The Morphological and Behavioral Analysis of Geographically Separated Rammeihippus turcicus (Orthoptera: Acrididae: Gomphocerinae) Populations: Data Result in Taxonomical Conflict

Abstract

Rammeihippus Woznessenskij, 1996 (Orthoptera: Acrididae: Gomphocerinae) is a genus represented by two species. Rammeihippus turcicus (Ramme, 1939) is the only known species of the genus from Anatolia. As for most of the Gomphocerinae species in Anatolia, all populations of the species are intermittently distributed at high altitudes. In this study, three populations of Rammeihippus turcicus were studied for the first time to determine the song and mating behavior. Males of the species produce typical calling song for Gomphocerinae and complex courtship songs and mating behavior. Thus, an accurate taxonomy requires extensive material and different character sources. In this study, the Anatolian Rammeihippus was re-examined on the basis of qualitative and morphometric morphology, male songs, and behavioral characteristics. There was no agreement between the results of the song and morphology. Acoustic analysis suggested one species and patchy distribution in the area, whereas morphology pointed out that each population was a different taxonomical unit. The results of the study show that the aberrant morphology does not necessarily indicate a new species in the Gomphocerinae genus.