A new species of aposematic grasshopper of the genus <i>Pseudoutanacris</i> (Acrididae: Gomphocerinae) from the Andean cloud forest of the Ecuadorian Amazon basin

We have identified a new grasshopper species belonging to the genus <i>Pseudoutanacris</i> Jago, 1971, in the montane forests of the eastern Andes in Ecuador. This discovery expands the known distribution of the genus, previously limited to a single species in the Bolivian tropics, by over 2,000 kilometers. For the first time, a female of the genus is described, and notes on the ecology and natural history of the species are presented. We also provide the first barcodes of the genus <i>Pseudoutanacris</i> Jago, 1971. The males of a newly described species, <i>Pseudoutanacris grilla</i> sp. nov. shares a striking coloration pattern with their Bolivian congener, <i>Pseudoutanacris chromobapta</i> Jago, 1971, setting them apart from other members of the tribe Amblytropidiini. However, the females maintain a cryptic coloration pattern, similar to that of the tribe members, and display different behavior from the males. During our study, we also observed <i>Ps. grilla</i> sp. nov. on the same plant as <i>Megacheilacris graminicola</i> (Descamps & Amédégnato, 1971) (Bactrophorinae: Romaleidae), a species with similar chromatic characteristics. This finding also marks the first formal documentation of the new geographical records of <i>M. graminicola</i> (Descamps & Amédégnato, 1971) in Ecuador.