Necroscia Serville, 1838

Hennemann, Frank H., 2021, Stick insects of Sulawesi, Peleng and the Sula Islands, Indonesia- a review including checklists of species and descriptions of new taxa (Insecta: Phasmatodea), Zootaxa 5073 (1), pp. 1-189 : 149

Genus Necroscia Serville, 1838

( Fig. 60 )

Type-species: Necroscia roseipennis Serville, 1838: 252 (= Necroscia prasina Burmeister, 1838: 586 ), by subsequent designation of Kirby, 1904: 436.

Comments: This very speciose genus has a wide distributional range and is distributed throughout almost the complete Oriental region and also has representatives on New Guinea and surrounding islands. The highest diversity of species is however found in the subregion defined as Sundaland, principally comprising Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore, Sumatra, Java and Borneo. Only two species have so far become known from Sulawesi, one of which is here described as new but is of somewhat questionable affiliation. The other species, N. aruana ( Westwood, 1859) , is the type-species of the synonymic genus Aruanoidea Redtenbacher, 1908 ( Hennemann, 1998: 121) .

As defined currently, Necroscia is still a polyphyletic composition although numerous taxonomic changes have already been conducted by Seow-Choen (2016, 2017, 2018). Females of Necroscia are characterized by the specialized morphology of the genitalia, having an apically narrowed, somewhat tube-like and forked subgenital plate, that might be slightly elongated to project beyond the tip of the abdomen, and usually have more or less elongated often club-like cerci, that considerably project beyond the anal segment. Males exhibit various specializations of the terminalia but the anal segment in particular, which are too numerous to be summarized at this point. The eggs are elongate, tube-like and bullet or okra-shaped with an acutely pointed, bi- or tri-carinate polar end, which serves for the eggs being pierced into substrates like moss, lichens or gaps in tree bark. The morphology of the ♀ terminalia and eggs is shared with various other genera of Necrosciinae including e.g. Eurynecroscia Dohrn, 1910 , Notaspinus Seow-Choen, 2017, Orthonecroscia Kirby, 1904 and Paranecroscia Redtenbacher, 1908 .

Figures

FIGURE 60. Necroscia malleoformia n. sp. ♂, holotype [MNHU]: A. Habitus, lateral view; B. Habitus dorso-lateral view; C. Terminal abdominal segments in lateral aspect; D. Terminal two abdominal segments seen ventrally; E. Head, pro- and mesothorax in dorso-lateral aspect.