Parvacanthops parva ( Beier, 1942 ) Moulin & Schwarz, 2023

Moulin, Nicolas & Schwarz, Christian J., 2023, Two new genera of Acanthopidae (Mantodea) from the Amazon region, with description of a new species, Zoosystema 45 (5), pp. 137-161 : 152-155

Parvacanthops parva ( Beier, 1942) n. comb. ( Figs 14-18 )

Acanthops parva Beier, 1942: 147 .

TYPE MATERIAL. — Holotype. Brazil • ♂; Tapajos,; genitalia preparation Schwarz No. 596; MIZ 125056; type number 5124 (only specimen known).

TYPE LOCALITY. — Tapajos, Pará, Brazil ( Fig. 14B ).

REDESCRIPTION

Male ( Figs 14-18 )

Measurements (n = 1). Body length 32.0; head length 3.1; head width 3.8; pronotum length 10.7; prozona length 2.9; metazona length 7.8; pronotum width 2.7; ratio pronotum width/length 0.25; ratio metazona/prozona 2.7; prothoracic coxa length 6.5; prothoracic femur length 8.1; prothoracic femur width 1.7; prothoracic tibia length 6.3; mesothoracic femur length 5.1; mesothoracic tibia length 5.5; metathoracic femur length 5.9; metathoracic tibia length 6.8; forewing length 21.8; forewing width 7.8; costal field width 3.6; ratio forewing length/width 2.8; ratio forewing/pronotum 2.0; hindwing length 24.4.

Coloration and habitus. Body and wings dark brown, resembling a dry leaf ( Fig. 14A ).

Head ( Fig. 15 ). Triangular in frontal view, with pale spots. Antennae missing. Vertex very convex, with two paramedian bicuspidate tubercles. Juxtaocular bulges moderately protruding, with several small tubercles. Eyes rounded, with a small dorsolateral tubercle located slightly mediad from lateral margin of eye. Lower frons wider than high, with two rather long conical projections on upper margin.

Pronotum ( Fig. 14A ). Elongate, brown, mottled with dark brown and pale, pair of darker spots at two-thirds of the metazona indistinct in the type. Prozona with smooth margins, and armed with six pairs of pointed tubercles, growing larger from front to back. Metazona indistinctly tuberculate, with almost smooth lateral margins; lateral expansion very indistinct in anterior half, becoming slightly wider in posterior half.

Prothoracic legs ( Fig. 16 ). Same coloration as head and pronotum. Coxae rectangular, trapezoid in cross-section, with one or two stronger tubercles among scattered smaller tubercles on posteroventral side, and 15-18 very small dorsal spines of inequal size; anterior side with numerous pale spots. Trochanter slightly granular. Femora triangular in cross-section, spotted, with 6 posteroventral spines; margin between spines crenelated; dorsal margin almost smooth, with an indistinct lobe at base; 16 anteroventral spines, and 4 discoidal spines, large anteroventral spines with a dark spot around base. AvS configuration IiiIiIiIiIiIiIiI. Claw-groove at basal fourth of femur.Tibiae dark brown, spotted with pale; 24-25 decumbent, rather small posteroventral spines; 18 anteroventral spines; first tarsomere longer than remaining tarsomeres together.

Meso- and metathoracic legs.Typical for the group.All segments setose. Coxae robust, relatively long. Femora slightly widened, with a deeply concave ventral margin, accommodating tibia when at rest; genicular lobes triangular. Tibiae slightly arched, mesothoracic tibiae indistinctly swollen in the basal half, metathoracic tibiae for almost two thirds of their length, with a very short apical lobe and two proximally black terminal spines; tarsi with first tarsomere shorter than next four taken together.

Wings ( Fig. 17 ). Forewings opaque, brown, resembling dry leaves, with the postero-apical region subopaque; costal field widest at about first quarter of wing, then tapering towards apex; forewing without subapical and apical lobes; stigma irregularly shaped, opaque, shiny. Hindwings with an ochraceous, spotted costal area; proximal two-thirds of discoidal and anal areas smoky; subapical part of hindwing subhyaline, apex subopaque; discoidal area with a distinct apical lobe.

Abdomen. Dark brown, fusiform, shorter than wings; tergites with small triangular extensions. Supraanal plate deeply indented, bearing short 9-segmented cerci, first and last segment consisting of 3 and 2 fused segments, respectively. Apex of last segment flattened and indented ( Fig. 18A ), with the two lobes of roughly the same size. Sternites each with a median and two paramedian lobes at posterior margin. Subgenital plate with two small, conical styli.

Genitalia ( Fig. 18B ). Ventral phallomere longer than wide; sdp very elongate, curved dorso-dextrad, with acute apex pointing antero-sinistrad; bl on right side of ventral phallomere well developed, digitiform, apical part curved sinistrad, with subacute apex. Left phallomere with a simple, sclerotized afa. Membranous lobe indistinctly setose, not well developed. Apical process digitiform, curved at the end. Right phallomere as in related species.

REMARKS

The holotype male is in relatively good condition, given its age and history. Pronotum, right femur, right hind leg, and abdomen are glued to the specimen, the latter with the ventral side up. The right forewing is also slightly damaged, and the antennae are missing. However, most taxonomically significant parts are still present.

Female

Unknown.

DIFFERENTIAL DIAGNOSES

Royacanthops n. gen., Plesiacanthops , Miracanthops and Parvacanthops Schwarz & Moulin , n. gen. are hypothesized here to represent a monophyletic unit. They are distinguished from other acanthopines by the following combination of characters: prominent juxtaocular bulges; metazona elongate, with parallel margins, in males with a distinct expansion along its length; weakly developed anterior lobe on forefemora; genicular lobes of walking leg femora short in males, more or less elongate in females; abdominal sternites with three posterior projections; and very long, sinuate sdp re-curved to the left (in Parvacanthops Schwarz & Moulin , n. gen. the sdp is ellipsoid and curved dorso-dextrad, but the tip is slightly sinuate; we argue in favor of this condition being secondarily derived from the sinuate condition by an anterodorsal rotation of the sdp apex). The sinuate sdp, along with the lobate posterior margin of the female tegmen, is shared with Acanthops erosula Stål, 1877 , which is closely related to this generic group (i.e., Plesiacanthops , Miracanthops , Parvacanthops Schwarz & Moulin , n. gen., and Royacanthops n. gen.). Acanthops erosula can be distinguished from other Acanthops by a more elongate metazona (though not as long as in Plesiacanthops , Miracanthops , Parvacanthops Schwarz & Moulin , n. gen., and Royacanthops n. gen.), and the posteriorly lobate tegmen apex in females. The latter character is also found in Pseudacanthops Saussure, 1870 , but not in other Acanthops , Decimiana , Metilia , or Metacanthops . Acanthops erosula shares with Royacanthops n. gen. the subapical lobe on the male tegmina and the large, bilobed loa which curves dorsally around afa. Both characters are reduced in Plesiacanthops , Miracanthops ( Schwarz & Roy 2018) and Parvacanthops Schwarz & Moulin , n. gen. The three genera are further distinguished from Royacanthops n. gen. in the male sex by their tegmina lacking a subapical lobe, and the alae being distinctly longer than the tegmina. In Royacanthops n. gen. the alae are shorter than the tegmina. Females of Royacanthops n. gen. share with those of Plesiacanthops the shape of the tegmina, while having a slightly wider costal field. They share with Miracanthops the very large juxtaocular bulges. They are distinguished from Plesiacanthops and Miracanthops by fewer but larger teeth along the metazona, and by the very large abdominal lobes. Females of Plesiacanthops are distinguished from those of Miracanthops by smaller juxtaocular bulges and thus a more convex vertex, and by much less elongate female tegmina. Males of Plesiacanthops and Parvacanthops Schwarz & Moulin , n. gen. are distinguished from those of Miracanthops by less elongate male hindwings without a distinct apical truncation, and the smaller, only slightly widened last segment of the cerci. Males of Plesiacanthops are distinguished from those of Miracanthops and Parvacanthops Schwarz & Moulin , n. gen. by a more sinuate costal field and the presence of elongate setae at the basis of loa in the left phallomere. Parvacanthops Schwarz & Moulin , n. gen. shares with Miracanthops the small indistinct lobe on the prothoracic femur, the shape of the coastal field and of the ventral phallomere, and the simplified afa surrounded by a moderately developed loa. It is distinguished from Miracanthops by smaller body size, the convex vertex with its quadricuspidate process and the differently shaped eyes, the reduced lateral expansion along the metazona, smaller tergal lobes on the abdomen, the shape of the last cercal segment, and a differently shaped hindwing apex.Femoral PvS are six in Parvacanthops Schwarz & Moulin , n. gen. and Royacanthops n. gen. vs seven in Plesiacanthops , while Miracanthops exhibits both character states.

Figures

FIG. 14. — Parvacanthops parva (Beier, 1942) n. comb., male holotype MIZ 125056: A, dorsal view; B, labels. Scale bars: 10 mm.

FIG. 15. — Parvacanthops parva (Beier, 1942) n. comb., head, anterior view. Scale bar: 1 mm.

FIG. 16. — Parvacanthops parva (Beier, 1942) n. comb., left foreleg, posterior view. Scale bar: 1 mm.

FIG. 17. — Parvacanthops parva (Beier, 1942) n. comb., wings. Scale bar: 5 mm.

FIG. 18. — Parvacanthops parva (Beier, 1942) n. comb., male abdomen apex: A, holotype terminalia; B, holotype genitalia, ventral view. Scale bar: 1 mm.