Stagmatoptera Burmeister, 1838

Rodrigues, Henrique Miranda & Cancello, Eliana Marques, 2016, Taxonomic revision of Stagmatoptera Burmeister, 1838 (Mantodea: Mantidae, Stagmatopterinae), Zootaxa 4183 (1), pp. 1-78 : 7

Stagmatoptera Burmeister, 1838

Mantis (Stagmatoptera) Burmeister, 1838 , p.537 (descr.).

Stagmatoptera: Saussure, 1869 , p.67 (redesc.); Saussure, 1870, p.231 (cit.); Saussure, 1871a, p.64 (cit.); Saussure, 1871b, p.80 (cit.); Saussure, 1872, p.225 (cit.); Stål, 1877, p.72 (cit.); Brunner de Wattenwyl, 1893, p.74 (cit.); Saussure & Zehntner, 1894, p.185 (cit.); Rehn, 1904, p.571 (cit.); Kirby, 1904, p.229 (cit.); Rehn, 1911, p.11 (redesc.); Giglio-Tos, 1914, p.24 (redesc.); Giglio-Tos, 1919, p.75 (cit.); Giglio-Tos, 1927, p.593 (redesc.); Beier, 1964, p.950 (cit.); Jantsch, 1980, p.68 (cit.); Terra, 1995, p.64 (redesc.); Ehrmann, 1999, p.10 (cit.); Ehrmann, 2002, p.327 (redesc.); Agudelo et al., 2007, p.110 (cit.).

Type species: Mantis (Stagmatoptera) rogatoria Burmeister, 1838 (non Stoll, 1813) = Stagmatoptera binotata Scudder, 1869 (subsequent designation, Rehn, 1904, predates the designation of Gryllus (Mantis) precarius Linnaeus, 1758 by Kirby, 1904).

Diagnosis. Medium to large mantises (49.8 to 98.7mm); forewings with large, distinct spot covering the stigma, (except in Stagmatoptera indicator ); frontal shield almost as high as wide, sub-pentagonal or pentagonal in shape with at least two median carinae.

Redescription: Head triangular, vertex slightly convex and higher than imaginary line connecting the dorsal margin of compound eyes. Ocelli developed, large and closely arranged in males; smaller and more spread in females. Eyes globose, only slightly elongated. Antennae long, longer than prothorax in males, shorter in females. Antennae filiform except in males of S. septentrionalis and S. supplicaria , where the same are serrate. Clypeus with a central keel that splits near the anterior edge. Frontal shield sub-pentagonal or pentagonal, almost as high as wide, sometimes as high as wide, normally with two longitudinal carinae (four in Stagmatoptera reimoseri and the female of S. biocellata ).

Prothorax elongated. Prozona with lateral margins distally convergent, flattened and slightly expanded laterally. Metazona longer than prozona, with a central keel that may or may not be well indicated. Anterior margin of forecoxae crenulated, internal apical lobes convergent. Forefemora elongated, with four posteroventral, four discoidal, and 11–17 (generally 15) anteroventral spines. Anterior aspect of forefemora often with a contrasting, dark spot. Foretibiae with 9–14 posteroventral and 12–18 anteroventral spines.

Forewings of males with costal area green and opaque; anal area hyaline. Hindwings of males with costal area hyaline, the discoidal and anal areas hyaline or hyaline with yellow cross-veins. Forewings of females green and opaque, with hyaline spots along the posterior margin. Hindwings of females with costal area hyaline, discoidal and anal areas hyaline with yellow cross-veins (except in Stagmatoptera supplicaria , where hindwings are largely yellow with a hyaline stripe along the posterior margin).

Abdomen of the males cylindrical, whereas in females the same is broad and slightly flattened. Supra-anal plate triangular, wider than long in both sexes; cerci cylindrical with approximately 20 cercomeres. Gonangulum of female genitalia triangular.