The genus ''Planispectrum'' combines very small and compact species from Southeast Asia.

Characteristics

''Planispectrum'' is the smallest genus of the Dataminae. The males of the previously known species reach lengths of , the females are long. In addition to the small size, the flat body and the very short antennae, which are hardly longer than the femura of the forelegs, are characteristic of the genus. In all species the antennae are shorter than the legs as a whole. The first antenna segment (scapus) is always toothed. Tubercles or teeth can be seen on the top of the head. The pronotum is trapezoidally widened posteriorly. The Metanotum is square. The margins of thorax and abdomen may be serrated. The meta pleura have no spines. The abdominal segments are very short and wide. The ventrally located subgenital plate of the female is blunt and no longer than the dorsaly located operculum. The same is swollen and rounded. It shows a rounded lip at the end. The legs are very short and have no teeth or thorns.

Distribution area, way of life and reproduction

The distribution area of the genus extends from

South China South China () is a geographical and cultural region that covers the southernmost part of China. Its precise meaning varies with context. A notable feature of South China in comparison to the rest of China is that most of its citizens are not n ...

and Hong Kong over Vietnam,

Malay Peninsula The Malay Peninsula (Malay: ''Semenanjung Tanah Melayu'') is a peninsula in Mainland Southeast Asia. The landmass runs approximately north–south, and at its terminus, it is the southernmost point of the Asian continental mainland. The area ...

, Singapore,

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

and Borneo to Java. The representatives of the genus are extremely difficult to find and live close to the ground, where they usually hide under leaves lying on the ground. Only after heavy rain do they climb into the bushes to avoid the water.

Taxonomy

As early as 1906, Josef Redtenbacher described the first two species of the species listed today in ''Planispectrum'' in a genus specially established for this with ''Platymorpha cochinchinensis'' and ''Platymorpha bengalensis''. Since '' Platymorpha'' is a genus of the

leaf beetles The insects of the beetle family Chrysomelidae are commonly known as leaf beetles, and include over 37,000 (and probably at least 50,000) species in more than 2,500 genera, making up one of the largest and most commonly encountered of all beetle ...

(Chrysomelidae) already described in 1888,

James Abram Garfield Rehn James Abram Garfield Rehn (October 26, 1881 – January 25, 1965) was an American entomologist who was a specialist on the New World Orthoptera. He worked at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, making several collection expeditions aro ...

and his son John William Holman Rehn described the genus in 1939 new as ''Planispectrum''. In relation to

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 ...

, ''Platymorpha'' is therefore a senior synonym to ''Planispectrum''. As type species they set ''

Planispectrum cochinchinensis The genus ''Planispectrum'' combines very small and compact species from Southeast Asia. Characteristics ''Planispectrum'' is the smallest genus of the Dataminae. The males of the previously known species reach lengths of , the females are ...

''. Also the Russian

entomologist Entomology () is the scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such as arach ...

Boris Uvarov noticed the synonymy of ''Platymorpha''. Unaware of the renaming by Rehn and Rehn, he renamed the genus to ''Platyphasma'' in 1940. This name is therefore a junior synonym for the older name ''Planispectrum''. A species also described by Redtenbacher in 1906 as ''Datames pusillus'' was transferred to the genus ''Planispectrum'' by Oliver Zompro in 2004. Zompro also described three other species. Two of them based on relatively freshly collected material and the third (''

Planispectrum javanense The genus ''Planispectrum'' combines very small and compact species from Southeast Asia. Characteristics ''Planispectrum'' is the smallest genus of the Dataminae. The males of the previously known species reach lengths of , the females are ...

'') after examining the type material of ''

Planispectrum bengalensis The genus ''Planispectrum'' combines very small and compact species from Southeast Asia. Characteristics ''Planispectrum'' is the smallest genus of the Dataminae. The males of the previously known species reach lengths of , the females are ...

'' based on a

paralectotype In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes th ...

. The last species to be described was '' Planispectrum hainanensis'' in 2008, initially in the genus '' Pylaemenes''. It was transferred to ''Planispectrum'' by

George Ho Wai-Chun George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd President ...

in 2013. Valid species are: * ''

Planispectrum bakiensis The genus ''Planispectrum'' combines very small and compact species from Southeast Asia. Characteristics ''Planispectrum'' is the smallest genus of the Dataminae. The males of the previously known species reach lengths of , the females are ...

'' Zompro, 1998 * ''

Planispectrum bengalense The genus ''Planispectrum'' combines very small and compact species from Southeast Asia. Characteristics ''Planispectrum'' is the smallest genus of the Dataminae. The males of the previously known species reach lengths of , the females are lo ...

'' ( Redtenbacher, 1906) * ''

'' (Redtenbacher, 1906) * '' Planispectrum hainanensis'' ( Chen & He, 2008) * ''

Planispectrum hongkongense ''Planispectrum hongkongense'' is a Phasmatodea species native to Hong Kong, of which only females are known so far. Characteristics With length about , the females of ''Planispectrum hongkongense'' are among the larger representatives of the ...

'' Zompro, 2004 * ''

Planispectrum pusillus The genus ''Planispectrum'' combines very small and compact species from Southeast Asia. Characteristics ''Planispectrum'' is the smallest genus of the Dataminae. The males of the previously known species reach lengths of , the females are ...

'' (Redtenbacher, 1906) In their work on the radiation and relationships within the Heteropterygidae, which was mainly based on genetic analysis and was published in 2021, Sarah Bank

et al References Notes References Further reading

* * {{Latin phrases Lists of Latin phrases, E ...

also examined a species of this genus with ''Planispectrum bengalensis''. In the subfamily Dataminae, the genus forms a

sister group In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and t ...

with a

clade A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English term, ...

formed by the genera ''Pylaemenes'' and '' Orestes''.

In captivity

Since 2020, a parthenogenetic stock of ''Planispectrum hongkongense'' has been in culture as the first representative of the genus in the terrariums of European enthusiasts. This traces back to a female collected in the Southern District of Hong Kong on November 20, 2019. The stock is referred to as ''Planispectrum hongkongense'' ' Tai Tam' after its exact location and is considered easy to keep and breed.

References

Brock, P. D.; Büscher, T. H. & Baker, E. W.br>Phasmida Species File Online
Version 5.0/5.0 (accessdate 16 June 2021) Zompro, O. (2004). Revision of the genera of the Areolatae, including the status of Timema and Agathemera (Insecta, Phasmatodea), Goecke & Evers, Keltern-Weiler, pp. 218–219 & 227–240, Seow-Choen, F. (2018). A Taxonomic Guide to the Stick Insects of Sumatra Vol. 1, Natural History Publications (Borneo) Sdn. Bhd., Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia, p. 591, Seow-Choen, F. (2017). A Taxonomic Guide to the Stick Insects of Singapore, Natural History Publications (Borneo) Sdn. Bhd., Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia, p. 39, Bragg, P. E. (2001). Phasmids of Borneo, Natural History Publikations (Borneo) Sdn. Bhd., Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia, pp. 124 & 180–183, Rehn, J. A. G. & Rehn, J. W. H. (1939)
Proceedings of The Academy of Natural Sciences (Vol. 90, 1938)
Philadelphia, p. 484. Seow-Choen, F. (2005). Phasmids of Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore, Natural History Publikations (Borneo) Sdn. Bhd., Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia, p. 104, Redtenbacher, J. (1906)
Die Insektenfamilie der Phasmiden. Vol. 1. Phasmidae Areolatae
Verlag Wilhelm Engelmann, Leipzig, pp. 46–47 & 52–53 Seow-Choen, F. (2016). A Taxonomic Guide to the Stick Insects of Borneo'', Natural History Publikations (Borneo) Sdn. Bhd., Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia, pp. 392–396, Ho Wai-Chun, G. (2013). Zootaxa 3669 (3
Contribution to the knowledge of Chinese Phasmatodea II: Review of the Dataminae Rehn & Rehn, 1939 (Phasmatodea: Heteropterygidae) of China, with descriptions of one new genus and four new species
Magnolia Press, p. 211, Bank, S.; Buckley, T. R.; Büscher, T. H.; Bresseel, J.; Constant, J.; de Haan, M.; Dittmar, D.; Dräger, H.; Kahar, R. S.; Kang, A.; Kneubühler, B.; Langton-Myers, S. & Bradler, S. (2021)
Reconstructing the nonadaptive radiation of an ancient lineage of ground-dwelling stick insects (Phasmatodea: Heteropterygidae)
''Systematic Entomology'', DOI: 10.1111/syen.12472

External links

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q1237065 Phasmatodea genera Phasmatodea of Asia