Hierodulinae Brunner de Wattenwyl, 1893

Liu, Qin-Peng, Liu, Zi-Jun, Wang, Guo-Li & Yin, Zi-Xu, 2021, Taxonomic revision of the praying mantis subfamily Hierodulinae of China (Mantodea: Mantidae), Zootaxa 4951 (3), pp. 401-433 : 404

Subfamily Hierodulinae Brunner de Wattenwyl, 1893

Brunner de Wattenwyl, 1893: 62.

Type genus: Hierodula Burmeister, 1838 .

Diagnosis. Medium to large-sized. Head not flattened dorsoventrally, vertex without expansion; pronotum simple, rhomboidal, ellipsoid or rod-like; if lateral expansion on pronotum developed, then converging anteriorly and not enclosing the head; four to five pvfs, ventral surface of the forelegs without bicoloured blue-black spot; 1 st DS shorter than the second; hindwings nearly transparent; afa large, entire or bilobed, lacking wide separation between aafa and pafa diagnostical of Tenoderinae , Stagmomantinae , and Vatinae ; loa simple and reduced; sdp developed, sdpm often retained.

Diversity and distribution. Currently, twenty-five genera with about 205 species are included in Hierodulinae . Species in this subfamily are distributed in the Oriental, Palaearctic, Australian and Afrotropical Regions.