New leaf insect named after Andres Bonifacio

 

 

There are now 10 species of leaf insects in the Philippines, after a team from the University of the Philippines in Los Baños formally described the latest discovered species—and named it after revolutionary hero Andres Bonifacio.

 

UPLB Museum of Natural History professor Ireneo Lit Jr. and Orlando Eusebio led the description of the new species Phyllium bonifacioi.

 

"The new species bears the name of Filipino revolutionary hero Andres Bonifacio. It was originally dedicated in commemoration of the hero's 150th birth anniversary on November 30, 2013," the UPLB said.

 

Lookalike

 

Lit and Eusebio said the new species looks very similar to another member of the genus, P. ericoriai.

 

"Both species have well-developed alae, enlarged angular exterior of fore femora, 9-segmented antennae and parallel lateral margins of V and VI abdominal segments," Lit said in an article published in the Germany-based journal ARTHROPODA Generalis last December 19.

 

However, they said the new species differed from P. ericoriai and the other Phyllium species by having the VII abdominal lateral margins with indistinctlobe and posteriorly converging.

 

Both Lit and Eusebio are members of the UPLB Museum of Natural History Entomology Section. Lit is also a UPLB Professor at the Institute of Biological Sciences.

 

Phyllium bonifacioi is the latest addition to the genus Phyllium, one of the four genera of the family Phylliidae.

 

Until the discovery of the new species, there were only nine species of Phyllium in the Philippines.

 

Expedition

 

P. bonifacioi was collected during an expedition in Northern Luzon by a team jointly led by Dr. Rafe Brown of University of Kansas, USA and Dr. Arvin Diesmos of the National Museum of the Philippines.

 

"They chanced upon an adult female specimen during one of their collection trips and donated it to the Museum in 2011," Lit said.

 

He said they reared it in the laboratory and had it lay eggs, with help from Roseller Duque, MNH’s all-around technician. — Joel Locsin/TJD, GMA News