Pseudosermyle procera, Conle, Oskar V., Hennemann, Frank H. & Fontana, Paolo, 2007

Conle, Oskar V., Hennemann, Frank H. & Fontana, Paolo, 2007, Studies on neotropical Phasmatodea V: Notes on certain species of Pseudosermyle Caudell, 1903, with the descriptions of three new species from Mexico (Phasmatodea: Diapheromeridae: Diapheromerinae: Diapheromerini), Zootaxa 1496, pp. 31-51 : 42-43

Pseudosermyle procera n. sp.

( Figs. 11–12 , 21 )

HT, ♂: Mexico, Veracruz, Santiago Tuxtla, Cerro del Vigia, 12.VI–9.IX.1964 (UNAM). PT (7 ♂♂): 5 ♂♂: Mexico, Veracruz, Santiago Tuxtla, Cerro del Vigia, 12.VI–9.IX.1964 (UNAM); 1 ♂: Mexiko, Veracruz, Cerro del Vigia, leg. Carlos, 1996, (coll. OC); 1 ♂: Mexico, Veracruz, Los Tuxtlas, Estación de Biología, 0 1.02.1978 (UNAM).

Distribution: Mexico (Veracruz).

Etymology: This new species is named “ procera ” (lat. = slender, elongate) referring to it’s very slender habitus.

Differentiation: Closely related to P. phalangiphora ( Rehn, 1907) , P. chorreadero n. sp. and P. i n c o n g r u - ens (Brunner v. Wattenwyl, 1907) with which it shares the forked cerci. It is however easily distinguished from these three species by the much more slender body and characteristically pipe wrench-like left cercus ( Fig. 12 ).

Description: The following description is based on the dried and pinned types. Hence care must be taken with the description of the colouration below, due to this may differ from live specimens.

ɗɗ ( Fig. 21 ): Medium-sized (body length 56.3–63.0 mm) and very slender for the genus. Body smooth; head with two minute, blunt spines between the eyes. General colouration of head and body dark-brown. Legs dark brown and sometimes reddish, very indistinctly annulated with drab-yellow Antennae uniformly pale to mid brown in basal half, very indistinctly annulated with yellowish segments in apical half.

Head: Elongate, 1.5x longer than wide, slightly narrowed towards the posterior, oval in cross-section. Vertex flat and smooth, without granules between the eyes with two low blunt spines. Eyes small, circular and strongly convex. Antennae slightly longer than the body. Antennomeres very short and decreasing in length towards apices of antennae, all densely covered with minute setae. Scapus dorsoventrally flattened, rectangular and about 2x longer than wide. Pedicellus cylindrical, broader than following antennomeres and about half the length of scapus.

Thorax: Completely smooth. Meso- and metathorax round in cross-section and slightly constricted medially. Pronotum shorter and narrower than the head, 1.5x longer than wide and slightly constricted medially. Transverse median depression distinct, slightly curved and reaching to lateral margins of segment. Mesonotum elongate, 5– 6 x longer and more slender than pronotum, about 10x longer than wide, slightly widened at the posterior and anterior margins. Metanotum 6x longer than wide, about 2/3 the length of mesonotum, slightly widened at the posterior and anterior margins. Pro-, meso- and metapleurae and sterna simple and structured like the dorsal surface.

Abdomen: As long as head and thorax combined. Surface smooth. Transverse fissure between median segment and metanotum distinct and slightly down-curving. Median segment about as wide as long, 1/5 the length of metanotum. Segments II–VII longest and narrowest, parallel sided and 4– 5 x longer than wide. Tergite VIII widest, broader than VII, widened towards the posterior and longer than wide. IX narrower than VIII, medially constricted and hardly longer than wide. Anal segment wider than IX but narrower than VIII, hardly longer than wide, strongly convex and slightly widened towards a rounded, medially broadly excavated posterior margin. Sternites II–VII simple and smooth. Supraanal plate very small and not visible in dorsal aspect. Cerci prominent, long, slender and unequal in length. Left cercus almost 1.5x longer than right cercus but shorter than anal segment, covered with a few minute pale setae ( Fig. 12 ). Triangular in cross-section, moderately incurving and forked at about 2/3 off the base. Left cercus conspicuously pipe wrench-like, right cercus lacking the outer branch. Sternite IX on the right bearing a moderately incurving, finger-like appendix with a pointed apex, which is longer than the anal segment and distinctly projects over the posterior margin of that segment ( Fig. 11 ). Poculum of moderate size, slightly tapered towards the apex and projected by the fingerlike dextrolateral appendix of sternite IX.

Legs: All rather long and slender, profemora slightly longer than mesonotum, mesofemora slightly shorter than mesonotum, hind legs distinctly projecting over apex of abdomen. All distinctly carinated, destitute of teeth or spines and with all carinae minutely bristled. Profemora considerably compressed and curved basally.

Figures

FIGURES 8 – 14. [scale = 1 mm] 8. Pseudosermyle phalangiphora (Rehn, 1907) ♂, terminal abdominal segments (lateral view). 9. Pseudosermyle phalangiphora (Rehn, 1907) ♂, cerci (dorsal view). 10. Pseudosermyle phalangiphora (Rehn, 1907) Ψ, terminal abdominal segments (lateral view). 11. Pseudosermyle procera n. sp. ♂, terminal abdominal segments (lateral view). 12. Pseudosermyle procera n. sp. ♂, cerci (dorsal view). 13. Pseudosermyle tolteca (Saussure, 1859) ♂, terminal abdominal segments (lateral view). 14. Pseudosermyle tolteca (Saussure, 1859) ♂, cerci (dorsal view).

FIGURES 21 – 24. Fig. 21 – 22: [scale = 10 mm]; Figs. 23 – 24: [scale = 1 mm] 21. Pseudosermyle procera n. sp. ♂, PT, (UNAM). 22. Pseudosermyle tolteca (Saussure, 1859) ♂, (NHMW). 23. Pseudosermyle phalangiphora (Rehn, 1907) egg (dorsal view), (coll. OC). 24. Pseudosermyle phalangiphora (Rehn, 1907) egg (lateral view), (coll. OC).