Choriphyllum (sagrai) wallaceum Skejo, Kasalo & Yong, sp. nov.

Skejo, Josip, Yong, Sheyla, Bogic, Domagoj & Kasalo, Niko, 2023, Caribbean pygmy jumping leaves (Tetrigidae, Cladonotinae, Choriphyllini), Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 70 (1), pp. 129-141 : 129

Choriphyllum (sagrai) wallaceum Skejo, Kasalo & Yong, sp. nov.

Choriphyllum seoanei " Choriphyllum seoanei ", not published "new species" by Bolívar ( París 1994: 255). Taxonomic and nomenclatural history.

Etymology.

Named after Alfred Russel Wallace, the father of biogeography, modern evolutionary thought and a contributor to many fields of biology. The species name is a neuter gender adjective, second Latin declension, derived from Wallace, i.e. wallaceus, wallacea, Choriphyllum wallaceum . The specific epithet celebrates the 200th anniversary of Alfred Russel Wallace birth (8 January 1823).

Type locality.

Cuba, no specific location/s known.

Type specimen.

Holotype of Choriphyllum wallaceum Skejo, Kasalo & Yong, sp. nov. Cuba • 1 ♂; No specified locality, labels under the specimen: 1st handwritten by Bolívar " Chor. Seoanei Bol Typo. Cuba (Seoane)", 2nd label printed by París "especie no publicada", 3rd label handwritten by Skejo " Choriphyllum cf. Choriphyllum sagrai det. Skejo X.2018.", 4th label is the catalogue number printed by MNCN “MNCN_Ent175401” (MNCN).

Distribution

(Fig. 2 ). Wallace’s Cuban Dancing Leaf lives in Cuba, but the specific location is still not known.

Diagnostic description

(Figs 1 , 3 , 4 ).

Head. Same as in other members of the tribe. Convex bulging vertex, frontal costa forks into a wide scutellum below half the height of the eye, upper margins of antennal grooves at the level of the bottom margin of the eyes.

Pronotum. General shape close to that observed in C. sagrai , but visibly more angular. The highest region of the pronotal crest is above the humeral angles and is shaped as a slanted plateau (rounded in C. sagrai ). Anterior to the highest point, the crest slopes down with barely perceptible undulations (a long, but shallow depression present in C. sagrai ). Posterior to the highest point, the crest slopes down with slight undulations (one well-expressed convexity in C. sagrai ).

Legs. Anterior femora a little expanded proximally, bearing a tubercle at the middle of the ventral margin. Middle femora with slightly undulated margins, ventral margin with a slight tubercle at the distal third of its length. Hind femora robust, dorsal margin elevated in the anterior half and sloping down towards the knee; one moderate protrusion before the antegenicular tooth. Antegenicular tooth moderately expressed, genicular tooth strongly expressed. Legs are generally rougher than in C. sagrai .

Note.

The diagnostic description presented here implies that the diagnostic criteria of higher taxa that encompass this species apply as well and are, thus, considered sufficient to differentiate C. wallaceum sp. nov. from other species.

Measurements.

See Table 1 .

Figures

Figure 1. Diversity of the Caribbean Pygmy Jumping Leaves, tribe Choriphyllini, genera Choriphyllum and Phyllotettix. All the specimens with available photographs are shown, representing the first variability assessment for the species of these genera. The scale bar represents 5 millimetres.

Figure 2. Biogeography of the Caribbean Jumping Leaves (Cladonotinae, Choriphyllini). Biogeographic data of the tribe Choriphyllini is scarce. The distribution map of the six species belonging to this leaf-like tribe has the distribution of three species missing, as no localities are known.

Figure 3. Annotated schematic pictorial key to genera and species of Choriphyllini. Specimens are not to scale; for size comparison see Fig. 1. The red line shows the position of the highest point of the pronotal crest. The blue arrow points to the anterior margin of the pronotum; the green arrow points to the posterior pronotal tip; and the purple arrow points to the caudal margin of the pronotal crest. Shown are silhouettes of the type specimens of each species. For C. sagrai, shown is the silhouette of Serville's (1838) drawing of the holotype. The capital sinus is marked in red and pointed out in grey.

Figure 4. Wallace's Cuban Pygmy Dancing Leaf, holotype male from MNCN photo M. Paris (A), its labels (B) and a photograph of Alfred Russel Wallace (C) after whom the new species was named.