Amorphoscelis chinensis Tinkham, 1937

Wu, Chao & Liu, Chun-Xiang, 2021, The genus Amorphoscelis Stål (Mantodea: Amorphoscelidae) from China, with description of two new species and one newly recorded species, Journal of Natural History 55 (3 - 4), pp. 189-204 : 192-193

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.1080/00222933.2021.1900441
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/6B2B87B3-FF9E-6A41-FE2A-FF15B3AB851D
treatment provided by	Plazi
scientific name	Amorphoscelis chinensis Tinkham, 1937
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Amorphoscelis chinensis Tinkham, 1937 View in CoL

( Figures 1 View Figure 1 (a,b), 2(a,b), 3(a,b), 4(a–c,j–l), 5(a–e), 8, 10)

Amorphoscelis chinensis Tinkham, 1937: 484 View in CoL ; Roy 1966b: 263–264; Wang 1993: 27–28; Ehrmann 2002: 61; Roy 2011: 70–71; Zhu et al. 2012: 35.

Amorphoscelis stellulata Yang & Wang, 1999: 75–76 ; Roy 2011: 72. (Type locality: China- Fujian-Putian) syn. nov.

Amorphoscelis phaesoma Yang & Wang, 1999: 76–77 View in CoL ; Amorphoscelis phaeosoma Roy, 2011: 72–73 (Type locality: China-Fujian-Longyan) syn. nov.

Type locality. China (Guangdong Province: Lianzhou) .

Examined specimens. CHINA: 1 ♀; Guangdong, Guangzhou ; 2 December 2009; Xie Zhang leg . ( CCW). 1 ♂; Guangdong, Qingyuan ; 22 May 2014; Chao Wu leg . ( CCW). 1 female; Guangdong, Chebaling Mt .; 23 September 1999 ( SYSU) . 1 ♂; Guangdong, Fengkai, Heishiding Mt .; July 1999 ( SYSU) . 4 ♂; Guangdong, Heshan ; 22~ 24 April 2002; Hai-Dong Chen leg . ( SYSU). 4 ♂; Jiangsu, Nanjing ; 32.04169°N, 118.84094°E; 23 m; 26 August 2014; Chao Wu leg GoogleMaps . ( CCW). 1 ♀; ditto; 6 September 2014; Lei Xia leg GoogleMaps . ( CJZ). 3 ♂; ditto; Chao Wu leg GoogleMaps . ( CCW). 1 ♂; ditto; 20 August 2013; Hai-Tian Song leg GoogleMaps . ( IZCAS). 1 ♀; Jiangsu, Nanjing, Weigang ; 20 August 1987; Yu Zhang leg . ( CCW). 1 female; Zhejiang, Hangzhou ; 1 November 2010; Li Jin leg . ( CLJ). 1 ♂; Henan, Luoshan, Dongzhai ; 28 August 2006; Shu-Min Zhou leg . ( CCW). 1 ♂; Henan, Dabieshan Mt .; August 2006; Liang Ding leg. ( CCW). 1 ♀; Fujian, Fenggangli ; 21 September 1947; Xiu-Fu Zhao leg . (Allotype of Amorphoscelis stellulata Yang ) ( CAU) ( Figure 10 View Figure 10 (a)) . 1 ♂; Fujian, Putian ; 24 September 1979; Fan Jiang leg . (Holotype of Amorphoscelis stellulata Yang ) ( CAU) ( Figure 10 View Figure 10 (b)) . 1 ♂; Fujian, Longyan ; 25 September 1989; Fan Jiang leg . (Holotype of Amorphoscelis phaesoma Yang ) ( CAU) ( Figure 10 View Figure 10 (c)) .

Diagnosis. Relatively large-sized species, juxtaocular bulge tapered. Median secondary distal process of ventral phallomere highly developed, slightly curved, gradually tapering to a sharp apex; lateral secondary distal process small, sharp, and turning to the right ( Figure 5 View Figure 5 (a–e)).

Measurements (mm). Body length: male 20.60–20.80, female 25.12–25.20; pronotum length: male 2.26–2.29, female 2.72–2.78; length of fore femora: male 3.30–3.35, female 3.95–3.40; length of middle femora: male 5.39–5.43, female 5.77–5.82; length of hind femora: male 5.95–6.00, female 6.65–6.71; length of tegmina: male 17.89–18.02, female 18.68–18.80; length of cerci: male 2.66–2.74. female 2.69–2.80; head width: male 4.59–- 4.62, female 5.84–5.90.

Notes. Ootheca is small, about 5–7 mm long, with a slender residual process, filamentous, and laid in crevices of tree bark ( Figure 8 View Figure 8 (b)). There are about 6– 8 eggs in an ootheca. In Nanjing, the Amorphoscelis chinensis has been observed to prey on the Crematogaster sp. ( Hymenoptera : Formicidae ) on the tree trunk, implying that it may be monophagous.

Discussion. The holotype of A. chinensis was originally kept in Ling’Nan Natural History Survey and Museum ( Tinkham 1937) and might have been transferred to Sun Yat-sen University at some point. However, we could not locate the specimen when examining mantis material in the university collections. After comparing the structures of the male genitalia of topotypes with a photograph of the male genitalia ( Svenson 2014) of one paratype that was collected from Yunnan and deposited in the Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, USA, we think all of these specimens are conspecific due to similarity in the shape of the male genitalia.

A comparison of specimens of A. chinensis Tinkham with the type of A. stellulata and the type of A. phaesoma reveals that there are no striking differences in the shape of the genitalia among these species, despite variation in colouration, linear morphometric measurements and male cercal shape ( Figure 4 View Figure 4 (a–c,j–l)).Thus, we propose that A. stellulata and A. phaesoma are actually synonyms of A. chinensis . Roy (2011) also reported a record of A. stellulata from Hangzhou, which should now be regarded as a record of A. chinensis .

Distribution. China (Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Henan, Guangxi); Vietnam ( Roy 2011). Amorphoscelis chinensis Tinkham may be distributed in Nanjing, Jiangsu (32.04°N), which is currently the northernmost limit of the Chinese distribution for the genus Amorphoscelis .