A team composed of local and international scientists has found a new endemic species of pygmy grasshopper in Mindanao.
The newly identified species was named Tegotettix derijei, also known as Mindanao horned pygmy devil.
It was studied and described by scientists Victor B. Amoroso, Alma Baguhin Mohagan, and Romeo Rogano Patano Jr. of Central Mindanao University (CMU), Josef Tumbrinck of University of Münster, and Josip Skejo of University of Zagreb, and published in the international peer-reviewed scientific journal Zootaxa in its February 2021 issue.
The Mindanao horned pygmy devil is described as a "new peculiar, spiky, and yellowish species" of the genus Tegotettix Hancock from Davao region.
Of the 10 species under genus Tegotettix Hancock, Tegotettix derijei is the third known species in the Philippines. The other two species are Tegotettix corniculatus and Tegotettix sagittarius.
"Spiky, horned, and moderately large species for the genus, 16.02 mm (millimeters) long from the tip of the vertex to the tip of the pronotum. Body greenish-yellowish-white with dark markings on certain parts of the body. Chitinous surfaces smooth and shiny, not armed as in other species of the genus," the species description in the journal read.
"T. derijei sp. n. is one of the pygmy devil species with the highest number of pronotal projections situated at the median carina, as altogether it has 11 of them. This is, however, not the only new species we know about at the moment," the journal further read.
During the study, the scientists pointed out that two more species have not yet been described due to absence of material for further examination.
"One is a spiky black-and-white species from Bukidnon, related to T. armatus, and the other one is a green species with very high horns from Negros Oriental, related to T. corniculatus," they said in the journal.
The team noted that the new species is also similar to the undescribed, also possibly new, species from Bukidnon.
Tegotettix derijei was named in honor of CMU President Jesus Antonio G. Derije for his valuable contribution and support to the implementation of biodiversity and conservation research projects of the Center for Biodiversity Research and Extension in Mindanao.
The study was funded by the Discovery-Applied Research and Extension for Trans/Interdisciplinary Opportunities of the Commission on Higher Education, titled "Saving Terrestrial Biodiversity: Inventory, Assessment, Conservation and Capability Building in Marilog Forest Reserve, Southern Mindanao, Philippines."