Recent content by Dracus

There is also a native species, Mantis octospilota, but on my specimen the coxal spots are different from M. religiosa, they are more diffuse and without clear distal border. Unfortunately, these spots aren't shown on the photos. If it is indeed religiosa, it would be terrible if it spreads and...

Some species definitely do, in particular, Oxypilinae and Ameles have quite elaborate mating dance, e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kn5MzXQeKT8 And I wouldn't 100% exclude that in the case of Odontomantis shown, given that we have basically a quick glance on the male approaching female...

The madagascan "oddball" is Chopardempusa neglecta (Paulian, 1958). Similar to Gongylus, but the resemblance is at least in part convergent.

Exo, I see you have collected a bunch of females of some quite rare genera. How exactly did you find them?

Thanks! That's an interesting one, can't say anything for sure though... Maybe Christian can help, he knows thespids better than me.

It seems I can't view the photo if I don't have a Facebook account :)

Well, that's a surprise for sure. The mantis in question is definitely Liturgusa, and the northernmost record to date is Mexico for L. maya. Given that the recent revision of the genus is hardly usable without very hi-end microscopes, I suggest to send the imago (once they appear; and no...

Summarizing, for now, until it is properly redescribed, it is a valid species of doubtful identity and a possible synonym of Stagmomantis carolina. The only specimens that may be considered to be "properly identified as B. virga" are those of the type series.

I hope you mean the specimen itself, because the picture is of the best quality and very high resolution. As for the specimen, no wonder, it is one of the types and it was collected before 1896, when Scudder described the species. Here's some additional pages about this species: the original...

Quite a strange species. Here's the images of one syntype from Mantodea Project database. Looks very unusual for Bactromantis.

Indeed, looks like mismolted Thesprotia.

Acontista and Mantoida are very distant genera, the latter being in fact one of the most primitive extant mantises. The most apparent visual difference between their nymphs, as well as adults, that can be seen on any picture, is the shape of their pronotums. Mantoida have a very short pronotum...

Great find! And the greatness comes from the fact that it is NOT Mantoida maya, but a nymph of some Acontista species. To my knowledge, no Acontista has been reported from Florida till now, at least in literature. Also, thanks for the pictures of the model ant species. I always thought that the...

"Brit. Honduras" = British Honduras, and Mexico is not USA state here. Generally, I wouldn't trust too much the information on distributions given by Kirby, because it cannot possibly be traced to the original source. But in this case the distribution partially matches the data in (Ehrmann...

I used the original description of H. parviceps by Carl Stål (attached, see p. 38) as well as the picture of the holotype published by Sjöstedt (1930). As you can see, the shape of pronotum is different too - H. parviceps has no constriction in the middle, contrary to H. patellifera and allied...