Genus Hesperophasma Rehn, 1901


Synonymy
Phantasis Saussure, 1872, Recherches Zoologiques, 6me partie, Livr. 2: 188.
        [ Type species:  Phasma planulum Westwood, 1859, by subsequent monotypy of Stål, 1875. ]
          [ Nec Phantasis Thomson, 1860. ]
        Stål, 1875b, Recensio Orthopterorum, pp 19, 73.
        Stål, 1875c, Bihang Kongl Svenska Vet-Akad Handl, 3, (14): 10.
        Bolivar, 1888, Mém Soc Zool France, (1888), 1, (1): 136.
        Redtenbacher, 1907, Insektenfamilie der Phasmiden, p 340.
        Shelford, 1908, Biologia Centrali Americana. Insecta. Orthoptera, II: 355, 357.
        Redtenbacher, 1908, Insektenfamilie der Phasmiden, p 354.
Hesperophasma Rehn, 1901b, Canadian Ent, XXXIII: 271.
        Rehn, 1904a, Proc Acad Nat Sci Philadelphia, 1904: 47.
        Kirby, 1904c, Synonymic Catalogue of Orthoptera, I: 343.
        Rehn, 1909, Catalogue of the Orthoptera of Cuba, p 197.
        Karny, 1923, Treubia, III (2): 238.


Description
Body form elongate, depressed or cylindrical; surface rugose to spinose.
 
Head elongate, rectangular; vertex unequally bicornute. Antennae longer than the anterior legs; scape depressed; pedicel subcylindrical. Compound eyes prominent; ocelli absent.
 
Pronotum transverse to subrectangular; anterolateral defensive gland opening present. Prosternum transversely trapezoidal, lateral margins convex. Mesothorax elongate, the notum in the female lyriform, sometimes with paired protuberances in the anterior third, medially carinate; cylindrical in the male. Metathorax in the female short, transverse, notum carinate; elongate and cylindrical in the male. Median segment in the female transverse, narrowed posteriorly, about 1.2 times the length of the metanotum; in the male, elongate, about 0.9 times the length of the metanotum.
 
Abdomen depressed or subcylindrical in the female, all of the tergites transverse, II-VII subequal in length, V-VII laterally expanded, VIII-X narrower than the preceding, VIII and X subequal in length, IX shorter. Supraanal plate small, triangular, medially carinate. Praeopercular organ of sternite VII sometimes reduced; subgenital plate elongate, extending beyond the end of the abdomen, medially carinate in the apical two-thirds, apex acuminate.
 
Abdomen cylindrical in the male, segments II-VI elongate, VII transverse, expanded distally, VIII transversely rectangular, IX quadrate, X transverse, apex rounded and medially emarginate. Vomer triangular, sclerotized apical hook short; subgenital plate fornicate, apex rounded or truncate, sometimes medially emarginate; genitalia with a strongly-chitinized dorsal longitudinal sclerite, dextral hook present, hidden beneath the dextro-basal lobes. Cerci of moderate length, straight.
 
Legs short and stout in the female, the posterior femora not extending beyond abdominal segment IV; in the male, they are slenderer and may reach beyond the middle of segment VI. Anterior femora strongly curved basally, the lower median carina not displaced towards the anterior one; lower median carina of middle and posterior femora with spines in the apical quarter, lower lateral carinae spinose apically. Tibiae anareolate. First tarsomere of the posterior tarsi longer than the second, but generally not longer than the next two together, dorsally broadly sulcate.
 
Tegmina and wings absent in the female; male sometimes apterous, but usually with short, apically rounded tegmina and fully-developed wings.
 
Sexually dimorphic; the male is smaller and slenderer than the female.
Geographic distribution.  The genus is known only from Cuba and Hispaniola.
Systematic notes.  Kirby (1904c) and Karny (1923) erroneously gave the type species as Phanatasis saussurei Bolivar, 1888.
Systematic position. 
Superfamily Phasmatoidea | Family Bacteriidae | Tribe Hesperophasmatini

Species of Hesperophasma
1 Hesperophasma dryope, sp. n. Haiti
2 Hesperophasma planulum (Westwood, 1859)
= Phantasis subconstricta Shelford, 1908 		Haiti
Dominican Republic
3 Hesperophasma poeyi (Saussure, 1868)
= Phantasis lyrata Bolivar, 1888
= Hesperophasma cordiferum Rehn, 1938 		Cuba
4 Hesperophasma saussurei (Bolivar, 1888) Cuba

Key to West Indian Species
1. Males.
2
1'. Females.
4
 
2 (1). Alate.
3
2'. Apterous.
H. dryope, sp. n.
 
3 (2). Apex of subgenital plate sinuately truncate; lower median carina of anterior femora spinose apically; posterior area of the wings without dark banding.
H. planulum (Westwood)
3'. Apex of subgenital plate emarginate; lower median carina of anterior femora not spinose apically; posterior area of wings with dark banding.
H. poeyi (Saussure)
 
4 (1'). Mesonotum strongly rugose and tuberculate, lateral margins strongly narrowed posteriorly.
5
4'. Mesonotum granulate, lateral margins not strongly narrowed posteriorly.
H. saussurei (Bolivar)
 
5 (4). Size large (greater than 40 mm); pronotum decidedly transverse.
6
5'. Size small (less than 40 mm); pronotum subquadrate.
H. dryope, sp. n.
 
6 (5). Mesonotum without a row of four tubercles along the anterior margin; abdominal tergites quadricarinate, the median carinae apically not prolonged into lobes.
H. planulum (Westwood)
6'. Mesonotum with a row of four tubercles along the anterior margin; abdominal tergites tricarinate, the median carina apically prolonged into a bispinose lobe on tergites VII-IX.
H. poeyi (Saussure)
 
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