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sluggish shieldback

Aglaothorax segnis Rehn and Hebard 1920

icon map for aglaothorax segnis      
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10 s of calling song and waveform. Lincoln County, Nevada; 24.0°C. R88-159.
waveform for Aglaothorax
Group species: Ovatus.
Song: Brief echemes (“chirps”) similar to A. armiger. Pulse trains 50±10 ms in length are repeated at a rate of 10.1±1.52 s-1. Mean peak frequency is 14.13±2.77 kHz, with peak frequencies as high as 20.25 kHz. Echemes group 3±1 pulse trains with 0.71–3.56 (mean 1.53±0.75) s of silence between echemes.
Identification: Coloration
A. segnis, abundant longitudinal black streaks on the pronotal disk (similar to A. strobilion).
A. armiger, typically has reduced black marking on the pronotal disk.

Morphology
Male supra-anal plate
A. segnis, wider than long and reflexed caudally (similar to A. armiger and A. strobilion).
A. giganteus, A. khioneos, A. ovatus, and A tinkhamorum, supra-anal plates are as long as wide.

Male paraproct processes
A. segnis, apical, mesally directed tooth; rarely, the cercus terminates in a double tooth, with one of the two teeth positioned apically. Paraproct is about 3 times as long as wide.
All other Ovatus Group species, subapical ventrally directed tooth. Paraproct is thick and about twice as long as wide.

Pronotum
A. segnis, broad. Pronotal constriction-to-metazona width ratio of 2.24 to 2.47.
A. strobilion, not as broad as A. segnis. Pronotal constriction-to-metazona width ratio of 1.97 to 2.20.

Female subgenital plate
A. segnis, shortest subgenital plate lateral processes of any Ovatus Group species (A. strobilion unknown).

See Key to Aglaothorax species.
Range: Mountain ranges of southeastern Nevada at high elevation.
Habitat: Pinyon-juniper woodland. Taken from high branches of Utah juniper (Juniperus osteosperma).
Season: Adults middle to late summer.
References: Cole et al. 2025
Cole et al. 2025 (Ovatus Group) pp. 16-38
Cole et al. 2025 (species pages) pp. 17 and 28-30
Nomenclature: OSF (Orthoptera Species File Online).
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