Waoranion weki and Miriatra michellae, New Pygmy Unicorns (Orthoptera: Tetrigidae: Metrodorinae) from the Ecuadorian Amazon and an Updated Checklist of Ecuadorian Tetrigidae

Pygmy unicorns are pygmy grasshoppers that have their vertex or frons projected forward, forming a horn-like structure. The group is especially diverse in South America, where we report the discovery of one new genus and two new species. A new monotypic genus, Waoranion gen. nov. (Metrodorini: Miriatrina), has been named to honor the Waorani people, who are indigenous to the type locality of the only known species, Waoranion weki gen. et sp. nov. This winged genus is characterized by a prolonged vertex and frons with a wavy frontal costa. Besides the type locality, an observation of a member of this genus, photographed in Nangaritza canyon—which may not be conspecific with the described species—was posted on iNaturalist. One new species belonging to the genus Miriatra Bolívar, 1906 has been discovered, M. michellae sp. nov., similar to already described species but easily distinguished by the shape of the vertex and paranota. This is the fifth known species of Miriatra and the first from Ecuador. The composition of the subtribe Miriatrina has been revised so that it includes only winged species with a highly developed horn. Finally, a checklist of Tetrigidae of Ecuador is presented, which now counts 54 species and 23 genera within four subfamilies (Batrachideinae, Lophotettiginae, Metrodorinae, and Tetriginae).