Paraphasma minus Redtenbacher, 1906

Chiquetto-Machado, Pedro I., Morales, Adriana C. & Cancello, Eliana M., 2022, Taxonomic revision of Paraphasma Redtenbacher, 1906 (Phasmatodea, Pseudophasmatidae) based on phallic and external morphology, Zootaxa 5122 (1), pp. 1-80 : 38-40

Paraphasma minus Redtenbacher, 1906

Figs 26–29 , Table 6 .

Paraphasma minus Redtenbacher, 1906: 116 ; Brock, 1998a: 43; Zompro, 2004: 159; Otte & Brock, 2005: 252; ChiquettoMachado & Cancello, 2021: 4, 26, figs 6, 25, 26. Holotype: ♀, Alto Amazonas (NHMW) ( Fig. 29 ).

Diagnosis. Similar to P. conspersum , P. indistinctum sp. nov., P. laterale , P. marginale and P. sooretama sp. nov., but clearly distinguishable by the phallic organ, with a “large type” sclerite of the ventral lobe ( Fig. 28 , in green), which has a somewhat acuminate posterior margin (roughly triangular in dorsal view) and three blunt, undivided, well-developed protuberances ( Fig. 28 : ap, lp, rp). Although not exclusive of P. minus , the following features may also be useful for the identification of this species: small body length [♂ <44 mm (n = 2); ♀ = 52.2 mm (holotype)], corresponding to the smallest species in the genus; tegmina with gently rounded margins ( Figs 26D,E , 29C ); female lacking a distinctly raised anterodorsal carina on the profemur; male cerci with spatulate apex ( Fig. 27A–D ); vomer longer than wide ( Fig. 27E ); male subgenital plate with posterolateral margins forming a pair of approximately triangular expansions with malleable aspect ( Fig. 27 : arrows); female sternite VII with a rounded indentation on the posterior margin.

Redescription of male. Color ( Figs 26 , 27 ): Body mostly brown, grayish or black, with a pair of pale yellowish or greenish lateral stripes extending along head, prothorax, mesothorax and costal region of tegmina and hindwings. Head dorsally black with pale yellow longitudinal stripes. Pro- and mesonotum with fairly dense pale yellow spots and dorsomedian line in the same yellow shade. Legs brown; darker in apical region of femora and tibiae. Tegmina and costal region of hindwings mostly brown or grayish, with pale yellow venation. Body ventrally brown. Head, thorax and legs ( Fig. 26 ): As in Paraphasma conspersum . Wings ( Fig. 26 ): Tegmina short, not reaching median region of metanotum; in dorsal view about 2.5x longer than wide; posterior and apical margins gently rounded; shoulder pad varying from dull protuberance to sharp spine; anal region with conspicuous reticulate venation. Hindwing reaching abdominal tergite VII. Abdomen ( Figs 26A–C , 27 ): As in Paraphasma conspersum , except for the following: apex of cerci with sinuous margin in lateral view ( Fig. 27B ); vomer gradually narrowing towards apical region ( Fig. 27E ). Phallic organ ( Fig. 28 ): Dorsal sclerite wider than long, roughly rectangular in dorsal view ( Fig. 28 , in red); distal process short and relatively wide, directed to the left, almost perpendicular in relation to longitudinal axis of organ ( Fig. 28 : dp). Dorsal and ventral lobes partially fused on left side. Dorsal lobe ( Fig. 28 : dl) subdivided into main body on the right and a digitiform, smaller dorsal pouch on the left ( Fig. 28 : asterisks). Sclerite of the ventral lobe of “large type ” ( Fig. 28 , in green), covering entire inner face of ventral lobe and slightly extending to outer face posteriorly; roughly triangular in dorsal view, with somewhat acuminate posterior margin; apical, left basal and right basal protuberances well-developed, blunt and undivided ( Fig. 28 : ap, lp, rp). One of base apodemes ( Fig. 28 , in blue) projecting into dorsal lobe as a distinct spatulate expansion.

Redescription of female. Color ( Fig. 29 ): As in male. Head and thorax ( Fig. 29A–C ): As in male. Legs ( Fig. 29A–C ): As in male, but slightly shorter in relation to body. Wings ( Fig. 29A–C ): As in male, but hindwing reaching or surpassing abdominal tergite VIII. Abdomen ( Fig. 29A,B,E–G ): As in Paraphasma conspersum .

Egg not examined.

Distribution ( Fig. 1 : light blue circles). Paraphasma minus is recorded from the Brazilian Amazon. The type locality “Alto Amazonas ” is vague, but possibly refers to the Solimões River (see “Remarks” below). In addition to the holotype, only two other specimens of P. minus are known, from Manaus (eastern Amazonas state) and Paru River (north-central Pará).

Remarks. The type material of Paraphasma minus is restricted to a single female. For this reason, the identification of the two males housed at MZUSP and MNRJ could not be based on the morphology of the phallic organ. Although the females of P. minus , P. indistinctum sp. nov., P. conspersum , P. laterale , P. marginale and P. sooretama sp. nov. do not show clear differences of external morphology, it is reasonable to infer that these two males are conspecific with the holotype of P. minus based on their collecting localities and on the fact that the female holotype and these males correspond to the smallest representatives of Paraphasma examined by us (in comparison with specimens of the same sex). Hence, the male of P. minus is described here for the first time.

It is possible that the type locality of P. minus (“Alto Amazonas ” = Upper Amazonas) corresponds to the Solimões River, in which case it would be situated further west in the Amazon Forest than the localities of the two males [the old Upper Amazonas Basin is nowadays known as the Solimões Basin—see Caputo (1984) and Silva et al. (2003)]. This hypothesis is corroborated by the fact that the collecting locality of the lectotype of Agrostia bipunctata Redtenbacher, 1906 ( Phasmatodea : Pseudophasmatidae ) is “Alto Amazonas, Coary” and, like the holotype of P. minus , this specimen was acquired from the natural history dealer Otto Staudinger. The city of Coari (Amazonas) is located on the banks of the Solimões River, suggesting that the type locality of P. minus may also refer to this river.

Additional material examined. BRAZIL. Amazonas: 1♂, Manaus, Dom Pedro , 4.vi.2014, Coleta manual, L. Oliveira Junior ( MZUSP 0287 *) . Pará: 1♂, Rio Paru , vii.52, J.C. M.C. ( MNRJ *) .

Figures

FIGURE 1. Distribution map of Paraphasma. Circles indicate records based on material examined; triangles indicate records from the literature (Stoll 1787; Serville 1839; Chopard 1911; Conle et al. 2011; Jourdan et al. 2014); stars indicate records of undetermined Paraphasma species based on Rehn (1906) and Piza (1939) (although these authors identified the specimens, the identifications are doubtful or insufficient).

FIGURE 26. Paraphasma minus Redtenbacher, 1906, male, specimen MZUSP 0287. A–C. Habitus, dorsal (A), lateral (B) and ventral (C) views. D, E. Anterior region of the body, dorsolateral (D) and dorsal (E) views. Scale bars = 10 mm.

FIGURE 27. Paraphasma minus Redtenbacher, 1906, male terminalia. A–D. Terminalia in dorsal (A), lateral (B), ventral (C) and oblique caudal (D) views. E. Drawing of the vomer. Abbreviations: Ce, cerci; S8, sternite VIII; SPa, anterior region of the subgenital plate; SPp, posterior region of the subgenital plate; T8, T9, T10, tergites VIII, IX and X; TP, thorn pad. Arrows = expansion of the posterolateral margin of the subgenital plate. Scale bars = 1 mm.

FIGURE 28. Paraphasma minus Redtenbacher, 1906, illustrations of the phallic organ. A. Dorsal view. B. Detail of the sclerite of the ventral lobe in dorsal view. C. Caudal view. D. Left view. E. Right view. Abbreviations: ap, apical protuberance of the sclerite of the ventral lobe; b, base; dl, dorsal lobe; dp, distal process of the dorsal sclerite; lp, left basal protuberance of the sclerite of the ventral lobe; rbp, right basal pouch; rp, right basal protuberance of the sclerite of the ventral lobe; vl, ventral lobe. Colors: light gray, membranous regions; red, dorsal sclerite; green, sclerite of the ventral lobe; blue, base apodemes. * = left ramification of the dorsal lobe. In D and E the final portion of the ejaculatory duct is represented by transparency with dotted lines. Images A, B, D and E adapted from Chiquetto-Machado & Cancello (2021: fig. 6).

FIGURE 29. Paraphasma minus Redtenbacher, 1906, female, holotype (NHMW). A, B. Habitus, dorsal (A) and ventral (B) views. C. Anterior region of the body, dorsolateral view. D. Labels. E–G. Terminalia, dorsal (E), ventral (F) and lateral (G) views. Abbreviations: Ce, cerci; PO, praeopercular organ; SP, subgenital plate; T8, T9, T10, tergites VIII, IX and X. Scale bars = 10 mm, unless otherwise indicated.