By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services

A group of four Texas A&M University of the Department of Entomology undergraduate students announced discovering a new species of king cricket after a recent study abroad trip to Costa Rica.

Under the guidance of Hojun Song, associate professor for entomology, students Steven Richardson, Travis Trimm, Randell Paredes and Jonathan Koehl described a new species of king cricket, Glaphyrosoma stephanosoltis, Orthoptera Anostostomatidae, from the tropical rainforests near the Soltis Center for Research and Education in San Isidro de El General, in the southern zone of the country.

"Last year, these four students worked with a king cricket species that was very common in the forest floors near the Soltis Center," Song said. "While working on their project, it became evident that the species, which was so abundant, was actually new to science because we couldn't identify them down to species."

The group found the new species while working on a research project about cricket feeding habits during a two-week course titled Field Entomology in the Tropics last summer.

The crickets were hand-collected along the trails in the secondary rainforest near the Soltis Center.

Song said the group then brought the cricket specimens back to his lab in College Station, and throughout the fall semester, he taught the students how to properly describe the new species by reviewing taxonomic literature, taking photographs, measuring specimens and illustrating the important features.

The first author of the publication, Richardson, proposed the new species to be named after the Soltis Center. The species name stephanosoltis means the crown of Soltis, referring to the first king cricket species ever to be described in conjunction with the Soltis Center.

The new species of crickets represents the southernmost distribution of the genus Glaphyrosoma Brunner von Wattenwyl that is widely distributed throughout Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras, said the announcement. This new species is distributed throughout the Alajuela Province on the rainforest floor in the northernmost part of Costa Rica, said the Texas A&M University in its statement.

“ The students also observed that the crickets liked to hide under torn leaves and branches as well as the overhanging soil underside along trails or tunnels made by other burrowing animals,” said the university. “They theorized the species most likely lives underground to avoid desiccation, or extreme dehydration.”

The students were able to collect the crickets using oatmeal baits laid out on the forest floor at night. During their study abroad, they found the crickets showed an overwhelming preference for eating the leaves of native plants, but when kept in the cage, they preferred feeding on dead crickets and katydids.

More information on this new crickets species discovered in the country may be reached at Soltis Center site*.



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