Stenophylla lobivertex Lombardo, 2000

Schwarz, Christian J., Ehrmann, Reinhard, Stiewe, Martin B. D., Mörtter, Rolf & Falkenberg, Michael, 2020, Mantodea of Panguana (Insecta: Dictyoptera), Zootaxa 4824 (1), pp. 1-66 : 37

Stenophylla lobivertex Lombardo, 2000

( Figs. 77–81 , 92 , 144–145 )

Stenophylla lobivertex Lombardo, 2000: 34–37 .

Type locality. Madre de Dios, Peru ( Lombardo 2000) .

Records. CeNak: juv. ♀, 1969, leg. H. W. Koepcke. SMNK: ♂, 230 m, forest station, 22.IX.–10.X.2017, leg. E.-G. Burmeister (SMNK-Mant 12771) (genitalia preparation Schwarz No. 387, Fig. 92 ). ZSM: ♂, 230 m, 10.X.2017, leg. F. Glaw ( Figs. 77–79 ); ♀, 230 m, 23.VIII.2018, leg. A. Höcherl. CSC: ♀, 230 m, on bush 1.5 m above ground, 10.X.2017, leg. F. Glaw ( Figs. 80–81 ) .

Distribution. Colombia, Ecuador, Peru.

Remarks. The original description of this species did not reflect its true variability, and unfortunately contained a major typographic error, prompting Roy (2005) to describe specimens from French Guiana with an allegedly different morphology as St. gallardi . The latter, known only from a female and a juvenile male, is supposedly distinguished from St. lobivertex by its more regular vertex process, longer tegmina (17 vs. 12 mm), and 9–10 instead of 8 postero-ventral spines. St. lobivertex has become better known since its original description due to additional specimens and some splendid wildlife photographs (e.g. Figs 144–145 ). We can complete the description of the species by stating that the shape of the vertex process can be both regular and irregular in both females and males from one population, but with more undulated margins than what is known from St. gallardi . In addition, both males and females have 8–9 posteroventral spines on the forefemur, overlapping in this regard with St. gallardi (9–10). The tegmina of our St. lobivertex female are 17.5 mm long, and photos of the type have revealed its tegmina to be in the same range. The erroneous 12 mm published in Lombardo (2000) have thus obscured the overlapping morphology of Guyanan and Western Amazonian specimens. We prefer to retain St. gallardi as a valid species, however, until more specimens of both species are found, including the hitherto unknown males of St. gallardi .

The color pattern of the ventral side of the tibiae ( Fig. 78 ) is homologous to the pattern of Callibia ( Avendaño & Sarmiento 2011, fig. 1b), thus further supporting the classification scheme of this genus with regard to Acontistini introduced by Schwarz & Roy (2019). Selected life history aspects of St. lobivertex were described by Rönisch & Schwarz (2019).

Figures

FIGURES 77–81. Stenophylla lobivertex Lombardo, 2000. 77. Male in dorsal view. Scale bar: 10 mm. 78. Anterior tibia, ventral view. Scale bar: 5 mm. 79. Male in ventral view. 80. Female in dorsal view. 81. Same, ventral view.

FIGURES 88–93. Male genitalia of selected Acanthopoidea in ventral view. 88. Liturgusa nubeculosa Gerstaecker, 1889. 89. Metriomantis boliviana Lombardo, 1999. 90. M. cf. pilosella Giglio-Tos, 1915. 91. Metilia sp.. 92. Stenophylla lobivertex Lombardo, 2000. 93. Raptrix occidentalis Lombardo & Marletta, 2004. Not to scale.

FIGURES 142–147. Life aspects of praying mantids at Panguana (continued). 142. Pseudacanthops lobipes, male. Photo © Dieter Schulten. 143. Metilia sp., male. Photo © Rolf Mörtter. 144. Stenophylla lobivertex, male. 145. Stenophylla lobivertex, female. 146. Raptrix occidentalis, male. Photos © Frank Glaw. 147. Acontista aurantiaca, juvenile. Photo © Dieter Schulten.