A new species of Ripipteryx from Belize with a key to the species of the Scrofulosa Group (Orthoptera, Ripipterygidae)

Abstract. A new species of the genus Ripipteryx (Orthoptera: Tridactyloidea: Ripipterygidae) from the Toledo District of southern Belize is described and illustrated. Ripipteryx mopana sp. n. is placed in the Scrofulosa Group based on its elaborately ornamented frons and is readily distinguished from its congeners by the fusion of the superior and inferior frontal folds to form a nasiform median process, the epiproct with both anterior and posterior margins emarginate, the subgenital plate with distinct lateroapical depressions either side of the median line, the basal plate of the phallus strongly bilobed apically, and the development of well-demarcated denticular lobes in the dorsal endophallic valves. A preliminary key to the species of the Scrofulosa Group is provided.