Pylaemenes Sepilokensis

''Pylaemenes sepilokensis'' is a species of stick insects (Phasmatodea) that is found in Borneo, more precisely in the Malay state of Sabah.

Description

The females reach a length of in the nominate subspecies. The males are long. Both sexes have orange eyes and a brown non-shiny coloration, slightly darker in males. This coloring and the strongly structured body surface ensure a phytomimesis in which the animals resemble the bark of trees. Bragg, P. E. (1998). A revision of the Heteropteryginae (Insecta: Phasmida: Bacillidae) of Borneo, with the description of a new genus and ten new species, Zoologische Verhandelingen, Leiden 316, pp. 70–74, figs 107 & 110. /ISBN 90-73239-61-3
Online-Version
/ref>Bragg, P. E. (2001). Phasmids of Borneo, Natural History Publikations (Borneo) Sdn. Bhd., Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia, pp. 162—169, ISBN 983-812-027-8''Pylaemenes'' at Phasmatodea.com
by Conle, O. V.; Hennemann, F. H.; Kneubühler, B. & Valero, P.

The subspecies ''Pylaemenes sepilokensis kinabaluensis'' remains somewhat smaller. It is only long in males and in females. The animals differ from ''Pylaemenes sepilokensis sepilokensis'' by the mesonotum, which clearly tapers backwards. In the female it is wide in front and behind. In the male it tapers from . Otherwise, the subspecies is morphologically similar to the nominate subspecies.

Distribution area and reproduction

''Pylaemenes sepilokensis'' has been found at various locations in Sandakan District, mostly in the Sepilok Forest Reserve. The subspecies ''Pylaemenes sepilokensis kinabaluensis'' was found in Kinabalu National Park on the edge of the road to Mount Kinabalu near the park headquarters. The species feeds on leaves of various Araceae, on ''Curculigo'' and ''Pandanus'' species. Seow-Choen, F. (2016). A Taxonomic Guide to the Stick Insects of Borneo, Natural History Publikations (Borneo) Sdn. Bhd., Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia, pp. 399—403, ISBN 978-983-812-169-9

The nocturnal animals hide during the day and usually react when disturbed by apparent death. The females lay one, more rarely two, eggs per week. These are brown, long and wide. Its surface is covered with approx. long hairs with a double hook at the end. After about 14 to 18 weeks, the nymphs, which are initially very light and about long, begin to hatch at night. As they grow, they often show shades of green in the otherwise light beige base coloration. It takes five to six months for males and six to eight months for females to become adults.

Taxonomy

The species was described in 1998 by Philip E. Bragg as one of three subspecies of ''Datames borneensis''. A female collected near Sandakan on June 29, 1927, was selected as the holotype. It was already in the F.M.S. Museum and was transferred to today's Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden. Paratypes are two females and three males originating from the Sepilok Forest Reserve. The females were collected in September 1982 by C.L. Chan and are in his private collection together with one male paratype each collected in 1992 and 1994. The third male, also collected in 1994, is in the private collection of Francis Seow-Choen. Both the original species and the subspecies name refer to the locality.

Frank H. Hennemann synonymized the genus ''Datames'' with ''Pylaemenes'' in 1998 and includes only '' Pylaemenes coronatus'', '' Pylaemenes oileus'' and ''Pylaemenes pusillus'' (now '' Planispectrum pusillum'').Hennemann, F. H. (1998). Ein Beitrag zur Kenntnis der Phasmidenfauna von Sulawesi. Mitteilungen des Museums für Naturkunde, Berlin, Zoologische Reihe 74, pp. 125—126 Since the corresponding work appeared only a few days after the publication of Bragg's description, the three subspecies of ''Datames borneensis'', among other things, have not yet been considered here. ''Pylaemenes borneensis sepilokensis'' and the other two subspecies were first mentioned in 2004 as representatives of this genus. Zompro, O. (2004). Revision of the genera of the Areolatae, including the status of Timema and Agathemera (Insecta, Phasmatodea), Goecke & Evers, Keltern-Weiler, pp. 225–226, ISBN 978-3-931374-39-6

Seow-Choen elevated all three subspecies to species status in 2016. At the same time, he described ''Pylaemenes sepilokensis kinabaluensis'', as a subspecies for the nominate form of ''Pylaemenes sepilokensis''. Both the male holotype and female paratype were collected by Seow-Choen and Olivia Seow Wen in Kinabalu National Park in September 2011. Both types are deposited in the Sabah Parks Natural History Museum, also referred to as the "Kinabalu Park Museum", located at the Kinabalu National Park Headquarters.

In a molecular genetic study published in 2021, two samples referred to as ''Pylaemenes sepilokensis'' from different localities in Sabah, namely Sepilok and Tawau, were determined to be non- conspecific. According to this, the strain collected in Tawau must be another undescribed species.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

In terraristics

''Pylaemenes sepilokensis'' was first collected for terraristics by Mark Bushell in the summer of 2001 in Borneo, more precisely near Sepilok, and brought to Europe. The species received the PSG number 245 from the Phasmid Study Group. After it had disappeared in the meantime, it has been bred again since 2015 after further imports by Ian Abercrombie. In addition to a breeding stock from Sepilok, there is another from Tawau, which has also been referred to as ''Pylaemenes sepilokensis'', but must be assigned to a separate species. In contrast to most other Datamini, hazel, bramble or other Rosaceae are not suitable as fodder plants in the long term. On the other hand, the species, like its closer relatives, can be kept and bred well with ''Epipremnum'', '' Philodendron'' or '' Dieffenbachia'' species.Phasmid Study Group Culture List
/ref>

Gallery

Pylaemenes sepilokensis Sepilok - eggs.jpg, ''Pylaemenes s. sepilokensis'', eggs
Pylaemenes sepilokensis Sepilok - nymph.jpg, ''Pylaemenes s. sepilokensis'', nymph
Pylaemenes sepilokensis Sepilok - pair.jpg, ''Pylaemenes s. sepilokensis'', pair
Pylaemenes sepilokensis Sepilok - female in dorsal view.jpg, ''Pylaemenes s. sepilokensis'', ♀ from dorsal
Pylaemenes sepilokensis sepilokensis - female.jpg, ''Pylaemenes s. sepilokensis'', ♀ lateral

References

External links

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{{Taxonbar, from=Q115867174

Phasmatodea
Phasmatodea of Asia
Insects described in 1998
Insects of Borneo