Orxines Stål, 1877

Hennemann, Frank H. & Tirant, Stéphane Le, 2023, Stick and Leaf Insects of Morotai Island, Indonesia (Phasmatodea), Faunitaxys 11 (24), pp. 1-28 : 18

Genus Orxines Stål, 1877

Type species. – Anophelepis xiphias Westwood, 1859: 71 , pl. 4: 4-5, by subsequent designation of Rehn, 1904: 71.

Comments. – This genus is the genus eponymum of the rankfree taxon Orxineformia, which was introduced by Bradler (2009: 98) to comprise all Necrosciinae-genera that exhibit a developed secondary ovipositor in ♀, referred to as an appendicular ovipositor by Bragg (2001). This distinctive type of ovipositor is formed by an elongated and apically incised subgenital plate and enlarged gonoplacs and gonapophyses. Orxines comprises four species, two from the Philippines, the type-species O. xiphias (Westwood, 1859) that is distributed in Wallacea and one species from Java. A fifth Indian species, O. rugulosus Redtenbacher, 1908 , is apparently not congeneric and rather likely to belong in more close affinity to Indochinese genera such as Oxyartes Stål, 1875 or Phaenopharos Westwood, 1859 . The Javanese O. mirabilis (Redtenbacher, 1908) is also rather unlikely to be a member of this genus because the original description of the ♂ (the only sex known) violates the generic characteristics in some aspects, e. g. the triangular lateral lobe of abdominal tergum IX and strongly fornicated poculum. Unfortunately, the unique holotype is not traced, thus could not be examined to validate the generic position of Redtenbacher’s species. The two Philippine species O. granulosus (Redtenbacher, 1908) and O. semperi (Stål, 1877) are likely synonymous, which however needs scrutiny. Within the Orxineformia, Orxines is characterised by the strongly reduced wings, with the tegmina and alae merely vestigial in ♂ and only the alae developed but very small and spatulate with a tiny anal region in ♀.

Distribution. – Wallacea, western New Guinea and Philippines. Java with doubt.