Pseudacanthops clorindae Rivera & Lombardo, 2013

Lombardo, Francesco, Ippolito, Salvatrice & Rivera, Julio, 2013, Synopsis of the Neotropical mantid genus Pseudacanthops Saussure, 1870, with the description of three new species (Mantodea: Acanthopidae), Revue suisse de Zoologie 120 (3), pp. 373-403 : 395-401

Pseudacanthops clorindae Rivera & Lombardo n. sp. Figs 5, 17, 26, 86, 88-94, 96

TYPE MATERIAL: Holotype, PERU; Ƌ, Cuzco, La Convencion, Distrito de Echarate , 28.IV.1998, ( DBUC) . – Paratypes, PERU; 2Ƌ same data as holotype but 5.VIII.1998 ( R. Acosta leg.) ( UNALM), all collected at light. – BRAZIL. Amazonas prov.: 1Ƌ, Ipixuna, Rio Grecorio , Lago Grande (07°10’11.7’’ S; 70°49’10.3’’ W), (J.A. Rafael, A. Agudelo Rondón & R. Andreazee leg.) (INPA-Manaus) .

ETYMOLOGY: this new species is named after Prof. Clorinda Vergara, head curator of the Klaus Raven Büller Entomological Museum (UNALM) and former advisor of JR.

DIAGNOSIS: Small in size, head with ocular spines not very developed; vertex with a bifide process not well developed. Pronotum smooth. Wings hyaline with chestnut opaque spots on apical area.

Female unknown.

DESCRIPTION MALE

Colouration: Dark to light brown. Head ochraceous with frons and ocelli blackish. Fore coxae ochraceous. Fore femora with two blackish bands on their inner and medial surfaces; larger internal spines blackish with a black, basal spot. Trochanter blackish. Wings hyaline exhibiting opaque, chestnut brown spots apically. Tergites and sternites abdominal with a black apical strip.

Head (Fig. 5, 88): About 1.61 times as wide as pronotum supracoxal dilatation, with sparse small tubercles; process of vertex not well developed, only slightly more elevated than ocelli and bearing 2-4 pointy tubercles apically; frontal ridge smooth; eyes oblong, ocular spine short (approximately as long as the diameter of one ocellus); occiput with a tuberculated conical processes on each side above the eyes and area near the eye suture with two tubercles, the posterior one clearly more developed and often bearing apical granulations; middle portion of vertex with four small tubercles describing a square; frontal shield transverse pentagonal, about twice as broad as high.

Thorax: Pronotum 2.58 times as long as its maximum width, disc of prozone smooth with some small tubercles distally; supracoxal dilatation widely rounded;

FIGS 88-91

Pseudacanthops clorindae , typus: (88) Head. (89) Mesothoracic wing. (90) Abdomen. (91) Last segment of cercus.

lateral margins exhibiting small, scattered denticles, those on the postero-lateral margins flattened and more developed; ratio metazone/prozone 1.65. Fore coxae about 0.80 times as long as pronotum, margins smooth; internal distal lobes contiguous. Fore femora (Fig. 17) 1.12 times as long as pronotum and 4.56 times as long as its maximum width; dorsal margin smooth, with rounded proximal lobe; external surface exhiting several tubercles, specially on its medial axis, the one tubercle located at the level of the forth external spines is conical in shape and much more developed. Fore tibiae as long as half the length of the femora. Spination formula: F=6ES/14IS/4DS and T=16- 20ES/14-15IS. Middle and hind femora shortened, covered with long, conspicuous hairs and with a rounded basal lobe on medial external margin. Tibiae (Fig. 26) covered with minute hairs (4-5 times shorter that those on femora); basal half thicker than distal half and with a medial lobated swelling; apex of tibia with a distinct lobe. Metatarsus shorter than remaining segments together. Wings extending well beyond the tip of abdomen. Mesothoracic wing as in Fig. 89, ratio total length/maximum width 3.9; distal portion of mesothoracic wing (from one third to half) and whole costal area chestnut brown with hyaline spots, remaining of wing hyaline and largely unpigmented (small dark spots might occur along the longitudinal veins), stigma dark brown and conspicuous.

FIGS 92-94

External copulatory of Pseudacanthops clorindae , typus: (92-93) Left phallomere, dorsal and ventral view. (94) Ventral phallomere. Scale = 1 mm.

FIG. 95 Geographic distribution of: black circle = Pseudacanthops caelebs ; black triangle = P. centralis .

Abdomen: Slightly cylindrical (Fig. 90); ventral surface densely covered with long hairs; urotergites 1-4 and 8-9 with a small, elongated, postero-lateral lobes; lateral margins urotergites 5-7 exhibiting leaf-like, dentated lobes (smaller on the 7th urotergite). Urotergites exhibiting a medial carina which forms a leafy extention towards the distal margin of each urite, such extentions are bilaterally flanked by two shorter and similar extentions and several much smaller ones.

Cerci extend beyond the subgenital plate with long hairs; last segment (Fig. 91) very large, flattened and dilated, weakly incised at apex, forming two equal lobes. Subgenital plate longer than wide and with an incised apex; styles small; supranal plate short with incised apex.

External male genitalia: Ventral phallomere (Fig. 94) about twice as long as its width; distal process elongate, arcuated; lateral process elongated with acute apex. Left phallomere (Figs 92-93) well sclerotized; ventral lamina with stocky distal process; anterior process short; phalloid apophysis membranous with numerous small spines.

Measurements (millimeters): Head width 5.8; pronotum supracoxal dilatation width 3.6; prozone length 3.5; metazone length 5.8; fore coxae length 7.5; fore femora length 10.5; tegminae length 43.

COMMENTS: This new species is very different from other known species; the more important differences regard the wings that in this species are hyaline, the costal margin little excavate and the shape of copulatory apparatus.

DISTRIBUTION: Known from southeastern Peru and Southwest Brazil (Fig. 96).

FIG. 96

Geographic distribution of: black square = Pseudacanthops huaoraniana ; open circle = P. lobipes ; black triangle = P. clorindae ; black circle = P. spinulosus .

Pseudacanthops lobipes La Greca & Lombardo, 1997 Figs 6, 87, 96, 97, 98 Pseudacanthops lobipes La Greca & Lombardo, 1997: 49 .

Paracanthops caelebs . – Rehn, 1904: 571 ( Bolivia).

Pseudacanthops caelebs . – Travassos, 1945: 217 (partim Bolivia). – Cerdà, 1993: 140 (partim Bolivia). – Ehrmann, 2002: 291 (partim Bolivia).

Pseudacanthops spinulosa . – Terra, 1995: 30 (partim Bolivia). – Jantsch, 1999: 78 ( Bolivia). – Ehrmann, 2002: 291 (partim Bolivia). – Agudelo Rondón et al., 2007: 115 (partim Bolivia).

MATERIAL EXAMINED: BOLIVIA; Sara Prov. : 1 Ƌ, 350 m (J. Steinbach leg.) ( ANSP). – 1 Ƌ, Santa Cruz, 600 m, 17.XI.1960 (Zischka leg.) ( MDAB) . – 1 Ƌ, Guanay, Coroico , XI.1996 (Coll. Lombardo) ( MDAB) . – 1 Ƌ, “Bolivia, South Amer”. – PERU; Distrito de Echarate : 1 Ƌ, Cuzco, La Convencion, 21. V.1998 ( MDAB), – 1 Ƌ, La Convencion , 2.III.1998 ( R. Acosta leg.) ( UNALM) . – 1 Ƌ, La Convencion , 2. V.1998 ( UNALM). – 1 Ƌ, Madre de Dios, Manu National Park , 1.XI.1991 ( R. Medina leg.) ( UNALM) . – BRAZIL; 1 Ƌ, Rio Madeira-Mamore (Stanford expedition) (Mann & Baker leg.) ( ANSP). – 1 Ƌ, Nova Olinda, Rio Purus , V.1922 (S.M. Klages leg.) ( ANSP).

DESCRIPTION: A full description of this species is provided by La Greca &

Lombardo (1997).

FIGS 97-98

Living specimens of Pseudacanthops lobipes . Males and females exhibit differences in habitat use, as both adult and immature females hang upside-down from clumps of moss (Fig. 97, specimen from Yanachaga-Chemillén National Park, Pasco; photo by André Baertschi), whereas adult males sit on branches (Fig. 98, specimen from Peruvian Amazon; photo by Robert Oelman). The preferred habitat of immature males is unknown, but they likely inhabit moss.

MEASUREMENTS (millimeters): Head width 5-6; pronotum supracoxal dilatation width 3.3-4; prozone length 3.4-4; metazone length 6.7-7.8; fore coxae length 7.8-8.8; fore femora length 9.8-10.8; tegminae length 42-45.

DISTRIBUTION: This species was originally described from Bolivia; we now expand its distribution to western Brazil and southeastern Peru (Fig. 96).