Raptophasma neli Perkovsky & Storozhenko, 2024

Perkovsky, Evgeny E. & Vasilenko, Dmitry V., 2024, New and little-known Mantophasmatidae (Insecta: Mantophasmatodea) from European amber, Zootaxa 5446 (4), pp. 553-563 : 554-557

Raptophasma neli Perkovsky & Storozhenko , sp. nov. Figs 1–8

Etymology. New species is named in honor of France paleoentomologist André Nel (Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris).

Type material. NHMD-614830, Yantarnyi, Kaliningrad Region, Baltic amber, late Eocene. Right lateral surface partly cutted, ventral and dorsal side through the thickness of amber not visible clearly. The sex male, because the enlarged cerci. Syninclusions : worker ant Ctenobetylus goepperti (Mayr), Scelionidae , 6 Acari , stellate hairs .

Diagnosis. New species similar to Raptophasma kerneggeri but differs from the latter by narrower profemora without two carinae dorsally and by body and legs coloration (in R. kerneggeri , profemora with two prominent carinae dorsally, 2 times as long as broad, body light brown, occiput blackish, pronotum light brown with two black, longitudinal lateral stripes, mesonotum and metanotum without black mark, and legs blackish without spots).

Description. Head hypognathous; compound eyes large and protrude slightly above the head; vertical diameter of the eye significantly exceeds the height of the cheeks; ommatidia small and numerous. Basal segments of antennae invisible; mid segments of flagellum elongated, 3.5-4 times as long as wide. Mouthparts typical for the Mantophasmatodea .

Thorax. Pronotum distinctly shorter than head, almost as long as mesonotum and 1.5 times longer than metanotum. Thoracic tergites sharply marginated; dorsal side smooth, bristles and hair-like setae absent.

Legs. Profemora elongated, 2.8 times as long as broad, covered by numerous short setae. Ventral side of profemora with a dense row of short hair-like setae, long bristles absent. Protibia slightly shorter than profemora, with numerous hair-like setae; apex of tibia without thickenings at base of setae. Mesotibia not visible. All coxae elongate; anterior surface of procoxa with short spine. Tarsi 5-segmented, fifth segment elongate and slender; arolium large and broad, surpassing claws, with a row of preapical setae typical for the heelwalkers. Third tarsomere with narrow triangle distal process in the middle.

Abdomen. First three tergites almost equal in length, each about 2 times shorter than pronotum; dorsal side smooth, bristles and hair-like setae absent. Abdominal 9-10th tergites unarmed, smooth. Cerci simple, elongated with pointed apex as in R. kerneggeri . Abdominal 4-8 segments not visible.

Coloration. Body brown with black marks. Dorsal side of head brown; occiput blackish with light spots. Compound eyes light brown; cheeks and mouthparts blackish brown. Pronotum blackish with relatively small light brown marks on lateral sides and a narrow medial longitudinal stripe. Mesonotum with black posterior part and a few black spots near the middle and at anterior portion of tergite. Metanotum brown with black posterior part. Femora brown with black marks at the base. Tibiae light brown with numerous black spots. Anterior half of the first three abdominal tergites dark brown, posterior half black. Abdominal 9-10th tergites brown; cerci blackish.

Lengths (mm): Total: 11.3; head: 2.0; pronotum: 1.7; mesonotum: 1.5; metanotum: 1.05; profemora: 2.5; protibiae: 2.0; tarsi: 1,6; cerci 0,21.

Remarks. It is the first reported heelwalker finding in syninclusion with ant. It could be important because Ctenobetylus goepperti had aphid symbionts, and in the laboratory heelwalker nymphs were fed daily with aphids ( Conti et al., 2019). Native aphids are very rare in South Africa but in European amber forest they were quite common ( Perkovsky & Wegierek, 2018). Therefore, we propose that nymphs and adult of Raptophasma probably fed with aphids, small insects and other arthropods.

Figures

FIGURES 1–3. Raptophasma neli sp. nov. 1. Body; 2. Head, thorax, coxa, profemur and protibia; 3. Fifth tarsal segment and arolium of hind legs.

FIGURES 4–8. Raptophasma neli sp. nov. 4. Body, lateral view; 5. Coxae and profemur, lateral view; 6. Head, pro- and mesonotum, lateral view; 7. Apical abdominal tergites and cerci, lateral view; 7. Fifth tarsal segment and arolium of hind legs, dorsal view; 8. Fifth tarsal segment and arolium, lateral view.