Vaabonbonphyllium groesseri (Zompro, 1998) comb. nov.

Figs 4B, 10, 11

Material examined.

( 15 ♀♀, 2 ♂♂, 3 ♀♀ nymph, 2 ♂♂ nymph, 2 unsexed nymph): Holotype (♀): " Buin I. Bougainville Arch. Salomons; 1941 4; Chitoniscus lobiventris Blanch. K. Gunther det.; Chitoniscus lobiventris Blanch.; Chitoniscus Stal; Phyllium groesseri Zompro 1997 HOLOTYPUS det. O. Zompro X. 1996; HOLOTYPUS; Phyllium groesseri ♀ Zompro n. sp. HOLOTYPUS det. O.Zompro V.1998 " (SMTD; Fig. 10A). See Suppl. material 1 for additional specimens reviewed, their collection data, and depositories.

Remarks.

At present this is the only known phylliid species from the Solomon Islands, although the phylliid knowledge of these islands is rather limited as even this species is rarely collected so if additional species were present but not yet formally described it would not be surprising.

Only two males are known to us at the present (from within the NHMUK and CSIRO collections) both of which are notably damaged (Fig. 11). These males have not yet been positively confirmed as the male Vaabonbonphyllium groesseri comb. nov. via molecular comparison or from captive breeding but based upon shared morphology between the sexes and the current knowledge that only one species of phylliid is present on the Solomon Islands it is safe to assume these are the male for this species.

This species was originally described simply as a Phyllium species (not placed within a subgenus) and was placed within the Pulchriphyllium subgenus by Größer (2001) due to the presence of exterior lobes of the tibiae. During the intrageneric revision of Hennemann et al. (2009) this species was placed within the Phyllium frondosum species group to which this species has a strong general resemblance (when reviewing the size, abdominal shape, and female wing venation). In 2020 the Phyllium frondosum species group was found to represent the unknown female Nanophyllium; however, this species was not transferred to the Nanophyllium but was instead moved to the Pulchriphyllium subgenus Rakaphyllium schultzei species group based upon the bilobed protibiae (Cumming et al. 2020a). Now thanks to a full review of morphology and review of multiple specimens, the fine details which differentiate this clade from others allows its formal recognition as a unique genus.

Differentiation.

Female Vaabonbonphyllium groesseri comb. nov. are the only females known for this genus, so differentiation from congenerics is not possible until the unknown female Vaabonbonphyllium rafidahae gen. et sp. nov. is located and described. Male Vaabonbonphyllium groesseri comb. nov. can be differentiated from Vaabonbonphyllium rafidahae gen. et sp. nov. based upon the abdominal shape as Vaabonbonphyllium groesseri comb. nov. has notably differing abdominal segment widths, with the middle segments many times wider than the anterior and distal segments (Fig. 11A, D) versus Vaabonbonphyllium rafidahae gen. et sp. nov. which has an abdomen with all segments relatively even in width giving it a smooth margined appearance (Fig. 12B). Also, the lobes of the pro- and mesofemora allow differentiation as Vaabonbonphyllium groesseri comb. nov. has the profemoral exterior lobe highly reduced (Fig. 11B) and the interior mesofemoral lobe is notably broader than the mesofemoral exterior lobe versus Vaabonbonphyllium rafidahae gen. et sp. nov. which has a profemoral exterior lobe which is slightly wider than the profemoral shaft width (Fig. 12C) and the mesofemoral interior and exterior lobes which are approximately the same width (Fig. 12E). Additionally, the prosternum allows for differentiation as in Vaabonbonphyllium groesseri comb. nov. the prosternum is relatively smooth, lacking a distinct protrusion (Fig. 11E) versus Vaabonbonphyllium rafidahae gen. et sp. nov. which has a distinct protrusion with a granular surface (Fig. 12H).

Distribution.

This species was originally only recorded from Bougainville Island, but since then additional records have been recovered from numerous collections representing previously unknown localities (see Suppl. material 1 for a full list of known specimens and their data). Additional islands recorded are (north to south): Kolombangara, Nggela, Guadalcanal, and Small Malaita (Fig. 5). With how rarely this species is collected, and from the wide range that it can be found from throughout the Solomon Islands, it is likely that this species can be found on several of the other larger islands as well, but just has not been formally recorded yet.