Taxonomic revision of the transitional Nearctic-Neotropical lubber grasshopper genus Romalea (Orthoptera: Romaleidae)

Abstract

The taxonomy of the transitional Nearctic-Neotropical lubber grasshopper genus Romalea (Romaleidae) is revised, considering Taeniopoda as its junior synonym (syn. n.). Twelve species of Romalea are recognized, whose distribution extends from southern USA to Panama. The following species are redescribed: R. auricornis (Walker, 1870), comb. rev., R. citricornis (Bruner, 1907), comb. n., R. centurio (Drury, 1773), comb. rev., R. eques (Burmeister, 1838), comb. rev., R. gutturosa (Bolívar, 1901), comb. n., R. microptera (Palisot de Beauvois, 1817), R. obscura (Bruner, 1907), comb. n. (= Taeniopoda bicristata), R. picticornis (Walker, 1870), comb. rev. (= Taeniopoda stali, syn. n.), R. reticulata (Fabricius, 1781) comb. n., R. tamaulipensis (Rehn, 1904) comb. n., and R. varipennis (Rehn, 1905) comb. n. A new species from Guatemala, R. guatemalensis sp. nov., is described.