudoproscopia))), supported by one synapomorphy. Considering the taxonomy previous to this work, Albascopia, Apioscelis, Carbonellis, and Pseudoproscopia were recovered as paraphyletic groups. A highlight should be made to species of Carbonellis being clustered among species of Proscopia, indicating that they belong to the same genus. Monophyletic groups recovered included Prosarthria, Paraproscopia, Milenascopia, and four new genera to be described. Accordingly, we updated the diagnosis of Proscopiini based on the synapomorphies recovered in the phylogenetic analysis and proposed two subtribes to accommodate the new taxonomic changes and description of new genera: Subtribe Prosarthriina n. subtr. (Prosarthria Brunner von Wattenwyl, 1890) and Subtribe Proscopiina (Paraproscopia Bentos-Pereira, 2006, Apioscelis Brunner von Wattenwyl, 1890, Lianascopia Queiroz gen. nov., Pseudoproscopia Bentos-Pereira, 2006, Andinascopia Queiroz & Rafael gen. nov., Proscopia Klug, 1820, Albascopia Cadena-Castañeda & Cardona-Granda, 2015, Celatus Queiroz & Heleodoro gen. nov., Kamara Queiroz gen. nov., and Milenascopia Queiroz & Rafael, 2019). In the genus level, we redescribed three genera (Apioscelis, Proscopia and Pseudoproscopia), synonymized two genera (Carbonellis n. syn. under Proscopia and Rowellscopia n. syn. under Albascopia) and described four new genera (Andinascopia gen. nov., Celatus gen. nov., Kamara gen. nov. and Lianascopia gen. nov.), as well as establish a new diagnosis for all genera of Proscopiini. We are proposing nine new species among these genera and ten new combinations. Taxonomic changes are suggested and discussed based on the results of the phylogenetic tree presented here, representing a significant advance in understanding the phylogenetic history of Proscopiini. Distribution maps and an identification key for known males and females of Proscopiini were provided.