Medaura jobrensis
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| Medaura jobrensis | ||||||||||||
| Brock & Cliquennois , 2001 |
Medaura jobrensis is a ghost insect of the genus Medaura in the tribe Medaurini in the subfamily Clitumninae of the family Phasmatidae . It is endemic to the Chittagong district in Bangladesh .
description
Male
The elongated body of male individuals of Medaura jobrensis is medium to dark brown with lighter legs and is 62 to 73 millimeters in length. The head is significantly longer than it is wide and has no thorns or other processes, with the exception of two very short and barely noticeable thorns between the eyes. The length of the antennae is variable, but they are always shorter than the anterior femora . The two basal antenna segments of a total of 23 are elongated and significantly broadened. The thorax is elongated and has a sparsely granulated surface. The pronotum is slightly shorter than the head, the mesonotum is about five times as long as the pronotum and twice as long as the metanotum, the median segment is about a quarter the length of the metanotum. The legs are elongated and slightly hairy, the femora and often the tibiae are slightly toothed. On the middle femora there is a single thorny process. The abdomen is also elongated, with a smooth or slightly granular surface. The segments 8 and 9 are widened, the anal segment is clearly cut in the middle and slightly rounded at the end. From the second species of the genus, Medaura scabriuscula differs Medaura jobrensis by the stronger physique, the sparsely granulated thorax, each mandrel (over three or four) middle of the femora and the rounded and not cut off acting end of the Analsegments.
Female
The bodies of the females are brown in various shades, the legs often speckled with interrupted black rings at the bases of the middle and posterior femora. The body length is between 75 and 106 millimeters. The head of the female of Medaura jobrensis is stocky and only a little longer than wide, it has a pair of conspicuous forward thorns between the eyes. The antennae are short, less than half the length of the anterior femora. The two basal parts of the 21 to 22 antennae are elongated and clearly broadened. The physique is strong, the thorax has a smooth, granular surface or a few tubercles. The pronotum is slightly shorter than the head and has a cruciform depression in the middle. The mesonotum is about four times as long as the pronotum and twice as long as the metanotum, and the median segment is a little over a quarter the length of the metanotum. The legs are slightly hairy and mostly only slightly toothed. The middle femora usually have a series of thorny appendages on the dorsal surface, but these are occasionally missing. On the middle tibia there are one or two thorny processes. The abdomen is strong, with a smooth or slightly granulated surface. The anal segment is variable in shape, but incised in the middle. The operculum is elongated and extends almost to the end of the anal segment. Compared to Medaura scabriuscula , Medaura jobrensis has a stronger physique, the rear end of the anal segment is less incised.
Eggs
The eggs are brown in various shades, with darker spots that partially merge into one another. They are oval and about 2.4 to 2.8 millimeters long, 1.8 to 2.1 millimeters wide and 2.1 to 2.3 millimeters high. Its surface is dotted with numerous dark brown depressions. The micropylar plate is in the center of the egg and is drop-shaped to almost heart-shaped, medium brown in color with a darker edge. The eggs of Medaura scabriuscula are larger, three millimeters long. Its micropylar plate is also punctured and it is distinctly heart-shaped.
Way of life
As a pure herbivore, Medaura jobrensis prefers the forage plants Microcos paniculata ( Malvaceae ), Streblus asper ( Moraceae ) and Litsea monopetala ( Lauraceae ) according to observations in nature . Like many other ghost horrors , Medaura jobrensis are popular terrarium animals. They are mostly supplied with Rubus fruticosus ( Rosaceae ), but will also readily take Psidium guajava ( Myrtaceae ), Mangifera sp. ( Anacardiaceae ), Artocarpus heterophyllus (Moraceae), Ficus religiosa (Moraceae) and a variety of closely related species.
distribution
The type locality of Medaura jobrensis is a campus of the University of Chittagong ( 22 ° 28 '19.2 " N , 91 ° 47' 24.4" O ) in Jobra, a small town about 20 kilometers north of Chittagong in the district of Chittagong . No other locations are known.
Systematics and taxonomy
Medaura jobrensis is one of only two species in the genus Medaura . It belongs to the tribe Medaurini in the subfamily Clitumninae of the family Phasmatidae , a family of ghosts (Phasmatodea). Since the first description of the genus by the Swedish entomologist Carl Stål in 1875, the body appendages of the animals have been used as diagnostic features. However, they are so variable within a species that some of the species described, including the type species Medaura brunneri , have meanwhile been reduced to synonyms of Medaura scabriuscula .
The first description of Medaura jobrensis was made in 2001 by entomologist Paul D. Brock from the Natural History Museum in London and the French Amateur Nicolas Cliquennois. The holotype is a male specimen collected by Cliquennois in February or March 1997, which is in the Natural History Museum Vienna with a female paratype . One male and one female paratype are in the Natural History Museum in London, and one male and four female types are in the Brocks collection. The species name refers to the type locality Jobra near Chittagong in Bangladesh.
Web links
- Medaura jobrensis Brock & Cliquennois, 2001 , Phasmida Species File (with images of the type specimens)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f Paul D. Brock and Nicolas Cliquennois: A review of the genus Medaura Stål, 1875 (Phasmatidae: Phasmatinae), including the description of a new species from Bangladesh . In: Phasmid Studies 2001, Volume 9, No. 1–2, pp. 11–26, digitized .
- ↑ a b c d e Emmanuel Delfosse: Taxinomie, biogéographie et biologie de Medaura jobrensis Brock & Cliquennois, 2001 et Medaura scabriuscula (Wood-Mason, 1873); Notes à propos du genre Medaura Stål, 1875 (Insecta: Phasmatodea: Phasmatidae) . In: Le bulletin d'Arthropoda 2008, N ° 35, pp. 3-17, ISSN 1777-6198 .
- ↑ a b Nicolas Cliquennois: Phasmids of Bangladesh . In: Phasmid Studies 1999, Volume 7, No. 1–2, pp. 41–61, here p. 52 digitized .
- ↑ Frank H. Hennemann and Oskar V. Conle: Revision of Oriental Phasmatodea: The tribe Pharnaciini Günther, 1953, including the description of the world's longest insect, and a survey of the family Phasmatidae Gray, 1835 with keys to the subfamilies and tribes ( Phasmatodea: "Anareolatae": Phasmatidae) . In: Zootaxa 2008, Volume 1906, ISBN 978-1-86977-271-0 .