Trachythorax chinensis ( Redtenbacher, 1908 )

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 : 33

Trachythorax chinensis ( Redtenbacher, 1908)

( Fig. 23 A )

Marmessoidea chinensis REDTENBACHER, 1908: 514 [described].

Marmessoidea chinensis – OTTE & BROCK, 2005: 193 [catalogued]. — ZOMPRO, 2005: 258 [catalogued, type data]. — CHEN & HE, 2008: 157 [in China]. — GAO & LIANG, 2021: 1 [in key to Chinese species].

Trachythorax chinensis – SEOW-CHOEN, 2019: 86 [transferred to Trachythorax ].

TYPE MATERIAL. (examined from photographs on PSF – BROCK et al., 2021) CHINA: HT ♀: Omi-Shan, West China , Kricheldorff S . ( ZMHB).

PHOTOGRAPHIC RECORD. CHINA: ♂, ♀ in copula ( Fig. 23A ): Sichuan Prov., Luzhou , Gulin County, 28°13'48.6"N 105°46'07.7"E, 14.VIII.2021, iNaturalist user wangying https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/91102094 .

COMMENTS. Surprisingly REDTENBACHER (1908) described this species in the genus Marmessoidea Brunner von Wattenwyl, 1893 although he described the genus Trachythorax Redtenbacher, 1908 in the same publication. The author differentiated both genera in his key to the Necrosciini by the presence ( Trachythorax ) or absence ( Marmessoidea ) of a pair of blunt humps on the mesonotum. Trachythorax chinensis ( Redtenbacher, 1908) also shows a pair of mesonotal humps, though being less pronounced. The type-locality Omi-Shan (currently Emei Shan) is located in Northwest Sichuan, China. A second species, Trachythorax longialatus Cai, 1989 ( Fig. 27 ), was also described from Sichuan, with its type locality about 125 km to the north. At the time of publication, CAI (1989) was probably unaware of the species chinensis as it was omitted from the list of Trachythorax species from China that the author provided, and the species was only later transferred to Trachythorax by SEOW-CHOEN (2019). GAO & LIANG (2021) differentiated T. chinensis from T. longialatus by the presence of black spots on the head in the former species. The holotype of T. chinensis is actually of a darker colouration than the holotype of T. longialatus , but no relevant differences in morphological characters could be observed when comparing images of the type specimens.

Direct comparison of the type material of both taxa combined with the examination of more recent material from Sichuan Province will allow to confirm or refute the possible synonymy between the two species. An illustration of a live specimen is provided here for the first time ( Fig. 23 A ) .

DISTRIBUTION. China: Sichuan Province ( REDTENBACHER, 1908).

Figures

Fig. 23. A, maiting pair of Trachythorax chinensis (Redtenbacher, 1908) in Luzhou, Sichuan Province, China. © Wangying. B, female of Trachythorax fuscocarinatus Chen & He, 1995 in Jianfengling, Hainan, dorsal view. © F. Seow-Choen.

Fig. 27. Trachythorax longialatus Cai, 1989, HT ♀. A, habitus, dorsal view. B, habitus, ventral view. C, labels. D, head and thorax, dorsal view. E, terminalia, dorsal view. F, terminalia, lateral view. G, terminalia, ventral view. © NKUM.