The flat-necked shieldback (''Arytropteris basalis'') is a species of
shield-backed katydid
The Tettigoniinae are a subfamily of bush crickets or katydids, which contains hundreds of species in about twelve Tribe (biology), tribes.
Distribution
The greatest diversity is in the Palaearctic region and many of the familiar European spec ...
that is
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...
to the coastal forests and thickets of
KwaZulu-Natal
KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is locate ...
province in
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
. It is threatened by cultivation, mining and tourism.
References
Tettigoniinae
Vulnerable animals
Endemic insects of South Africa
Insects described in 1869
{{tettigoniidae-stub