Cladomorphus petropolisensis, a New Species of Stick Insect from the Atlantic Forest, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Jane Costa; Jacenir R S Mallet; Daniela Maeda Takiya

doi:10.3390/ani12202871

Cladomorphus petropolisensis, a New Species of Stick Insect from the Atlantic Forest, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Animals (Basel). 2022 Oct 21;12(20):2871. doi: 10.3390/ani12202871.

Authors

Jane Costa¹, Jacenir R S Mallet², Daniela Maeda Takiya³

Affiliations

¹ Laboratório de Biodiversidade Entomológica, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Fiocruz, Rio de Janeiro 21040-360, Brazil.
² Laboratório Interdisciplinar de Vigilância Entomológica em Diptera e Hemiptera, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Fiocruz, Rio de Janeiro 21040-361, Brazil.
³ Laboratório de Entomologia, Departamento de Zoologia, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro 21941-901, Brazil.

Abstract

Cladomorphus petropolisensis sp. nov., a new species of stick insect from Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is herein described and compared to the other sympatric species, C. phyllinus Gray, 1835 (Phasmatidae, Cladomorphinae). The description of the new species is supported by morphological and molecular evidence. Kimura-2-parameter (K2P) intraspecific COI divergences among the holotype of C. petropolisensis sp. nov. and C. phyllinus individuals ranged from 2.9% to 4.4%, which are suggestive of distinct species, especially when considering that all Cladomorphus individuals studied were collected in the Petrópolis municipality. The new species can be distinguished from C. phyllinus Gray, 1835 by several characteristics: smaller size, the presence of two spines on the hind femora, the relative longer length of the ovipositor, and spiny tegument, especially in the mesonotum, sculpturing of the operculum of the egg.

Keywords: Petrópolis; Phasmatodea; mitochondrial COI gene; stick insect.

Grants and funding

D.M. Takiya is a research productivity fellow from Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq, Proc. 314557/2021-0) and Cientista do Nosso Estado fellow from Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo à Pesquisa do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ Proc. E-26/202.672/2019).