Baculolonga Hennemann and Conle, 1997

Type species: Cladoxerus serratipes Gray, 1835

Geographic distribution: Western Malaysia, Singapore, Sumatra, Java, Borneo, the Philippines.

Derivation of the name: The name is in reference to the stick-insect habitus and the notable length of the female.

Description: Very large, slender, typical stick-insect habitus, female apterous, male alate (with the exception of B. philippinica Hennemann and Conle, 1997). Head oval or rounded, smooth. Eyes convex, standing out prominently from the head. Antennae of the female about as long as the anterior femora, those of the male always clearly longer. Median segment of the female about as long as the metanotum. Praeopercular organ forming two tooth-like flaps posteromedially on abdominal sternite VII. Anal segment of the male sharply keeled, strongly emarginate, forming two finger-like lobes, which are finely toothed on their inner margins. Supraanal plate of the female very small, rounded. Operculum not reaching the distal end of the anal segment [B. serratipes (Gray, 1835)] or greatly overreaching it [B. redtenbacheri (Dohrn, 1910) and B. philippinica Hennemann and Conle, 1997]. Anterior femora dorsally roughly serrate, in two cases with a large ventroapical tooth. The four hindlimbs are toothed on all edges, in part with large flaps or lobes. Ventral surface of the female middle and hind femora with ordered small spines on the flattened keel medially, those of the male smooth.

Eggs large, laterally lenticularly flattened, longer than broad, shining brown. Dorsally sharply keeled all around. Keel to the micropylar plate and pole area interrupted. Micropylar plate bilobed, medially narrowed. Operculum oval, flat. Capitulum always present, cap-shaped, on a short stalk.

Relationships: This genus is most closely related to Pharnacia Stål, 1877, and Phobaeticus Brunner, 1907, standing in between the two genera with respect to length of the median segment and male wing length. Thus, reduction in length of the median segment begins with the loss of wings so that the shorter the median segment of a genus, the earlier one can assume the wings were lost than in a genus with a comparatively longer median segment. From Pharnacia. this genus can be distinguished by the clearly more slender build in both sexes and also by the morphology of the eggs, which provide very good characters for differentiating genera. From Phobaeticus, it differs just in the length of the median segment, which is only very short in those Phobaeticus in which the male is apterous, while in Baculolonga it is about as long as the metanotum. The eggs also in this case show clear generic differences.

Included species:

  Phobaeticus kirbyi Brunner, 1907

  Baculolonga philippinica Hennemann and Conle, 1997

  Nearchus redtenbacheri Dohrn, 1910

  Cladoxerus serratipes Gray, 1835