Siliquofera grandis Blanchard

Siliquofera grandis (Blanchard)

Figs. 2–3, 4 A, 5–6, 13; Table 1; Map 1

Phyllophora grandis Blanchard. E. 1853. In: Dumont d’Urville, J. S., Voyage au Pole Sud et dans l' Océanie sur les Corvettes l' Astrolabe et la Zélée exècuté par ordre du roi pendant les années 1837-1838 - 1839-1840: Zoologique Vol. 4: 364. Type locality: Asia-Tropical. Type in Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle Paris.

Megalodon ensifer Wallace, 1869. Details of type unknown.

Eurygnathus giganteus Hesse & Doilein, 1914. Details of type unknown.

Hyperomala virescens Brunner von Wattenwyl, 1898. Details of type unknown.

Interested readers should check Eades & Otte (2008) for additional information on the synonymy above. They provide excellent colour photographs of a specimen, not a type, in MNHN. DCFR examined a female specimen in the MNHN in 1980 labeled as the type (Fig. 3A). It was faded and tattered and missing all legs and antennae. In all other respects it seems to agree with the photographed specimens of Eades & Otte (2008). The subgenital plate is short and apically truncate. Measurements of the “ type ” by DCFR are given in Table 1.

Specimens of this species are few and far between in Australian collections. It has been found rarely in the Iron Range region of northern Cape York Peninsula, Queensland (Map1) and can be mistaken for no other Australian species. It is apparently not uncommon in New Guinea as indicated by the numbers of specimens in various collections throughout the world. Of taxonomic interest, it is surprising to note the similarity of the male genitalia between this species and the new species described herein and in an entirely different genus, Phyllophorella. The unmodified supra-anal plate is shared by both including the minute spines on each side on the adjacent paraprocts (Figs. 5, 6 A). The elongate, but simple cerci (Fig. 5, 6 A) are also similar in the swelling proximally and the arching curve with a minute spine at the tip. The subgenital plate is elongate and narrow but the tip is feebly indented with a V-shaped incision (Fig. 6 B) which bars a large inward-pointing tooth at the apex and a number of smaller teeth along the internal margin (Fig. 6 C).