Acrophylla Gray 1835

Acrophylla Gray, 1835 Type species by subsequent designation: Phasma titan MacLeay, 1826 in Kirby, 1904 Synonym: Vetilia Stål, 1875 Type species: Acrophylla enceladus (Gray, 1835) by original monotypy. No. of sp. in Australia 7. Worldwide, 10 (Checklist and other references to species and genera available on Phasmida Species File Online database) Generic Characteristics. Elongate, robust phasmids of medium to very large size. Both sexes somewhat slender, but especially males. Female individuals usually between 150mm body length (250mm total length) to over 260mm body length (440mm total length). Male individuals between 90mm body length (110mm total length) to 150mm body length (210mm total length). Profemora, mesofemora and tibiae serrate but variable in density and length of serrations. Dorsal surface of mesonotum spinose, tending to tuberculate in some species. Ventral surface of mesonotum and metanotum usually more sparsely tuberculated or spinose depending on species. Head longer than wide with pronounced ocelli in males, less so in females. Pronotum usually similar length to head, generally smooth with some figuring, elongate mesonotum 3.25–4 x length of pronotum with metanotum around half length of mesonotum. Antennae rather thin, reaching around end of profemora in females, more elongated in males, roughly equal in length to end of protibiae. Forewings faintly mottled with light brown with the overall colouration largely matching abdominal segments. In some sp. there may be patches or stripes of white on the forewings in both males and females. Rarely, these white patches extend down the length of the dorsal surface of the pre-anal portion of the hindwings. Hindwings usually with tessellated colouration of light brown to almost black. While males have fully functional wings, females are unable to fly due to large mass but can use wings to safely descend when knocked from vegetation or in startle displays against predators (Brock, P.D. & Hasenpusch, J.W., 2009). Base of pre-anal portion of hindwing may feature striking pink/purple colouration in some species. Cerci on female individuals short to very short and pointed in some sp. tending to a wider, flattened form in others. Some sp. having much longer, straighter cerci extending well beyond the large, boat-shaped operculum. The operculum extends beyond the end of the anal segment (see Table 1. for comparative notes). In males, the subgenital plate reaches about the end of the 9 th abdominal segment. Eggs. Large (length> 8.0 mm). Capsule oval>2x longer than wide. May be textured with conspicuous pits or smooth with more-or-less defined, long micropylar plates with widened base section. Usually a large, pale capitulum present. Distribution. Australasia (9) and China (1). Note: Acrophylla sichuanensis (Chen & He, 2001) from China warrants further examination as it most likely belongs to a different genus, (Hennemann, F. et al., 2008).