Studies of Neotropical Phasmatodea XII: Pseudophasma lakini sp. n. - a new stick insect from eastern Ecuador (Phasmatodea: Pseudophasmatidae: Pseudophasmatinae)

Abstract

Pseudophasma lakini sp. n., a remarkable new phasmid from the eastern Andean slopes of Ecuador (Province Napo) is described and illustrated (both sexes and eggs). The original specimens were collected by Curtis Lakin (U. K.) in 2008, after whom it is named. The new species differs from all other known representatives of Pseudophasma Kirby, 1896 by the distinctly lobed meso- and metafemora and the shape of the tegmina. The holotype is deposited in the State Zoological Collections Munich, Germany (ZSMC), and the paratypes in MNHN, BMNH and in the private collections of the authors (coll. OC and coll. FH).