Phyllium morganae Cumming, Foley, Hennemann, Le Tirant & Büscher, 2025

Cumming, Royce T., Foley, Evelyn Marie, Hennemann, Frank H., Le Tirant, Stephane, Daawia,, Warikar, Evie Lilly, Yando, Heron, Suhartawan, Bambang, Henze, Katharina, Büscher, Thies H. & Bank, Sarah, 2025, A deeper look into the diversity of Phyllium leaf insects from Indonesia: seven new species and two unique egg morphologies (Phasmatodea, Phylliidae), ZooKeys 1256, pp. 317-370 : 317-370

Phyllium morganae Cumming, Foley, Hennemann, Le Tirant & Büscher sp. nov.

Fig. 16

Type material.

Holotype ( ♀): Indonesia • Yapen isl., Kosiwo dist., Manainin vil. , + / - 1000 m, 06 / 2022. Tissue sample SLT 090 [ IMQC] . Specimen received from Benny De Groof ( Belgium), from his permitted export of Indonesian specimens.

Differentiation.

Male, egg, and freshly hatched nymph unknown. Female Phyllium morganae sp. nov. are most similar to Phyllium philippinicum Hennemann et al. 2009 and Phyllium bilobatum Gray, 1843 due to general abdominal shape with prominent lobes on segments VII and VIII. Many fine morphological details allow easy differentiation of these species. Likely the unknown female Phyllium telnovi has a similar morphology to Phyllium morganae sp. nov. as these were recovered as sister species (Fig. 1 ). Hopefully the female Phyllium telnovi can be located one day and allow proper differentiation. From Phyllium philippinicum the thorax morphology allows differentiation as Phyllium philippinicum has mesopleurae which are narrow on the anterior 1 / 3 vs Phyllium morganae sp. nov. has prominent mesopleurae which begin at the anterior margin of the mesothorax (Fig. 16 C ). Additionally, the uniform shape / sized teeth of the profemoral lobe interior in Phyllium philippinicum contrast with the large and variable sized / spaced teeth on the Phyllium morganae sp. nov. profemoral interior lobe (Fig. 16 C ). Phyllium morganae sp. nov. has profemoral interior lobes more similar to Phyllium bilobatum due to the variably sized / spaced large teeth, but the profemoral exterior lobe allows differentiation as the lobes are wider in Phyllium bilobatum (~ 2 × the width of the profemoral shaft), vs in Phyllium morganae sp. nov. which are thinner, only slightly wider than the profemoral shaft greatest width (Fig. 16 C ). The profemoral exterior lobe margin is also relatively smooth in Phyllium morganae sp. nov. but is distinctly granulate in Phyllium bilobatum .

Description.

Female. Coloration. Coloration description is based upon photographs of the live holotype specimen before it was preserved and dried (which resulted in most of the color being lost). The general coloration was lime green throughout, with the antennae brown, the larger veins of the tegmina dark orange / brown, and a few tan / brown patches present on the profemoral interior lobes and the mesofemoral lobes on the distal ends.

Morphology. Head capsule slightly longer than wide, with a vertex that is slightly lumpy, not perfectly smooth (Fig. 16 C ). The posteromedial tubercle is present, singularly lobed, but not very prominent (Fig. 16 C ). Frontal convexity not very prominent and ending in a blunted point with several short setae across the surface. Compound eyes slightly protruding from the head capsule, not bulbous, taking up slightly <1 / 3 of the head capsule lateral margins (Fig. 16 C ). Ocelli absent. Antennal fields slightly wider than the first antennomere width.

Antennae consist of nine segments, with segment VIII slightly wider than segments VII or IX. The terminal antennomere is not particularly long, only slightly longer than the preceding segment. Antennomeres I – VII are smooth, and sparsely marked with short setae, the terminal two antennomeres are covered in short, dense setae, giving these segments a fuzzy appearance (Fig. 16 A ).

Thorax. Pronotum with slightly concave anterior margin and lateral margins that converge only slightly, to the posterior margin which is slightly more than ½ the width of the anterior margin (Fig. 16 A ). The pronotum anterior margin has a prominent rim, while the lateral and posterior margins are less prominent. The pronotum surface is relatively smooth, with a prominent sagittal slit in the center and a few furrows lateral to this slit, and a prominent sagittal slit near the anterior margin (Fig. 16 A ). Prosternum and the anterior 1 / 3 of the mesosternum are marked by sparse, but prominent nodes, while the rest of the ventral thorax surfaces are relatively smooth. Mesoprescutum approximately as long as wide, lateral rims with five prominent tubercles (Fig. 16 C ). Mesoprescutum anterior rim prominently raised into a raised, broad sagittal spine (Fig. 16 B ). Mesoprescutum surface smooth except for the slightly raised mesoprescutum sagittal crest which is marked with at least two distinctly raised nodes; areas lateral to the sagittal crest smooth or slightly wrinkled (Fig. 16 C ). Mesopleurae begin on the anterior margin and diverge with nearly straight margins gradually (Fig. 16 C ). Mesopleurae lateral margins with five or six distinct tubercles which are relatively evenly spaced, and some of these have a node between them (Fig. 16 C ). Face of the mesopleura slightly wrinkled, with two notable divots, one on the anterior 1 / 3 and one near the posterior 1 / 3 (Fig. 16 C ).

Wings. Tegmina long, reaching onto abdominal segment VIII. Tegmina venation; the subcosta ( Sc) is the first vein in the forewing, running parallel with the margin for the first ½, and then bending and running towards the margin. The subcosta runs for ~ 1 / 5 of the tegmina length. The radius (R) spans the anterior ½ of the forewing with two subparallel branched veins; the first radius ( R 1) branches ~ 1 / 5 of the way through the wing length and terminates ~ 1 / 3 of the way through the tegmina length; the radial sector ( Rs) branches ~ 1 / 3 of the way through the wing length and terminates near the distal 2 / 5 of the wing length. There is a continuation of the radius following the prominent Rs branching which continues on as a short but distinct R – M crossvein that connects the two veins. The media (M) is bifurcate with the media anterior ( MA) terminating near the distal 1 / 5 of the tegmina and media posterior (MP) terminating near to the apex of the tegmina. There is a weak continuation of the media following the prominent media posterior (MP) branching which continues on as a somewhat long M – Cu crossvein that weakly connects the two veins. The cubitus ( Cu) is also bifurcate, branching near the apex of the tegmina into the cubitus anterior ( CuA) and cubitus posterior ( CuP) which both terminate near the wing apex. The first anal vein ( 1 A) is simple and fuses with the cubitus ~ ¼ of the way through the tegmina length. Alae vestigial.

Abdomen. Abdominal segments II through the anterior 2 / 3 of IV gradually diverging. The posterior 1 / 3 of segment IV through the anterior 2 / 3 of segment VII are slightly and uniformly converging. The posterior 1 / 3 of segment VII is rounded inwards towards segment VIII which like VII starts converging gradually and then rounds inward to segment IX. Segments IX and X have straight, converging margins ending in a broad rounded apex (Fig. 16 F ).

Genitalia. Subgenital plate starts at the anterior margin of tergum VIII, is broad and triangular, with straight margins, and extends ~ 1 / 2 of the way onto tergum X (Fig. 16 F ). Gonapophyses VIII are long and moderately broad, reaching the apex of the abdominal tergum X; gonapophyses IX are obstructed from view (Fig. 16 F ). Cerci flat, slightly broadening to the apical 1 / 3, with a slightly granular surface (Fig. 16 F ).

Legs. Profemoral exterior lobe thin and arching from end to end gently, with a maximum width only ~ 1.5 × the greatest width of the profemoral shaft (Fig. 16 C ). Margin of the profemoral exterior lobe smooth or with slight granulation. Profemoral interior lobe ~ 2 × as wide as the greatest width of the profemoral shaft, and marked with six or seven variably sized teeth with looping gaps between them of varying widths (Fig. 16 C ). Mesofemoral interior lobe slightly thicker on the distal end, with the greatest width similar in wider to the mesofemoral shaft. The mesofemoral exterior lobes greatest width is also approx. as wide as the mesofemoral shaft width, but the weighting is towards the center, with the proximal and distal ends thin. The mesofemoral exterior lobe has one or two small, distally pointing teeth on the distal 1 / 3 of the lobe. The mesofemoral interior lobe has eight or nine small, distally pointing teeth on the distal ½ of the lobe. Metafemoral interior lobe arcs end to end, with the distal ½ slightly wider than the proximal ½ and marked with 12 or 13 small, serrate teeth on the distal ½ of the lobe. Metafemoral exterior lobe with only two or three very small teeth on the distal 1 / 3 and has a width similar to the metafemoral shaft width. Protibiae exterior simple, lacking a lobe. Protibiae interior lobe spans the entire length of the protibiae and is only slightly wider than the width of the protibiae shaft itself. The lobe is roundly triangular with the widest portion slightly situated on the distal ½. Mesotibiae and metatibiae simple, lacking exterior and interior lobes.

Measurements (mm). Holotype, female: body length (including cerci and head, excluding antennae): 79.6, length / width of head: 7.7 / 6.0, antennae: 5.2, pronotum: 5.6, mesonotum: 6.5, length of tegmina: 51.0, greatest width of abdomen: 37.3, profemora: 15.6, mesofemora: 14.7, metafemora: 18.1, protibia: 9.6, mesotibia: 9.8, metatibia: 16.0.

Etymology.

Eponym; named to honor Morgan Brock-Smith ( USA), recent wife to the first author. None of the hundreds of hours of research that has been focused on the phylliids over the years by the first author would have been possible without her support and love. Morgan is the stalwart partner that makes the adventures of life exciting and the challenges of life possible to overcome.

Distribution.

At present only known from the type locality of Yapen Island, Papua Province, Indonesia (Fig. 2 ).

Figures

Figure 1. Maximum Likelihood tree with focus on the phylogenetic relationships of 54 Phyllium specimens. Tree is rooted with Cryptophyllium as the outgroup. Support values are shown at each node (SH-aLRT / UFBoot). The asterisk (*) indicates maximum support (100). Newly added specimens are shown in green text and new species are highlighted in green. The blue stripes on internal branches mark dispersal to Indonesia, with blue boxes specifying the exact island or region. Abbreviations: HT, holotype; PT, paratype.

Figure 2. Distribution map for all Phyllium species used in the molecular analysis as well as the newly described species from Obi Island not represented in the phylogenetic tree. Species names of Phyllium from Malaysia, the Philippine Islands, and New Britain (Papua New Guinea) are shown in gray. The Indonesian archipelagic state is highlighted in blue and symbols of sampling sites of Indonesian Phyllium species are in dark blue. White symbols show the location of the remaining Phyllium from Malaysia, the Philippine Islands and New Britain (Papua New Guinea). The inset presents an enlarged section of Sabah (Malaysia: Borneo) and the six species found there. Abbreviations: Hal, Halmahera; Jav, Java; Kal, Kalimantan; NG, New Guinea (Papua); Ser, Seram; Sul, Sulawesi; Sum, Sumatra.

Figure 16. Phyllium morganae sp. nov. holotype female (IMQC). A. Detail of antenna, dorsal; B. Detail of head, antennae, front leg, and thorax, dorsal; C. Details of the thorax, lateral (head to the left); D. Habitus, dorsal; E. Habitus, ventral; F. Terminalia, ventral. Scale bar: 40.0 mm (D, E).