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My first Bornean phasmid! Now I can finally get some use out of that book I bought :P

So then, looking at Seow-Choen (2016), it's clearly a male in Lonchodini, and we can confidently rule out at least the following genera: Baculofractum, Phenacephorus, Stheneboea, Carausius (no wings, no occipital tubercles, mesofemur shorter than mesonotum, mesofemur with dorsal lobe).

So that leaves us with only Lonchodes (9 species), Staelonchodes (6 species), Hermagoras (5 species), and Mnesilochus (3 species) to look at. So let's go look at the individual genus keys. From the key we can rule out all Mnesilochus species except M. rusticus (head not raised, no cream margins on segments), and comparing with the image of M. rusticus, this is clearly not a match. It is much too elongate and the head is a fairly different shape. So, Mnesilochus is out.

In Hermagoras, from the key we can rule out H. hosei, H. cultratolobatus, H. sigillatus, and H. imitator (no spines or hump on metathorax). Unfortunately the males of the remaining species, H. matangensis, are unknown, so we cannot conclusively rule it out. However, it is only known from the western side of Borneo and I would imagine that, like the other males of the genus, it has spines or at least a small hump on the metathorax. So I am happy to discard it for now, provided that we find a match in Staelonchodes or Lonchodes.

In Staelonchodes, the key rules out all species (body colour brown, head without median transverse ridge, body not tuberculate, with small lobe on dorsal mesofemur), so on to Lonchodes we go.

From the key, we can rule out L. auriculatus, L. spinulosus, L. modestus, L. abbreviatus, *L. chani, L. sanguineoligatus, and L. mirabilis (no spines or crests on head, posterior mesonotum not raised and swollen). That leaves us with L. jejunus or L. everettii, however the colour does not seem to match either and to be honest they do not look right.

So where have I gone wrong? As I was flicking through I did notice it. As it turns out, the males of H. sigillatus and H. imitator can have the metathorax only very slightly arched, which appears to be the case here. So is it one of them then? It does seem like it. Comparing the end of the abdomen (and the abdominal tergites in general), it is not H. sigillatus but is a good match for H. imitator. The colour matches well (I can see a vague hint of red on the posterior metafemur), and it seems a good fit for the specimen pictured on PSF. Which, by the way, informs me that the species has now been transferred back to Mnesilochus. So I am happy to call this a male Mnesilochus imitator!

Klasifikasi
Kingdom : Animalia
Phylum : Arthropoda
Class : Insecta
Order : Mantodea
Family : Mantidae
Genus : Hierodula Burmeister, 1838
Species : Hierodula tenuidentata Saussure, 1869
(GBIF, 2023)

L: ca. 10 cm

Superfamily: Phasmatoidea
Suborder: Verophasmatodea
Order: Phasmatodea (stick insects, Phasmida, Gespenstschrecken)
Superorder: Exopterygota
Class: Insecta
Phylum: Arthropoda

Indonesia, W-Java: Batu Karas, 40m asl.
27.04.2011

IMG_1395

Stick insect. Somebody else found it as we were walking back to camp in a river from a waterfall (you can see my swim trunks). He said it flew into his face, but since this phasmid clearly lacks wings, I think it probably dropped on his face from above (lucky catch).