Trachythorax sparaxes ( Westwood, 1859 )

Bresseel, Joachim & Constant, Jérôme, 1893, Review of the Oriental stick insect genus Trachythorax Redtenbacher, 1908 with two new species from Vietnam and comments on egg parasitism and morphological counteradaptations (Phasmida, Lonchodidae, Necrosciinae), Belgian Journal of Entomology 120, pp. 1-56 : 46-48

Trachythorax sparaxes ( Westwood, 1859)

( Fig. 31 )

Necroscia sparaxes WESTWOOD, 1859: 153 , plate 9: 6; 20:4 [described and figured].

Necroscia sparaxes – KIRBY, 1904: 377 [catalogued].

Trachythorax sparaxes – REDTENBACHER,1908: 508 [transferred to Trachythorax , key]. — BEDFORD, 1978: 126 [oviposition]. — CARLBERG, 1986: 643 [reproduction adaptation]. — CARLBERG, 1987: 47 [ovarian structure]. — OTTE & BROCK, 2005: 337 [catalogued]. — MANDAL & YADAV, 2010: 16 [catalogued]. — BROCK et al., 2015: 196 [catalogued].

MATERIAL EXAMINED. TYPE MATERIAL (examined from photographs on PSF – BROCK et al., 2021) .

SRI LANKA: 2 ST (1♂, 1♀): 1 ♂: Ceylon , ( R. Templeton) [ BMNH (E) #844861] ( NHMUK); 1 ♀: Ceylon, ‘var. of Templeton’s Ceylon species’ ( R. Templeton) [ BMNH (E) #844862] ( NHMUK) .

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL. INDIA: 1♀: South India, Madras State, Coimbatore , 1400 ft a.s.l., I.1960, coll P.S. Nathan, F3224.266 ( MMUE) ; 1♀: S. India, Madras st., Coimbatore , XI.1966, P.S. Nathan, F3224.142 ( MMUE) ; 1♂, 1♀: Karnataka, Kolar distr., Chick Ballapur, leg H. Mühle , 27-28.VIII.1998, FH 0270 – 2 and 3 ( FH) (examined from photographs provided by F. Hennemann); 1♂: Umgebung, Trivandrum, Whest-Ghats, Leg Rautenstrauch, FH 0270 – 1 ( FH) (examined from photographs provided by F. Hennemann) .

NOTE. BROCK et al. (2015) also mentioned 2 additional syntypes (1♂, 1♀) in OUMNH, but WESTWOOD (1859) only cited the material from NHMUK.

PHOTOGRAPHIC RECORD. INDIA: maiting pair ( Fig. 31 ): Tamil Nadu, Dindigul, Thadiyankudisai , 10° 17’51.70”N 77° 42’38.40”E, 21.VII.2018, at light trap, H. Sankararaman .

COMMENTS. Trachythorax sparaxes ( Westwood, 1859) was described from Sri Lanka based on both sexes by WESTWOOD (1859) who originally placed the species in Necroscia Audinet-Serville, 1838 . REDTENBACHER (1908) transferred the species to Trachythorax and described T. planiceps Redtenbacher, 1908 from Assam in the same publication. He differentiated T. planiceps from T. sparaxes by the saffron-coloured anterior and posterior margins of the pronotum and the smooth mesonotum. However, examination of pictures of the type-series of T. sparaxes , shows a smooth mesonotum in this species as well. The saffron-coloured anterior and posterior margins in T. planiceps are in fact pink in living specimens and specimens of T. sparaxes photographed from South India and Sri Lanka also show the same colouration. MANDAL & YADAV (2010) recorded the species from Bihar and Sikkim states in Northeast India. The species is here recorded from Madras state, South India for the first time.

No clear diagnostic differences could be observed between T. planiceps and T. sparaxes . Despite the long distance between the two type localities, additional data from iNaturalist (INATURALIST, 2021) could allow to fill the gap between south India and North-east India. The possible synonymy between the two species needs to be confirmed or refuted by the examination of more material from different localities.

Figures

Fig. 31. Trachythorax sparaxes (Westwood, 1859), South India, Tamil Nadu, 2018. © H. Sankaraman. A, mating pair, dorsal view. B, mating pair, dorsolateral view. C, ♀, head and thorax, dorsal view.