Brasidas Rehn & Rehn, 1939

Genus Brasidas Rehn & Rehn, 1939 View in CoL

= Euobrimus Rehn & Rehn, 1939: 445 View in CoL . n. syn.

Differentiation. – This genus is well characterised and differentiated from all others within Obriminae View in CoL by the prominent metasternal pseudo-foramina, which are seen to be deep, open pits or holes that are semi-cingulate to cingulate in shape. Similar foramina are besides only found in the closely related Obrimus View in CoL , in which however these are only represented by slit-like invaginations along the lateral margins of the metasternum. While the insects agree in almost all other morphological aspects, the eggs of Brasidas View in CoL differ from those of Obrimus View in CoL by their simple shape elongate and basically barrel-like shape with a rounded polar area.

Remarks. – Rehn & Rehn (1939) distinguished between Brasidas and Euobrimus on the basis that the metasternal pseudo-foramina are either semi-cingulate ( Brasidas ) or completely cingulate in ( Euobrimus ). This distinction, however, was already doubted by Hennemann et al. (2016: 17) and Bank et al. (2021) who stated that further investigation was needed to evaluate the taxonomic boundaries between these two taxa. Examination of as many examples as possible of all known species of both genera has now show there to be a fairly smooth transition from semi-cingulate towards fully cingulate metasternal pits and even revealed slight variability within individual species. Thus, Euobrimus is here synonymised with Brasidas (n. syn.). Moreover, series of some species, but Brasidas lacerta (Redtenbacher, 1906) n. comb. from Mindanao in particular, have revealed remarkable intraspecific variability, which results in an array of new synonyms. As a result, the previously recognised six species in Brasidas and eight species in Euobrimus are here reduced from 14 to only seven valid and morphologically well recognised species, one of which is described as new. One species previously attributed to Brasidas , i. e. quadratipes Bolivar, 1890 , is here transferred back to its original genus Obrimus because it lacks the characteristic pit-like metasternal pseudo-foramina. Molecular studies have revealed Brasidas as the sister-taxon of Obrimus (Brank et al., 2021) . A key is provided below to distinguish between the known species of Brasidas . The numerous citations of Brasidas and Euobrimus are available in the Phasmida Species File (http:// Phasmida .SpeciesFile.org).

The keys to the species of Brasidas and Euobrimus provided by Rehn & Rehn (1939) have proven to be of little use for a steady distinction of species, mainly for two reasons. The keys are predominantly based on the head and body spination of the insects, which however often underlies considerable intraspecific variability Thus, key features used by Rehn & Rehn (1939) like “basal abdominal terga unarmed vs. armed with paired spines” are unreliable, since e. g. Brasidas viscayanus obviously shows thatthiscan be variable within individual species. A considerable number of species were described from immature specimens, but large series of various species and captive breeding clearly prove that the spination quite frequently shows significant differences between adults and nymphs of individual species.Consequently,the head and bodyarmature alone cannotserve for a sufficient and reliable distinction between species within Brasidas , why the new keys presented below target on using other or at least additional morphological and also chromatic characters with the spination only used where appropriate and evaluated as being constant within individual species.

Apparently, the diversity of the genus is not yet fully known and there seem to be further as yet unnamed species. A presumably new species from the island of Camiguin was reported by Bank et al. (2021) but specimens have not been examined.

Distribution. – Philippines, endemic. So far recorded from the islands of Luzon, Leyte, Rapu Rapu, Samar, Siargao, Camiguin and Mindanao.

Species included

1. Brasidas bakeri (Rehn & Rehn, 1939: 452, pl. 35: 32, 37: 39) [ Euobrimus ]. n. comb.

= Euobrimus hoplites Rehn & Rehn, 1939: 450 View in CoL , fig. 6. n. syn.

Distribution. – Samar, Leyte & Luzon.

2. Brasidas cavernosus (Stål, 1877: 68) [ Obrimus ]. n. comb.

Distribution. – Luzon, Rapu Rapu & Leyte.

3. Brasidas foveolatus (Redtenbacher, 1906: 40) [ Obrimus ]. n. comb.

Comments. – Unfortunately, the unique holotype ♂ is not traced in the collection of MNHN and must be presumed lost and the original description is very incomplete. The fairly large size (body length 63.5 mm according to Redtenbacher),slender form andbi-spinose abdominal terga II-IV suggest close resemblance toB. viscayanus Rehn & Rehn, 1939 . However, the description of the metasternum “on each side only with a shallow pit that is exteriorly merely restricted by a fold and some granules” does not fit viscayanus or the other highly polymorphic Mindanaoan species B. lacerta (Redtenbacher, 1908) , which both have a pair of deep, cingulate foramina.Actually, this description of the metasternum rather resembles B. cavernosus (Stål,1877) and B. samarensis Rehn & Rehn, 1939 , both of which however don’t occur on Mindanao. Thus, without seeing the type specimen and Mindanaoan material that fully matches the mentioned characters, the identity of Redtenbacher’s species must remain unclarified. The specimens assigned to foveolatus by Rehn & Rehn (1939: 435, pl. 34:25) deserve evaluation.

Distribution. – Mindanao.

4. Brasidas lacerta (Redtenbacher, 1906: 39) [ Obrimus ]. n. comb.

= Brasidas acanthoderus Rehn & Rehn, 1939: 443 , pl. 33: 24. n. syn. = Euobrimus atherura Rehn & Rehn, 1939: 446 , pl. 33: 22, 35: 31. n. syn. = Euobrimus cleggi Rehn & Rehn, 1939: 455 , pl 33: 21, 37: 40. n. syn. = Euobrimus dohrni Rehn & Rehn, 1939: 450 . n. syn.

= Brasidas foveolatus asper Rehn & Rehn, 1939: 437 , pl. 34: 26. n. syn. = Brasidas montivagus Rehn & Rehn, 1939: 440 , pl. 33: 19-24. n. syn. = Euobrimus stephenreyesi Lit & Eusebio, 2006: 101 , figs. 1a-b. n. syn. Distribution. – Mindanao.

5. Brasidas malaki n. sp.

Distribution. – Leyte.

6. Brasidas manobo n. sp.

Distribution. – Mindanao.

7. Brasidas rehni n. sp.

Distribution. – Siargao.

8. Brasidas samarensis Rehn & Rehn, 1939: 432 , pl. 35: 33, 36: 37.

Distribution. – Samar.

9. Brasidas viscayanus Rehn & Rehn, 1939: 438 , pl. 31: 12, 34: 27, 38: 45.

Distribution. – Mindanao.

10. Brasidas waray n. sp.

Distribution. – Leyte.