Orestes ziegleri ( Zompro & Fritzsche, 1999 ) Bresseel & Jiaranaisakul, 2018

Bresseel, Joachim & Jiaranaisakul, Kawin, 2018, Pylaemenes scrupeus sp. nov., a new Datamini from Thailand (Phasmida: Heteropterygidae: Dataminae), Belgian Journal of Entomology 123, pp. 1-15 : 13

Orestes ziegleri ( Zompro & Fritzsche, 1999) comb. nov.

Dares ziegleri ZOMPRO & FRITZSCHE, 1999:10 , pl. 3, figs 1–5 [described and figured].

Dares guangxiensis – ZOMPRO, 2004: 219 [synonymy].

Dares ziegleri – OTTE & BROCK, 2005: 118 [catalogued]. — BROCK & OKADA, 2006: 24 [removed from synonymy with Pylaemenes guangxiensis ].

COMMENTS. ZOMPRO & FRITZSCHE (1999) described this species in the genus Dares Stål, 1875 but gave no explanation as to why the species was attributed to this genus. ZOMPRO (2004) synonymised the species with Pylaemenes guangxiensis (Bi & Li, 1994) , but BROCK & OKADA (2006) treated both Dares ziegleri Zompro and Fritzsche, 1999 and P. guangxiensis again as valid species. In both keys provided by ZOMPRO (2004) & BROCK & OKADA (2006), D. ziegleri keys out as Pylaemenes Stål, 1875 as it has the mesonotum more than two times longer than the pronotum, yet the species was retained in Dares .

BRESSEEL & CONSTANT (2018) redefined the characters of Orestes Redtenbacher, 1906 and transferred P. guangxiensis to Orestes . ZOMPRO (2004) already indicated a close relationship between D. ziegleri and O. guangxiensis when he synonymised both species and his description of the head armature ( ZOMPRO & FRITZSCHE, 1999) agrees with the cephalic armature provided for Orestes by BRESSEEL & CONSTANT (2018).

The species is here transferred to Orestes because of the combination of following characters (based on the descriptions and figures by ZOMPRO & FRITZSCHE (1999)): the distinctive cephalic armature; tergum IV being the highest part of the abdomen and tergum V distinctly slanting; the semi-cylindrical mesonotum without distinctly raised mediolongitudinal and lateral carina; the rectangular anal segment and the egg morphology.

More material, including the unknown male, will shed more light on its relationship with other Orestes species.