Phasmida: India

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This is an extract from ANIMAL RESOURCES OF INDIA: Protozoa to Mammalia State of the Art. Zoological Survey of India, 1991. By Professor Mohammad Shamim Jairajpuri Director, Zoological Survey of India and his team of devoted scientists. The said book is an enlarged, updated version of The State of Art Report: Zoology Edited by Dr. T. N. Ananthakrishnan, Director, Zoological Survey of India in 1980.

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Phasmida

Introduction

The order Phasmida includes stick and leaf insects, some of which represent curious examples of mimicry. It is a group of large tropical insects with well developed sclerotised bodies (Gunther, 1953).The stick insects possess elongate and cylindrical body and are often apterous. They resemble twigs in colour and appearance. The leaf insects are flattened and leaf-like, with lamellate expansions of the legs.

Historical Resume

The Phasmid fauna of India was not studied until 1859. Westwood (1859) was the pioneer worker, who had rearranged the Phasmida of the British M~seum and published a monograph, under the title of 'Catalogue of Orthopterous insects' Other works are those of Westwood (1859), Bates, (1865), Woodmason (1875), Brunner vonWattenwyl, (1906-08), Kirby (1910) and Gunther (1938, 1953) who have dealt with the Indian fauna.

Estimation of Taxa

About 2,500 species are known from various parts of the world, out of which 60 species are recorded from India. The Indian species belong to 25 genera under 8 subfamilies. Most of the Indian Phasmida are recorded from North Eas~em Region. However, more surveys are required in mountain regions and forests of the country to better understand the group.

Classification

Gunther (1953) has divided the Order Phasmida into two families, viz., Phylliidae and Phasmatidae; each possesses a number of subfamilies.

Expertise Abroad

Herbert Klante, Zoologist, Linzer Str. 31, D -5000 Koeln 42 Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Germany). D.R. Ragge, British Museum ( Nat. Hist.), Crom\vell Road, London (U.K.).

Selected References

Beier, M. 1968. Phasmida (Sub -Order Gespensthen Schrecken). Handbuch der Zoologie (Helmeke, J. -G, Starck, Dand Wermuth, H. eds), 4 (2) Lief. 6. Bradley, J.e &Galil, B.S. 1977. The taxonomic arrangement of the Phasmatodea with Keys to the subfamilies and tribes, Proc. ent. Soc. Wash., 79 (2) : 176-208. Brunner, V. Wattenwyl, K. and Redtenbacher, J. 1906-08. Die lnsektenfamilie der Phasmiden: 589 pp. Leipzig.

Chopard, L. 1945. OFde des Cheleutopteres, Lechevalier, Paris: 541. Gunther, K. 1953, Uber die taxomomische Gliederung Und die geographiche Verbreitung der Insekten ordnung Phasmatodea, Beitr. Ent. 3 : 54-563. Kirby, W.F. 1904. A synonymic Catalogue ojOrthoptera. Phasmidae, part I, London: 317-423. Ragge, D.R. 1955. The wing venation of the Order Phasmida, Trans. R. ent. Soc. London, 106: 375-392.