''Phasmotaenia lanyuhensis'' is a species of

stick insect The Phasmatodea (also known as Phasmida, Phasmatoptera or Spectra) are an order of insects whose members are variously known as stick insects, stick-bugs, walking sticks, stick animals, or bug sticks. They are also occasionally referred to as ...

, order

Phasmatodea The Phasmatodea (also known as Phasmida, Phasmatoptera or Spectra) are an order of insects whose members are variously known as stick insects, stick-bugs, walking sticks, stick animals, or bug sticks. They are also occasionally referred to as ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

. It is often included in the family

Phasmatidae The Phasmatidae are a family of the stick insects ( order Phasmatodea). They belong to the superfamily Anareolatae of suborder Verophasmatodea. Like many of their relatives, the Phasmatidae are capable of regenerating limbs and commonly repr ...

, although sometimes excluded from it when the family is strictly delimited. It derives its

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

from its type locality, Lanyuh Island, commonly known as

Orchid Island Orchid Island, also known by other names, is a volcanic island off the southeastern coast of Taiwan Island. The island is part of Taiwan. It is separated from the Batanes of the Philippines by the Bashi Channel of the Luzon Strait. It is gove ...

Distribution

''Phasmotaenia lanyuhensis'' is known from its type locality, Lanyuh Island (

Taitung County Taitung County (; Mandarin pinyin: ''Táidōng Xiàn''; Hokkien POJ: ''Tâi-tang-koān''; Hakka PFS: ''Thòi-tûng-yen''; Paiwan: ''Valangaw'';lit:Eastern part of Taiwan) is the third largest county in Taiwan, located primarily on the island' ...

). It is very common on the island. ''P. lanyuhensis'' is the most northern ''Phasmotaenia'' species, otherwise known from the Philippines,

Micronesia Micronesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, consisting of about 2,000 small islands in the western Pacific Ocean. It has a close shared cultural history with three other island regions: the Philippines to the west, Polynesia to the east, and ...

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...

, and

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

Description

''Phasmotaenia lanyuhensis'' is similar and closely related to '' P. sanchezi'', the

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...

of the genus ''Phasmotaenia'' from the Philippines, but has a more robust body, relatively shorter

mesothorax The mesothorax is the middle of the three segments of the thorax of hexapods, and bears the second pair of legs. Its principal sclerites (exoskeletal plates) are the mesonotum (dorsal), the mesosternum (ventral), and the mesopleuron (lateral) on ...

, larger head, and shorter antennae. Furthermore, female ''P. lanyuhensis'' have more prominently swollen mesothorax, shorter alae, and shorter subgenital plate. ''P. lanyuhensis'' was described based on four females and three males, including three mating pairs. Males measure and females in body length. They are slender-bodied insects with tiny or absent fore wings and short hindwings. Coloration varies from pale brown to dark brown to green. The hindwings are black in females and brown in males. The thorax is broadened in females and elongate in males. The legs are long and slender and bear numerous small serrations; the

femora The femur (; ), or thigh bone, is the proximal bone of the hindlimb in tetrapod vertebrates. The head of the femur articulates with the acetabulum in the pelvic bone forming the hip joint, while the distal part of the femur articulates with t ...

may have four dark brown bands in females. The head is smooth and much longer than it is wide. The eyes are small. The antennae are brown and have 23 segments. The egg capsule is long.

Habitat

This species is very common on Orchid Island where they primarily occur in the forested areas, hanging underneath branches in the daytime. Their food plant is ''

Bischofia javanica ''Bischofia javanica'', or bishop wood, is a plant species of the family Phyllanthaceae. It and the related '' Bischofia polycarpa'' are the only two members of genus '' Bischofia'' and tribe Bischofieae. These species are distributed throughout ...

'' (although in captivity they readily accept '' Turpinia formosana''). They roam around their food plant about an hour before sunrise, mostly no higher than about ten meters above the ground.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q10626707 Phasmatodea Insects of Taiwan Endemic fauna of Taiwan Insects described in 2001