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| Trolicaphyllium gen. nov. in Cumming, Le Tirant & Büscher, 2021. |
Abstract
With every molecular review involving Chitoniscus Stål, 1875 sensu lato samples from Fiji and New Caledonia revealing polyphyly, the morphology from these two distinct clades was extensively reviewed. Morphological results agree with all previously published molecular studies and therefore Trolicaphyllium gen. nov. is erected to accommodate the former Chitoniscus sensu lato species restricted to New Caledonia, leaving the type species Chitoniscus lobiventris (Blanchard, 1853) and all other Fijian species within Chitoniscus sensu stricto. Erection of this new genus for the New Caledonian species warrants the following new combinations: Trolicaphyllium brachysoma (Sharp, 1898), comb. nov., Trolicaphyllium erosus (Redtenbachher, 1906), comb. nov., and Trolicaphyllium sarrameaense (Größer, 2008a), comb. nov. Morphological details of the female, male, freshly hatched nymph, and egg are illustrated and discussed alongside the Chitoniscus sensu stricto in order to differentiate these two clades which have been mistaken as one for decades.
Keywords: Camouflage, Drehu, Grande Terre, Ile de Bélep, L’Île-des-Pins, Lifou, Lifu, Maré, mimicry, new combination, Phasmida, Tiga, walking leaf
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| Figure 31. Unidentifiable Trolicaphyllium gen. nov. male nymph photographed on Tiga Island in August 2020 by Damien Brouste (New Caledonia) (iNaturalist user: damienbr) A dorso-anterior view B same nymph, dorsal habitus C unidentified host plant on which the nymph was recorded. |
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| Figure 30. Live nymphs of Trolicaphyllium gen. nov. which could not be identified to species. Images from endemia.nc (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) A Frédéric Desmoulins, Plaine des Lacs, April 2014 B Hendrik Oesterlin, Koé (Dumbéa) elevation 185 meters, June 2006 C Julien Barrault, Hienghène, November 2010 D Daniel and Irène Létocart, Tchamba, October 2009 E Bernard Suprin, Dumbéa, April 2004 F Gildas Gâteblé, Ouenghi, October 2012. |
Royce T. Cumming, Stephane Le Tirant and Thies H. Büscher. 2021. Resolving A Century-old Case of generic mistaken Identity: Polyphyly of Chitoniscus sensu lato resolved with the Description of the endemic New Caledonia Trolicaphyllium gen. nov. (Phasmatodea, Phylliidae). ZooKeys. 1055: 1-41. DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.1055.66796