Insect or Invertebrates Identification - DONE

[ExFmem]

2015 KTP Mantid 2

[ExFmem]

2016 KTP Mantid












Miomantis sp.? versus Mantis religiosa ?

(BTW, I sent the presumptive Galepsus to the expert for help about a week ago and haven’t heard back.)

[ExFmem]

2016 Kruger

Closest match is Peucetia pulchra

https://books.google.de/books?id=RKs_Dw ... de&f=false

Shall I write it up?

[Klipspringer]

2016 Kruger

Closest match is Peucetia pulchra

https://books.google.de/books?id=RKs_Dw ... de&f=false

Shall I write it up?

Yes please do the entry

(Have done a general introduction to the genus)

[Klipspringer]

ExFmem for ruling out Mantis religiosa - you are right

I lean towards Miomantis for all of them, though the 2016 individual may be different.

All of them are males which have stronger and longer antennae and more pronounced ocelli. (but less so in the 2016 one)

Here a genus diagnosis:
https://www.biotaxa.org/fnz/article/viewFile/1765/2911

Genus Miomantis Saussure
Diagnosis.
Moderately small mantids, variably green/brown in color.
Head broader than long, distinctly wider than pronotum, especially in female; ocelli and antennae inserted on anterior face, the ocelli without prominent tubercles or elevations and the antennae filiform; frons much wider than high, with corners more or less rounded; eyes rounded or conical but not projecting.
Pronotum moderately slender, anteriorly rounded and narrower than posterior, with a flat, oval, weak supracoxal swelling, the disc, which in female is occasionally granular with serrated edges.
Wings present in both sexes; in male well developed, hyaline, occasionally somewhat smoky, the tegmina having a longitudinal coloured stripe between costal and discoidal fields; in female somewhat shortened, variable in length, opaque, the tegmina with costal field at most half as
wide as discoidal field.
Raptorial legs strong; coxa longer than metazone of pronotum, with strongly developed denticles; femur moderately slender, with 4 discoidal and
4 outer teeth; ventral surface around outer teeth with several denticles; claw-furrow situated in proximal half of femur; tibia with 7 teeth in outer row.
Middle and hind legs normal; middle metatarsus as long as other segments together, hind metatarsus longer.
Suranal plate triangular, not elongate. Cerci moderately short, simple.
Sexual dimorphism strong.

Remarks.
Miomantis is in urgent need of revision, as many of the species named by Giglio-Tos are based on colour only. Beier (1955) points out that the only certain way of distinguishing the species is by way of the structure and form of the male genitalia

[Klipspringer]

From the same paper figures for Miomantis caffra, head shape a very good match to your close-up.

I am pretty sure that we have a Miomantis now.

This book has descriptions of the Miomantis spp
https://books.google.de/books?id=R4vZDw ... ne&f=false

It is mostly useless because most characters fit several species. The differences are mainly:
Pronotum margin with or without minute teeth
Spots on the inside of the foreleg: Most spp have 3 or 4 spots on the inner femur, some species have also spots on the inside of the coxa
Ratio length of pronotum : length of elytra; pronotum length is more or less one third


We can not see any of these characters clearly on the photos we have.

[Caju]

Greetings
I am so sorry I missed your reply until today. The nymph have hatched! The female puts her feelers/antennae on the nymphs . . There are some pics i took which i will attach for you to see.
Kind regards
Caju

[Klipspringer]

Wow, that's excellent, Caju

What size are these nymphs? Any idea how many they are? (They say that they eat eachother )


and please watch out for how long they will stay there before they disperse

[Caju]

They are so cute. I count about 15 of them. The one I took with the female touching it with her antennae appears to be dead. Size is 1.3cm.

[Klipspringer]

Wow, this is rather large

I hope some of them will make it to adulthood.

I think they will stay there for several days and keep you entertained.