Pseudososibia brachyptera ( Chen & He, 2004 ) Ho, 2017

Ho, George Wai-Chun, 2017, Contribution to the knowledge of Chinese Phasmatodea V: New taxa and new nomenclatures of the subfamilies Necrosciinae (Diapheromeridae) and Lonchodinae (Phasmatidae) from the Phasmatodea of China, Zootaxa 4368 (1), pp. 1-72 : 37-38

Pseudososibia brachyptera ( Chen & He, 2004) comb. nov.

(Figs. 140–143, 180)

Sosibia brachyptera, Chen & He, 2004: 26 , figs. 8a–b; Hennemann et al., 2008a: 39; Chen & He, 2008: 197, figs. 163a–b. Planososibia brachyptera, Seow-Choen, 2016: 225 .

Type. 1♂, 900–1500m, Motuo , Xizang, China, 6.XI.1998, Yao Jian ( IZCAS).

Other material examined. 1♀, 2100m, Hanmi , Motuo, Xizang, China, 23.VII–7.VIII.2011, Bi Wen-Xuan (SEM) ; 1♂ & 1♀, 2600m, Hanmi , Motuo, Xizang, China, 29.VII.2013, Bi Wen-Xuan ( HKES) .

Diagnosis. Pseudososibia brachyptera comb. nov. [ China (Xizang)] is similar to P. cristata sp. nov. [ China (Xizang)], but can easily be separated by unarmed vertex of head in both sexes.

Description. Female (Figs. 140–141, 180). Medium-sized. General colour of body and legs brown. Body cylindrical, larger and thicker than male, lacking noticeable armature, only sparsely granulated.

Head: Oval, sparsely covered with small granules, longer than pronotum. Vertex flat, unarmed. Occiput flat, with indistinct median and lateral longitudinal furrows, posterior margin with four small swellings. Compound eyes small and rounded. Antennae long, apices of terminal segments surpassing apices of protarsi, densely covered with short brown and black bristles; scapus flattened basally, longer than pedicellus; third segment shorter than pedicellus.

Thorax: Sparsely covered with short black bristles. Pronotum sparsely covered with small granules, anterior margin truncate, posterior margin rounded, transverse and longitudinal sulci crossing before middle area. Mesonotum parallel-sided, densely covered with small granules, also interspersed with a few enlarged granules, median longitudinal line indistinct. Metanotum not completely covered by tegmina and alae, with a few small granules. Mesopleurae and metapleurae with small granules and also interspersed with a few enlarged granules. Mesosternum and metasternum covered with small granules.

Abdomen: Cylindrical, tapering posteriorly. With short wrinkles of irregular lengths and a few small granules. Eighth tergum longer than anal segment. Anal segment longer than ninth tergum, tapering apically, posterior margin with a small V-shaped emargination, posterolateral angles rounded. Supra-anal plate indistinct. Cerci long, cylindrical, straight, apices rounded and reaching posterior margin of anal segment. Subgenital plate scoop-shaped, flat, apex rounded and reaching middle area of anal segment.

Legs: Slender and long. Sparsely covered with short brown and black bristles. Unarmed. Profemora incurved basally, almost as long as mesonotum, as long as protibiae. Mesofemora shorter than profemora, as long as mesotibiae. Metafemora longer than profemora, shorter than metatibiae.

Wings: Tegmina small, scale-like. Alae short, posterior apices reaching anterior margin of second abdominal tergum, costal region brown, anal region dull sandy brown.

Measurements in Table 16.

Distribution. China (Xizang).

Notes. Chen and He (2008) originally placed this species in Sosibia Stål, 1875. Based on the morphological structures of both sexes (Figs. 140–143, 180), it is appropriate to place it in the newly erected Pseudososibia gen. nov.. The female is described for the first time.