Studies on Neotropical Phasmatodea XVI: Revision of Haplopodini Günther, 1953 (rev. stat.), with notes on the subfamily Cladomorphinae Bradley & Galil, 1977 and the descriptions of a new tribe, four new genera and nine new species (Phasmatodea: “ Anareolatae ”: Phasmatidae: Cladomorphinae)
Author
Frank H. Hennemann
Author
Oskar V. Conle
Author
Daniel E. Perez-Gelabert
text
Zootaxa
2016
4128
1
1
211
journal article
38706
10.11646/zootaxa.4128.1.1
553faca2-0799-4bbe-8b54-92960421d9c9
1175-5326
271800
B4D2CD84-8994-4CEF-B647-3539C16B6502
4.2.3. Tribe
Cranidiini
Günther, 1953
(
Figs. 13–19
,
49
)
Type-genus:
Cranidium
Westwood, 1843
: 49
.
Cranidiini
Günther, 1953
: 557
.
Brock, 1998b
: 26.
Clark-Sellick, 1998: 221.
Zompro, 2004
: 135 (in part).
Otte & Brock, 2005
: 32 (in part).
Hennemann, Conle & Delfosse, 2007
: 358 (in part). Bacteriinae
Kirby, 1904a
: 348 (in part).
Craspedoniini
Bradley & Galil, 1977
: 187. [Unnecessary replacement name]
Phibalosomini
(Sectio V: Phibalosomata)
Redtenbacher, 1908
: 399 (in part).
Description: ♀♀/♂♂ (
Figs. 9–10
).
Medium-sized to large (body lengths: ♀♀ incl. subgenital plate 107.0–161.0 mm; ♂♂ 78.0–115.0 mm),
Cladomorphinae
with remarkable sexual dimorphism. Body surface shiny, ♀♀ plain bright green. ♂♂ with short tegmina and well developed alae (
48.2–53.2 mm
), ♀♀ apterous. ♂♂ elongate and moderately slender with body cylindrical. ♀♀ considerably larger and much broader than ♂♂, body strongly dorsoventrally flattened with meso-, metathorax and abdomen strongly laterally dilated (maximum body width 28.0–34.0 mm); body rhombic in cross-section. Head longer than wide, strongly globose and convex; vertex smooth. No ocelli. A gula is present. Antennae very long, slender and filiform, longer than head, thorax and median segment combined and consisting of>80 antennomeres. Pronotum distinctly narrower than head and mesonotum. Mesothorax of ♂♂ elongate and slender, 2.5x longer than head and pronotum combined, minutely granulose; mesosternum with a fine longitudinal median carina. Mesothorax of ♀♀ broadly and semi-circularly expanded, 1.5x longer than wide. Mesonotum strongly convex dorsally and armed with a cluster of blunt tubercles in the raised
anterior
portion; lateral margins expanded, lamellate and bluntly dentate. Mesopleurae strongly dilated, forming a longitudinal lamella with the outer margin dentate. Mesosternum strongly tectiform and with a prominent and broad, tuberculose longitudinal median keel; lateral margins slightly expanded and with a longitudinal row of tubercles (
Fig. 15
). Median segment distinctly longer (♂♂) or roughly equal in length to metanotum (♀♀). Abdominal segments II–VI of ♂♂ parallel-sided and distinctly longer than wide. In ♀♀ tergites and sternites II–VI with lateral margins strongly expanded and lamellate; all transverse. Praeopercular organ of ♀♀ represented by a small spiniform projection on sternum VII (
Fig. 16
). Epiproct and cerci of both sexes very small and considerably shorter than anal segment. Gonapophyses VIII of ♀♀ elongated, up-curving and projecting well beyond posterior margin of anal segment (
Fig. 16
). Gonoplacs developed (
Fig. 16
). Vomer of ♂♂ produced, well sclerotized and elongate-triangular. Phallus totally covered with minute black denticles. Poculum very bulgy, strongly convex and extending ventrally by more than
2x
the body width (
Fig. 17
). Subgenital plate of ♀♀ distinctly keeled longitudinally, boat-shaped, tapered towards a narrow ± acute apex and projecting considerably over anal segment (
Fig. 16
). All legs elongate and slender (♂♂) to moderately robust (♀♀), all distinctly carinate but entirely unarmed. Femora trapezoidal, tibiae almost triangular in cross-section with dorsal carinae strongly approaching each other. Profemora compressed and curved basally with posterodorsal carina reduced and considerably lower than
anterior
carina; medioventral carina distinct and roughly midways on ventral surface of femur. Medioventral carina of meso- and metafemora very faint. Tarsi simple. Basitarsi at least as long as following three tarsomeres combined and carinate dorsally with the two dorsal carinae melted with another.
Eggs (
Figs. 18–19
,
49
):
Medium-sized, strongly globose and almost spherical in lateral aspect; slightly oval in cross-section. Polar-area with a wide depression. Operculum elliptical, flat and with a convex, net-like hollow expansion which covers the complete disc. Micropylar plate covering about half of capsule-length, broadly ovoid with a raised outer margin and convex central region. Internal micropylar plate open and with a narrowing of the posteromedial gap before it widens into the notch. Median line indistinct, short, very well separated from the plate and distinctly displaced towards the polar-area (
Fig. 49
).
Differentiation (
Table 1
):
Several features such as the presence of a gula, filiform antennae, the elongate, filiform gonapophyses VIII and presence of gonoplacs in ♀♀, specialized poculum of ♂♂ and presence of a median line in the eggs prove close relation to the South American
Cladomorphini
(→ 4.2.2).
Cranidiini
however clearly differs from
Cladomorphini
by: the shiny body surface; green general colouration; entirely unarmed legs; indistinct medioventral carina of the profemora which is roughly central on the ventral surface of the profemur; roughly trapezoidal cross-section of the profemora and very faint medioventral carina of the meso- and metafemora of both sexes. Furthermore, ♀♀ readily differ by: the strongly flattened and laterally dilated, leaf-like body; convex mesonotum and strongly longitudinally tectiform mesosternum (
Fig. 15
). Males are also well distinguished by the strongly enlarged and very bulgy poculum which ventrally extends by more than
2x
the body diametre, as well as the specialized phallus which is totally covered with minute black denticles. The eggs differ from those of
Cladomorphini
by having the micropylar plate oval and relatively shorter (<½ of the dorsal capsule surface) and the posteromedian notch of the plate with a narrowing before it widens into the gap (
Fig. 49
).
The completely reduced leg armature and tectiform mesosternum of both sexes, the prominently dilated mesothorax and abdomen of ♀♀ as well as the prominently enlarged poculum and spinulose phallus of ♂♂ appear to be autapomorphies of
Cranidiini
, which suggest the tribe might be the sister-group of
Cladomorphini
+
Cladoxerini
(
Fig. 409
) and at once distinguish it from these two tribes. The elongated gonapophyses VIII and presence of gonoplacs in ♀♀ as well as the developed gula are shared with
Cladomorphini
and
Cladoxerini
.
Because of the erroneous and confusing treatment of
Cranidiini
by
Zompro (2004: 135)
a detailed comparison and differentiation of
Cranidiini
and Haplopodini is presented in
Table 1
, which emphasizes the striking differences between these two tribes and confirms the separate status of Haplopodini as well as the monotypy of
Cranidiini
.
FIGURES 13–19.
Tribe
Cranidiini Günther, 1953
.
13.
Cranidium gibbosum
(Burmeister, 1838)
♀: captive reared from French Guiana [coll. FH, No. 0470-11];
14.
Cranidium gibbosum
♂: captive reared from French Guiana [coll. FH, No. 0470-9];
15.
Cranidium gibbosum
: mesosternum of ♀ [coll. FH, No. 0470-1];
16.
Cranidium gibbosum
: apex of ♀ abdomen (lateral view) [coll. FH, No. 0470-17];
17.
Cranidium gibbosum
: apex of ♂ abdomen (lateral view) [coll. FH, No. 0470-19];
18.
Cranidium gibbosum
: egg (dorsal view) [coll. FH, No. 0470-E];
19.
Cranidium gibbosum
: egg (lateral view) [coll. FH, No. 0470-E]. Gpl = Gonoplacs, Gap8 = Gonapophyses VIII, Gap9 = Gonapophyses IX, PrOrg = Praeopercular organ, Po = Poculum, Cer = Cerci, Vo = Vomer, ML = Micropylar line.
Comments:
When
Günther (1953: 557)
established the tribe
Cranidiini
,
Cranidium
Westwood, 1843
was the only genus contained. A comprehensive treatment and re-description of the type-genus was presented by
Hennemann, Conle & Delfosse (2007)
.
Brock (1998b)
described a second Jamaican genus in the tribe,
Paracranidium
. This however, is here shown to be not closely related and to take on a rather isolated position within the re-established tribe Haplopodini
Günther, 1953
(→ 5.6), hence is removed from
Cranidiini
. Another South American genus,
Aplopocranidium
, was added by
Zompro (2004: 135)
but is also not closely related to
Cranidium
and was transferred to
Cladomorphini
by
Hennemann & Conle (2010: 104)
who provided a comprehensive treatment of
Aplopocranidium
including a description of the previously unknown ♂♂.
Zompro (2004: 135)
removed the genera
Aploploides
Rehn & Hebard, 1938
,
Haplopus
Burmeister, 1838
and
Diapherodes
Gray, 1835
from
Hesperophasmatini
Bradley & Galil, 1977
and transferred them to
Cranidiini
. It is surprising that
Zompro (2004: 135)
argued the supposed close affinity of these three Antillean genera to
Cranidiini
exclusively on the fact that they have the same “smooth and shining body” and mentioned this as the only feature that in his opinion characterizes
Cranidiini
within
Cladomorphinae
. This act however is very arbitrary, since a wide range of very striking and fundamental morphological differences are present between
Cranidiini
and the mentioned three genera (→
Table 1
). Nor does this “feature” hold true for all taxa that Zompro transferred to
Cranidiini
, e.g. ♀♀ of
Haplopus
-species and ♂♂ of certain
Diapherodes
-species have a rather dull and ± sculptured body surface. As can be seen in
Table 1
Aploploides
,
Haplopus
and
Diapherodes
are not at all closely related to
Cranidium
and here shown to form a very well separated clade, defined as the supposedly monophyletic tribe Haplopodini
rev. stat.
(→ 5.). Consequently, these three genera are here removed and
Cranidiini
is a monotypical and very well separated tribe within the subfamily
Cladomorphinae
.
Clark-Sellick (1998: 221, fig. 32a, b) and
Hennemann,
Conle & Delfosse (2007
: 360) stated the egg of
Cranidiini
to lack a median line, although the latter authors showed there to be a median line in the illustration of the internal plate (2007: 365, fig. 12). Subsequent examination of more examples has shown a short and rather indistinct median line to be present. However, it is rather short and very well separated from the micropylar plate, being displaced towards the polar-area by more than its own length.
A captive reared ♀ of
C. gibbosum
at hand from the first author's collection (coll. FH, No. 0470-14) represents the new length record for this species, measuring 161.0 mm including the subgenital plate.
Distribution:
Restricted to Northeastern South
America
and so far recorded from Northern
Brazil
,
French Guiana
and
Suriname
(
Hennemann, Conle & Delfosse, 2007
: 366).
Genus included:
1.
Cranidium
Westwood, 1843
: 49
. Type-species:
Diapherodes (Cranidium) serricollis
Westwood, 1843
: 49
, pl. 6: 1 (=
Diapherodes gibbosa
Burmeister, 1838
), by subsequent designation of
Bradley & Galil, 1977
: 187. =
Phasmilliger
Carrera, 1960
: 100
. Type-species:
Diapherodes
(
Cranidium
)
serricollis
Westwood, 1843
: 49
, by indication. [Unnecessary replacement name, hence a junior objective synonym]