Tirachoidea jianfenglingensis ( Bi, 1994 )

Bresseel, Joachim & Constant, Jérôme, 2014, Giant Sticks from Vietnam and China, with three new taxa including the second longest insect known to date (Phasmatodea, Phasmatidae, Clitumninae, Pharnaciini), European Journal of Taxonomy 104, pp. 1-38 : 35

Tirachoidea jianfenglingensis ( Bi, 1994)

Pharnacia jianfenglingensis Bi, 1994: 10 .

Tirachoidea jianfenglingesis – Hennemann & Conle, 2008: 240.

Material examined

VIETNAM: 1 ♂, 1 ♀, 20 eggs, Cuc Phuong N.P., 20°19’00” N, 105°36’30” E, 19–23 Jul. 2011, cultured at Bristol Zoo via Mark Bushell ( RBINS); 1 ♂♂, 2 ♀♀ (collected as nymphs and captive reared), Cat Ba N.P., 20°48’00” N, 107°00’20” E, 12–16 Jul. 2013, night collecting, leg. J. Constant & J. Bresseel, I.G. 32.454 ( RBINS).

Remarks

The species was originally described from Jianfengling National Forest Park in Hainan province, South China ( Bi 1994). Hennemann & Conle (2008: 240) recorded this species from Cuc Phuong National Park and Than Moi in Vietnam, and Jinping County, Yunnan Province (900–1000 m) in Southern China. Recently Ho (2013) recorded the species from Hong Kong. The authors collected four nymphs of this species in Cat Ba National Park, Vietnam. One male and one female were reared to adulthood on a mixture of oak ( Quercus spp., Fagaceae ) and bramble ( Rubus spp., Rosaceae ). These records show that the species has a wide distribution range, which can also be observed in several other representatives of the genus Tirachoidea : e.g., T. biceps ( Redtenbacher, 1908) from Java, Sumatra, Lombok and Peninsular Malaysia, and T. cantori (Westwood, 1859) recorded from Peninsular Malaysia, Thailand and South Myanmar.