Genus Paraprisopus Redtenbacher, 1906

 

Synonymy

Paraprisopus Redtenbacher, 1906   Redtenbacher, 1906: 146, 156.   [ Type species:  Dinelytron merismus Westwood, by designation of Moxey, 1972. ]       Melophasma Redtenbacher, 1906   Redtenbacher, 1906: 146, 157.   [ Type species:  Melophasma vermiculare Redtenbacher, 1906, by original monotypy.  New synonymy. ]

Description

Body form elongate but stocky; surface rugose, tuberculate or spinose.   Head subquadrate; vertex swollen, laterally bicarinate, tuberculate and spinose. Antennae longer than the anterior legs; scape depressed; pedicel cylindrical. Compound eyes small; ocelli absent.   Pronotum subquadrate; defensive gland opening present. Prosternum trapezoidal. Mesothorax elongate, cylindrical, the notum tuberculate or spinose. Metathorax short, cylindrical. Median segment about twice as long as the metanotum.   Abdomen cylindrical in the male, segments II-VII elongate, VIII and IX broadly expanded, X subquadrate, its apex slightly produced. Vomer large and foliaceous, extending well beyond the apex of the abdomen; subgenital plate scoop-like, longitudinally carinate, apex acuminate. Cerci short, slightly curved.   Abdomen stouter in the female, the segments transverse or, at most, subquadrate, tuberculate; tergites VII-X medially carinate; X with the apex medially produced. Supraanal plate absent. Sternite VII without a well-defined praeopercular organ; subgenital plate reaching about to the end of the abdomen or beyond, medially carinate, apex rounded. Cerci short, straight.   Legs short and stout, foliaceously dilated and compressed, the posterior femora not reaching beyond abdominal segment IV in the male, shorter in the female. Anterior femora strongly curved basally; lower median carina of all femora absent. Tibiae areolate. First hind tarsomere a little longer than the second.   Tegmina rounded in the female, elongately oval in the male; wings abbreviated in the female, fully developed in the male.   Sexual dimorphism moderate, the male being alate, the female brachypterous.

Distribution:
	Venezuela, Brazil, and Ecuador, with one species described from Dominica in the West Indies.
Systematic notes:
	Examination of the type specimen of Melophasma vermiculare Redtenbacher in the NMW revealed no characters of sufficient weight to separate that species generically from Paraprisopus.
Systematic position:
	Superfamily Phyllioidea   Family Pseudophasmatidae   Subfamily Pseudophasmatinae   Tribe Prisopodini

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