Ameles gracilis (Brullé, 1838)

Battiston, Roberto, Correas, José, Lombardo, Francesco, Mouna, Mohamed, Payne, Keith & Schütte, Kai, 2018, Morphological convergences in Ameles Burmeister and Pseudoyersinia Kirby: Taxonomic implications of wing reduction and flight predisposition in some West-Mediterranean Amelini (Insecta: Mantodea), Zootaxa 4377 (1), pp. 21-38 : 25

Ameles gracilis (Brullé, 1838)

Mantis gracilis Brullé, 1838

Type. Holotype ♀ (MNHN?; probably lost, Roger Roy pers. comm.).

Type locality. Canary Islands, Tenerife ?

Distribution. Canary Islands (La Palma, Tenerife, Gran Canaria).

Material examined. Spain (Canary Islands): 6 ♂, 8 ♀: Gran Canaria, Tejeda, 1529 m 5.XII.2002, coll Garcia Becerra, 1 ♀ ; Gran Canaria, Tejeda, 1529 m, 5.XII.2002, coll Garcia Becerra 1 ♀; La Palma, El escotillón, 2200 m, 23.VII.1999, coll Garcia Becerra, 1 ♀ ; La Palma, Pico la Cruz , 2100 m, 17.IX.1992, coll Garcia Becerra, 1 ♀ ; La Palma, El escotillón, 2200 m, 23.VII.1999, coll Garcia Becerra, 1 ♀ ; La Palma, Pico la Cruz , 2100 m, 17.IX.1992, coll Garcia Becerra, 1 ♀ ; Tenerife, Arico, Bco. El Río , 620 m, 8.VIII.1998, coll Garcia Becerra, 1 ♀ ; Tenerife, Las Lagunetas, 1500 m, 30.VII.1998, coll Garcia Becerra, 1 ♂; Tenerife, Las Lagunetas, 1500 m, 30.VII.1998, coll Garcia Becerra, 1 ♂; Tenerife, Arico, Bco , El Río , 620 m, 8.VIII.1998, coll Garcia Becerra, 1 ♀ ; Tenerife, Las Lagunetas, 1500 m, 30.VII.1998, coll Garcia Becerra, 1 ♂; Tenerife, Las Lagunetas, 1500 m, 30.VII.1998, coll Garcia Becerra, 1 ♂; Tenerife, Las Canadas, purchased from dealer in 2000, coll. Bragg, 1 ♂; Tenerife Fuente Joco , 21.X.2006, leg P. Oromi, coll. Oromi, 1 ♂ .

Taxonomic notes. Ameles gracilis is a rare endemic mantid from the Canary Islands. This species is distinct for having flight organs longer than the pronotum, but much shorter than the abdomen, never reaching the terminalia. Brullé (1840) related A. gracilis to other Canary Ameles , such as A. limbata ( Brullé, 1840) , and distinguished them by a single character: flight organs of A. gracilis males slightly infumated ("organes du vol d'une nuance enfumée"). This character is clearly represented in the colour drawing accompanying the original description (herein reproduced in Fig. 3 ). Kaltenbach (1979) reported short wings in this species for the first time, stating that these do not reach the end of the abdomen and that the forewings were only from 2.1 to 2.5 times longer than the pronotum. Kaltenbach (1979) also reported hyaline to barely infumated wings in males. Garcia Becerra et al. (2001) provided a complete description of other anatomical structures of A. gracilis and distinguished it from A. limbata , the only other species of Ameles inhabiting the Canary Islands, on the basis of its spherical eyes without apical spine, and its slender pronotum that is two times longer than wide, thus retaining it in the genus Ameles .

Diagnosis. Similar to A. decolor and A. paradecolor but flight organs shorter, never reaching the terminalia, where hindwings might be more or less infumated in the anal area. Male genitalia with different shape ( Fig. 4 ), with the two apical teeth of the hypophallus forming a more acute angle between, as opposed to the more obtuse angle that the same structures form in A. decolor and A. paradecolor . Also, similar to A. maroccana and A. s. obscura but pronotum relatively longer and narrower.

Remarks. The dark-infumated nature of the flight organs, a character historically attributed to A. gracilis males, was not observed in any of the specimens examined. However, in few specimens not directly examined by us, the hind wings exhibited a slightly darker quality (Rafael Gracia Becerra and Roger Roy pers. comm.). This latter characteristic is barely recognisable when compared to other species, but is otherwise markedly different from the evident dark tone described and depicted by Brullé (1840). Even though the general habitus of A. gracilis , with its slender pronotum and rounded eyes, suggests some affinity to the decolor group, the shape of the hypophallus places this species near the spallanzania group. This species is however well known to have wide intraspecific morphological variability ( Wieland et al., 2014) and its relationships with other Ameles should be investigate at the molecular level.

The female holotype of this species is probably lost, as Brullé’s specimens could not be located in the MNHN collection (Roger Roy pers. comm.).

Figures

FIGURE 3. Plate V from the Histoire naturelle des Iles Canaries (Brullé 1840, modified): Ameles limbata (left) and Ameles gracilis (right).

FIGURE 4. Ameles gracilis, male genitalia (dorsal view). Left: left epiphallus with titillator and pseudophallus Centre: distal process of the hypophallus.Right: right epiphallus in ventral view.Scale bar = 1 mm.