Stagmatoptera abdominalis (Olivier, 1792)

Rodrigues, Henrique Miranda & Cancello, Eliana Marques, 2016, Taxonomic revision of Stagmatoptera Burmeister, 1838 (Mantodea: Mantidae, Stagmatopterinae), Zootaxa 4183 (1), pp. 1-78 : 70-71

Stagmatoptera abdominalis (Olivier, 1792)

Figure 57

Mantis abdominalis Olivier, 1792 , p.640 (descr.); Audinet Serville, 1831, p.54 (cit.).

= Mantis urbana Lichtenstein, 1802 , p.27 (descr.); Kirby, 1904, p.301 (syn.).

= Mantis birivia Stoll, 1813 , p.28, t.9, f.31 (descr.)

= Mantis (Cardioptera) birivia, Burmeister, 1838 , p.541 (redesc.).

= Stagmatoptera birivia, Saussure, 1870 , p.232 (cit.); Kirby, 1904, p.301 (syn.).

= Cardioptera birivia, Westwood, 1889 , p.15 (cit.).

Stagmatoptera abdominalis, Kirby, 1904 , p.301 (cit.); Rehn, 1911, p.13 (cit.); Giglio-Tos, 1914, p.35 (redesc.); Giglio-Tos, 1927, p.599 (redesc.); Terra, 1995, p.64 (cit.); Ehrmann, 2002, p.328 (cit.); Agudelo et al., 2007, p.125 (cit.); Ehrmann & Koçak, 2009, p.11 (cit.).

Type: Unknown.

Because it was not possible to find any specimen attributable to this species, we reproduce a translation of the original description and figure published by Stoll (1787) to aid the identification of any specimen that might emerge in the future:

“ It has the head, the thorax and the body very big and wide, the thorax is denticulate in the laterals, with a keel in the middle; the forelegs are big and with sharp spines on the lower surface, with which these insects grab and seize their prey, and then they throw their long and sharp claws, longer and bigger than in other species, making it evident that they can grab big insects to eat; the tarsi consisting of five articles. The forewings are usually green and leathery; however, on the anterior margin they are transparent with brown spots. The hindwings have the outer margin also leathery, brown on the tips, but the rest is membranous, transparent and reticulated ( Fig. 57 )”

Remarks. Olivier (1792) formally described Stagmatoptera abdominalis based on the work of Stoll (1787), who first described this species but without giving it a binomial Latinized name. The whereabouts of the specimen studied by Stoll (1787) is unknown, and no additional ones have been found so far. Giglio-Tos (1914, 1927) stated that he never saw any specimen of this species and his re-description is based on Stoll’s drawings. Specimens identified as S. abdominalis in collections or in papers (e.g., Jantsch 1994) actually correspond to males of S. supplicaria . These S. supplicaria males are similar to the re-description presented by Giglio-Tos (1927) but differ in the stripes on the forewings. Males of S. supplicaria have a large distal stripe and a smaller proximal stripe ( Fig. 55 A), which is the opposite of what is described for S. abdominalis , a small distal stripe and a large proximal stripe ( Fig. 57 ). This species is maintained because it is currently not possible to prove or deny its validity.

Figures

FIGURE 55. Stagmatoptera septentrionalis, dorsal habitus. A, male; B, female. Scale bar = 10 mm.

FIGURE 57. Stagmatoptera abdominalis, original illustration from Stoll (1787, 1813).