Pseudacanthops huaoranianus Lombardo & Ippolito, 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 : 384-389

Pseudacanthops huaoranianus Lombardo & Ippolito n. sp. Figs 4, 20-21, 24, 46-61, 96

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

FIGS 40-42 Pseudacanthops centralis : (40) Abdomen. (41) Mesothoracic wing. (42) Last segment of cercus.

TYPE MATERIAL: Holotype, ECUADOR; Napo Prov.: Ƌ, Yasuni, E.C.Y. 250 m, 4. XII.1997, (leg. G. Onore) ( MDAB) . – Paratypes; ECUADOR; Napo Prov.: 1 ♀, Avila viejo, 500 m, 10.IV.1997 (leg. Ekohn) ( MDAB) . – ECUADOR; 1 Ƌ, Yasuni , 29.IX.1995 (leg. F. Lombardo) ( MDAB) .

ETYMOLOGY: This new species is named huaoranianus in homage to the Huaorani indigenous people living in Amazonian Region of Ecuador (Napo, Orellana and Pastaza Provinces) .

DIAGNOSIS: Male 38-43mm, female 38 mm in size; darkish chestnut in colour; eyes oblong with a robust apical spine; vertex with a short bidentate process.

DESCRIPTION MALE HOLOTYPE

Colouration: Body darkish chestnut; frons blackish; fore coxae chestnut with irregularly dotted ivory calluses on internal surface; fore femora with external ochraceous spines with black apex; discoidal spines and bigger internal spines black. Meso- and metathoracic wings chestnut. Male urotergites with a black apical band; female abdomen with a large shiny black spot comprises between the 2nd and 4th urotergites.

Head (Figs 4, 48-49): About 1.59 times as wide as pronotum supracoxal dilatation; process of vertex squarish with an apical small tubercle to four edges (Fig. 4); eyes oblong with a big ocular apical spine (approximately 1.5 as long as diameter of one ocellus); Frontal ridge with two small triangular processes behind the upper ocelli; occiput with one small acuminate tubercle on both besides. Frontal shield transverse, twice as broad as high, upper margin with two teeth separated by a deep incisure (Fig. 4).

FIGS 43-45

External copulatory of Pseudacanthops centralis : (43-44) Left phallomere, dorsal and ventral view. (45) Ventral phallomere. Scale = 1 mm.

Thorax: Pronotum (Figs 51, 53) elongated 3.09 times as long as its maximum width; slightly narrowed in the distal half metazone; lateral margins of metazone with small teeth; dorsal surface with few small granules, two flattened tubercles are present near posterior margin (Fig. 53); supracoxal dilatation well distinct with rounded lateral margins; ratio metazone/prozone 1.93. Fore coxae about 0.72 times as long as pronotum; anterior margin with minute spines; internal surface with ivory calluses;

FIGS 46-47 Habitus of Pseudacanthops huaoraniana : (46) Typus. (47) Female paratypus. Scale = 1 cm.

posterior surface with sparse small tubercles; internal distal lobes contiguous. Fore femora (Fig. 20) 0.95 times as pronotum length and 4.54 times as long as its maximum width; upper margin with some minute granules; basal lobe well developed with irregularly free margin; external surface with 6-7 small median tubercles. Tibiae with external margin with 2-3 tubercles. Formula spination F=6ES/14IS/4DS and T=18- 19ES/15-16IS. Middle and hind legs covered with long hairs. Femora with 5 tubercles on external surface and with a rounded basal lobe on the medial external margin. Tibiae (Fig. 24) basal half thicker than distal half and with a medial lobated swelling; apex with a small lobe. Metatarsi length less than the total length of all the other segments together. Wings well developed, extending well beyond the tip of abdomen. Mesothoracic wing (Fig. 57) ratio total length/maximum width 4; costal area opaque not well dilated at base with an attenuate excavation; discoidal field opaque in its anterior half and at the apex, hyaline in its posterior half. Metathoracic wing with costal area subopaque and discoidal area hyaline.

Abdomen (Fig. 55): Slightly flattened; lateral margins of 5th and 6th urotergites with a leafy dentate lobe, 7th similar to previous but with a smaller lobe; 1st-4th with a slender lobe with two tips; 8th-9th only with elongate lobe. Urosternites with a longitudinal median carina bilaterally flanked by two or three short crests near the distal margin.

Cerci extend beyond the subgenital plate with sparse long hairs; last segment very large and flattened, lateral margins irregularly sinuous and deeply incised at apex, forming unequal terminal lobes. Supranal plate short deeply incised at apex. Subgenital plate is longer than broad, incised at apex and with two small styles.

FIGS 48-54

Pseudacanthops huaoraniana : (48-49) Head, typus and male paratypus. (50) Head, female paratypus. (51, 53) Pronotum, typus. (52, 54) Pronotum, paratypus female. Scale = 0.5 cm.

External male genitalia: Ventral phallomere (Fig. 61) twice times as long as broad; distal process triangular ending in an acuminate tip; sinuous lateral process with acute apex. Left phallomere (Figs 59-60) with a long distal process; phalloid apophysis membranous; ventral lamina with apical right process.

Measurements (millimeters): Head width 5.5-5.85; pronotum supracoxal dilatation width 3.4-3.7; prozone length 3.5-4; metazone length 6.8-7.7; anterior coxae length 7.4-8.5; anterior femora length 9.9-11; tegminae length 37-43.

DESCRIPTION FEMALE: More robust than male; head (Fig. 50), pronotum (Figs 52, 54) and legs (Fig. 21) with numerous big tubercles. Wings not well developed, anterior margin sinuous, apical lobe well rounded, posterior margin crenulated; costal field and discoidal area opaque, chestnut. Metathoracic wing opaque with chestnut concentric spots. Abdomen (Fig. 56) enlarged with a big black spot comprises from 1st-3rd urotergites; 4th, 5th and 6th urotergites with a narrow black apical streep.

FIGS 55-58

Pseudacanthops huaoraniana : (55-56) Abdomen, typus and paratypus female. (57-58) Mesothoracic wing, typus and paratypus female. Scale = 1 cm.

Measurements (millimeters): Head width 6.7; pronotum supracoxal dilatation width 4.7; prozone length 4.5; metazone length 6.6; fore coxae length 9.8; fore femora length 12.9; tegminae length 25.

COMMENTS: This new species is related to P. spinulosus but the most substantial differences concern the genitalia: the apical process of the ventral plate of the left phallomere of P. huaoranianus is more prolonged and the distal process of the ventral phallomere is shorter.

DISTRIBUTION: Known from Ecuador (Fig. 96).