Acridoidea of the Congo (Orthoptera)

About this book

Language: English

From the acridological point of view, the Congo is probably one of the best explored parts of Tropical Africa, since 174 genera and 367 species are at present recorded from this vast country. However, it would be premature to suggest that the Acridoidea fauna is well known. The present author estimates that no more than 50% of the species are known and that most of the remaining species will probably be new, since they will be from the less explored or even from unexplored ecological niches.

Many of the genera and species redescribed in Acridoidea of the Congo (Orthoptera), were redescribed previously in Dirsh, 1965 (African genera of Acridoidea) and Dirsh, 1966 (Acridoidea of Angola). But since the Acridoidea of the Congo (Orthoptera) is revisionary, numerous adjustments have proved necessary, with the inevitable result that the redescriptions in the present work will appear repetetive, although in many cases they are not entirely so.

Since many species, not hitherto recorded from the Congo, are expected to be found there in the future, the specific keys for some genera are given for all the known species and in other cases the keys cover all the African species. In most cases, however, they are restricted to the Congoan species only. The headings of the keys suitably indicate these differences of coverage.

The illustrations in Acridoidea of the Congo (Orthoptera) are partly original but mostly reproduced from the previous papers and books of the present author.

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