Taraxippus Moxey, 1971

Description

Female: Body form elongate, subcylindrical, extremely spinose.

Head elongate, the vertex swollen and spinose. Antennae longer than the anterior legs; scape depressed; pedicel subconical. Compound eyes small, but protruding; ocelli absent.

Pronotum subrectangular; defensive gland opening present. Prosternum transverse, lyriform. Mesothorax elongate, swollen dorsally and expanded laterally just behind the apex; dorsal pre-median swelling of the notum concave in the middle and expanded laterally into strong spines. Mesosternum granulose and laterally spinose. Metathorax transverse, rectangular. Median segment about 0.8 times the length of the metanotum.

Abdominal segments transverse, segments II-VII laterally expanded into spinose lobes, VIII-X narrower than the preceding. Supraanal plate small, triangular. Cerci short, slightly curved. Sternite VII with a postero-median praeopercular organ; subgenital plate elongate, extending beyond the apex of the abdomen, acuminate apically.

Legs elongate and slender. Anterior femora straight basally. Four posterior tibiae anareolate. First tarsomere slightly longer than the next two together.

Tegmina and wings absent.

Male: Unknown.

Derivation of name. In view of its extreme spinosity, the genus references Taraxippus, the horse-scarer, which was the name given to the ghost of Glaucus.

Geographic distribution. Northwestern Haiti.

Systematic position.
Superfamily Phasmatoidea | Family Bacteriidae | Tribe Hesperophasmatini