Tag Archives: Socotra

Psiadia schweinfurthii Balf. f.

Schweinfurth’s Psiadia (Psiadia schweinfurthii)

This species comes from the island of Socotra; it was collected in the 19th century near Kishan in the north of the Haggeher Mountains, in a botanically well-known and -studied area, and has not been found since; it is therefore very likely extinct. 

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The author of the species, Isaac Bayley Balfour, mentions that it is very similar to the Arabian Psiadia (Psiadia punctulata Vatke) (see photo below), a species widespread in eastern Africa and mainland Arabia, from which it differs in the absence of sticky glandular hairs.

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Arabian Psiadia (Psiadia punctulata)

Photo: Floyd E. Hayes
https://www.inaturalist.org/people/floydehayes
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

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edited: 12.02.2024

Xenephias socotranus Kevan

Socotra Cone-headed Katydid (Xenephias socotranus)  

The Socotra Cone-headed Katydid was described in 1973 based on specimens that had been collected in 1967 at the Adho Dimellu pass on the island of Socotra at an elevation of about 1000 m above sea level.

The species reaches a body length of about 2 to 3 cm; it is generally testaceous and strongly mottled and speckled with sepia-brown markings; the head bears a narrow, postocular, grey streak, the eyes are brown, the antennae are greyish.

It seems that this taxon has never been recorded subsequently and that it may be extinct.

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References:

[1] D. Keith McE. Kevan: A new genus of Pyrgomorphidae (Acridoidea: Orthoptera) from the island of Socotra. The Canadian Entomologist 105(9): 1169-1173. 1973

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edited: 30.01.2024