Insect or Invertebrates Identification - DONE

[ExFmem]

Will write it up.

2011 KTP Is this an earwig?

[Richprins]

Ladies!

[Klipspringer]

Will write it up.

2011 KTP Is this an earwig?

viewtopic.php?p=193727#p193727

[ExFmem]

I felt certain it had been posted, but I couldn't figure out exactly what it was. What a doofus

[ExFmem]

Feel free to correct ANY of my previous entries you find to be incorrect - "we" weren't as smart as you back then , or now it seems, speaking for myself.

I just looked and Picker, Griffiths, & Weaving in their Field Guide, have H. grandis occurring in the KTP region of the map, and note it is "primarily an arid region species...dry grasses and other vegetation." ???

I'm very easily led astray

[nan]

like that, it's very blurry

IMGL1279 (1024x704).jpg

IMGL1263.JPG

Blurry yeah but very good to check on the head shape - well done

It looks similar to this Hoplocorypha (triangle-like extensions = lateral tubercles)


head.jpg


Here a figure from Kaltenbach 1996

Hoplocoryphella grandis - Kaltenbach 1998.jpg


That makes it a species in the family Hoplocoryphidae

From South Africa are recorded:
Hoplocorypha brevicollis (Free State)
Hoplocorypha macra (Vegetation in drier areas of Northern Cape, Western Cape, Eastern Cape, KwaZulu Natal, Mpumalanga, Gauteng, Limpopo, Gauteng, North West)
Hoplocorypha nana (KwaZulu Natal, Mpumalanga, Limpopo, Northern Cape)
Hoplocorypha saussurii
Hoplocoryphella grandis (In dry grasses and other vegetation in Northern Cape, North West, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, KwaZulu Natal and Eastern Cape)

Records for Hoplocorypha nana from Kaltenbach:
Namibia: Hermersdorf close to Windhuk; Okahandja to Waterberg
South Africa: Twee Rivieren, Kalahari Gemsbok Park; Messina (Limpopo); Nelspruit (Mpumalanga)
also recorded from Malawi and East Africa


You can post it to the AW mantis book viewtopic.php?f=247&t=3220

as:

African Stick Mantis Hoplocorypha cf nana
Male nymph
Superfamily Hoplocoryphoidea. Family Hoplocoryphidae

Adult size (Male): Body length 26 mm; pronotum 9 x 1.5 mm; forewings (tegmina) 12 x 2 mm.
Hoplocorypha mantids are excellent mimics of dry stalks, and when prowling the sand they move in a way resembling a stick waving in the breeze.
The head capsule of Hoplocorypha and Hoplocoryphella spp carries prominent bulging and pointed elevations between the compound eye and the corresponding parietal furrow on either side. These elevations have been named 'Nebenaugenhöcker' (Beier, Kaltenbach, Ehrmann) or 'lateral tubercles' (Roy). The function of the lateral tubercles has been discussed by Edmunds. In dorsal view, they enhance the concealment of the neck contour thus making it more difficult for predators to recognize the mantid as such (and therefore as potential prey) by its characteristic head-pronotum outline.

Links:
https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/ite ... 9/mode/1up
http://mantodea.speciesfile.org/Common/ ... ID=1185656
https://www.zobodat.at/pdf/ANNA_98B_0193-0346.pdf

thank you so much Klipspringer
Have a look to see if I have put all you would like or if I have to add the croquis ?

[ExFmem]

I have 2 from 2011 KTP that are similar to one another.
My fallback ID is always a Bark Mantid, so are these possibly a Tarachodes sp.?

1.

[ExFmem]

2011 KTP

2.










(I'm pretty sure it's not an earwig... )

[Klipspringer]

My fallback ID is always a Bark Mantid, so are these possibly a Tarachodes sp.?

Bingo!

https://specimens.mantodearesearch.com/specimen/1653


Not very often that something looks perfectly the same as the reference material.

Great close-ups, ExFmem

[Klipspringer]

Some info

Tarachodinae often have a slightly flattened habitus, flattened cerci and shortened meso- and metathoracic legs. The head is comparatively large with respect to the often slender body and mostly held in a hypognathous position (mouth parts are pointed down) when at rest or hiding in terms of camouflage (e.g. Tarachodes Burmeister, 1838). This is visible in the first specimen. When moving or hunting, however, the same
specimen may hold its head in a forward pointing position as displayed by the second specimen.
Bark dwelling mantodeans are well camouflaged by means of flattened bodies and inimtation of bark. The similarity is achieved by colouration and structural adaptations such as the habit of holding the forelegs bent with the femora pressed against the lateral edges of the pronotum. This behaviour helps to conceal the praying outline and to avoid lateral shadows. The prothorax often has a nearly rectangular outline and is often dorso-ventrally flattened, i.e. the pronotum is not arched. Note the close fitting of lateral edges of pronotum and dorsal edges of fore femora, in the first photo! (The edge of the pronotum is slightly curved in lateral view in this species, and the dorsal edge of the femur is correspondingly curved).
The males are mostly fully winged, whereas the females often have shortened wings.

6 Tarachodes spp are recorded from South Africa
Tarachodes beieri
Tarachodes insidiator
Tarachodes lucubrans
Tarachodes maurus
Tarachodes sanctus
Tarachodes natalensis

T. lucubrans aka the Lucubrating Mantis is the only one recorded from the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. It is the type species of the genus.

after Giglio-Tos:

Tarachodes spp exhibit a strong sexual dimorphism: The pronotum of the females has two conical tubercles. Females have reduced wings.

In all species the head is wider than the thorax and rounded laterally. The lower frons (frontal shield, scutellum) is transverse (wider than long). The pronotum is about 2.5 times longer than wide.

Identification T. lucubrans:
The vertex bears short conical tubercles.
The lower frons (scutellum) is banded (dark to brown).


https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/ite ... 2/mode/1up


The species was first collected by the famous English naturalist and explorer William John Burchell who travelled in South Africa through 1815, collecting over 50,000 specimens. He described his journey in Travels in the Interior of Southern Africa, a two-volume work appearing in 1822 and 1824.
This is his account of the newly discovered species (great fun to read):

The Lucubrating Mantis discovered by Burchell.jpg (117.86 KiB) Viewed 419 times

https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/ite ... 4/mode/1up


The joys of lucubration

(I had to look up this word, perhaps it's unfamilar to you as well: https://www.lexico.com/definition/lucubrate)