Ambermantis, GRIMALDI, 2003

GRIMALDI, DAVID, 2003, A Revision of Cretaceous Mantises and Their Relationships, Including New Taxa (Insecta: Dictyoptera: Mantodea), American Museum Novitates 3412, pp. 1-48 : 7

Ambermantis , new genus

DIAGNOSIS: Spination of forefemur similar to Mantoida , except that Ambermantis plesiomorphically lacks discoidal spines. Derived features are the following: extremely long foretarsi, forebasitarsus longer than foretibia. Extremely long hindlegs, with length of hindtibia plus tarsi equal to length of body; cerci long, with 20 segments.

TYPE SPECIES: A. wozniaki , n. sp., Cretaceous of New Jersey .

INCLUDED SPECIES: Monotypic.

ETYMOLOGY: Directly from amber, itself a derivative of ambra (L.), in reference to the mode of preservation of three known specimens, all adults.

Ambermantis wozniaki , new species

Figures 2a , 3 , 4

Archimantis zherikhini Vrsansky, 2002a: 6 (misidentification of specimen AMNH NJ90cc: see comments below).

Jantarimantis zherikhini (Vrsansky), 2002b: 1 (replacement name for preoccupied Archimantis Saussure ).

PIN Paleontological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow

SMNS Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde, Stuttgart

Figures

Fig. 2. Photomicrographs of Mantodea in Cretaceous ambers. a. Ambermantis wozniaki, new species, holotype AMNH NJ1085, in New Jersey amber. b. Paratype, ibid., AMNH NJ90cc. c. Jersimantis burmiticus, holotype AMNH Bu170, in Burmese amber. d. Burmantis asiatica, holotype, in Burmese amber. For scales, refer to illustrations of specimens.

Fig. 3. Ambermantis wozniaki, new species, holotype (AMNH NJ1085), in New Jersey Cretaceous amber. a. Habitus of entire animal, oblique left lateral view. b. Left foreleg, ventral view of femur with folded tibia and basitarsomere. c. Foretibia, showing spination of mesal edge. d. Frontal view of head. e. Male genitalia.

Fig. 4. Ambermantis wozniaki, new species, in New Jersey amber. a, b. Scanning electron micrograph of an isolated, imprinted wing on the surface of the amber (a), with diagram of the venation (b). c. Paratype, AMNH NJ90cc, a cast/imprint of the dorsal half of the specimen on the surface of the amber; the ventral half was missing.