# Paradoxa in Madagascar?



## Leah (Sep 23, 2005)

Stumbled upon some photos of Madagascar and its inhabitants, one of them labeled as "brown mantis" and clearly a P. paradoxa. I wasnt aware they were found in Madagascar - everything I have seen indicated "Southern Arfica" (which Madagascar technically is, but is not usually included with mainland). I find this incredibly hard to believe, unless they are an introduced species, looking at the biodiversity in Madagascar and how there are virtually no species shared by the island and mainland...


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## Samzo (Sep 23, 2005)

boats that go between mainland and the island could of easily had paradoxa on them


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## Ian (Sep 23, 2005)

were these pix online?


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## Leah (Sep 23, 2005)

Yes, I think it was photos.madagascar. something or another. They were just normal paradoxa and while I think they could have been introduced, I want to know if they are endemic to the island, which as I said before, I highly doubt.


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## Jesse (Sep 23, 2005)

I also have read that they live there, but I have also seen a source that said the species in Madagascar is of the same genus Phyllocrania, but a different species other than paradoxa......P. madagascarensis or something like that.....looked just the same though.


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## Christian (Sep 23, 2005)

Hi.

_Phyllocrania paradoxa_ is native to Madagascar, just as _Popa spurca, Polyspilota aeruginosa, Tenodera superstitiosa_ and a few others. Although Madagascar has a lot of endemic taxa (mantids, too), there are some widely distributed species. It may turn out, though, that there are different subspecies in Madagascar, as is known for _Mantis religiosa_.

Regards,

Christian


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## chun (Sep 23, 2005)

i always thought _Phyllocrania paradoxa_ were found in Madagascar, along with _Phyllocrania illudens._ (which looks more or less the same as paradoxa but with a more narrow protonum and a paler colour, i think).

Jesse, do you remember where you read about P. madagascarensis? just a tad bit intrigued, never heard of P. madagascarensis before.


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## Jesse (Sep 23, 2005)

Sorry, I did not remember correctly as I figured I didn't, I looked it up in the book I remembered the photo being in, and sure enough it is P. illudens (photo taken in Madagascar). The photo is in Grasshoppers and Mantids of the World by Ken Preston-Mafham.


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## Christian (Sep 23, 2005)

Hi.

The actual state of knowledge is that _Ph. illudens_ is just a synonym of _Ph. paradoxa_. This genus is monotypic.

Regards,

Christian


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## Jesse (Sep 23, 2005)

> Hi.The actual state of knowledge is that _Ph. illudens_ is just a synonym of _Ph. paradoxa_. This genus is monotypic.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Christian


Thanks for the info!


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## chun (Sep 23, 2005)

i see, was this quite recent? I remember seeing one dead specimen of Phyllocrania illudens on its own section (with a Phyllocrania illudens tag attached to it as well) in the Phyllocrania paradoxa drawer at the national history museum around 4 years ago. Or it could have been some taxonomic error when they organised the drawers quite some time ago.

I'm not doubting you Christian, just intrigued...haven't been to back there in 4/5 years.


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## Christian (Sep 23, 2005)

Hi.

The actual state of knowledge is literature, not collections. If something changes, someone has to re-tag the specimens in a collection. But who? Most collections are not up to date.

Regards,

Christian


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## Insectman (Sep 25, 2005)

I support Christian's views.

Many same mantid species are found in Africa and Madagascar.


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