Miracanthops poulaini Roy, 2004

Schwarz, Christian J., Ehrmann, Reinhard, Stiewe, Martin B. D., Mörtter, Rolf & Falkenberg, Michael, 2020, Mantodea of Panguana (Insecta: Dictyoptera), Zootaxa 4824 (1), pp. 1-66 : 34-35

Miracanthops poulaini Roy, 2004

( Figs. 71–74 )

Miracanthops poulaini Roy, 2004: 395–396 .

Type locality. Loreto, Peru ( Roy 2004b) .

Records. MFNB: juv. ♀, VII.1982, leg. E.-G. Burmeister. SMNK: ♂, 230 m, 22.IX.–11.X.2017, leg. F. Glaw (SMNK-Mant 12765, ex. ZSM, Figs. 71–73 ) (genitalia preparation Schwarz No. 388, Fig. 74 ) . ZSM: juv. ♀, 260 m, 23.XI.–11.XII.2008, leg. K. Schönitzer, F. Glaw & F. Wachtel.

Distribution. Peru.

Remarks. The male of this species was not previously known to science, so it is useful to give a brief description.

External morphology ( Figs. 71–72 ) very similar to M. occidentalis ( Lombardo & Ippolito, 2004) and M. eseejja Rivera, 2005 .

Description. Color brownish, with some lighter mottling on head, pronotum and forelegs.

Head ( Fig. 73 ) with ocular spines and the two processes on the frontal shield distinctly developed. Pronotum elongate, with sparse tubercles in its proximal half and lamellar expansions along the margins of the metazona. Forelegs typical for the genus, anterior femora with six (right) to seven (left) postero-ventral, 16 anteroventral and four discoidal spines. Anterior tibiae with 22–24 decumbent posteroventral and 18–19 anteroventral spines. Middle and hind legs and ventral side of thorax pilose. Tegmina as in the other species, with costal field broader than half of discoidal field, widest close to the base, then gently tapering distad before sinuously narrowing at apical fourth of the tegmen. Stigma large, dark brown and shiny. Alae longer than tegmina, truncate, with a small apical lobe and undulated discoidal field apex. Abdomen elongate, sternites with a median and two paramedian projections, tergites 5 and 6 with lateral lobes. Supraanal plate trapezoid, with slightly incised apex. Cerci pilose, with 11 cercomeres, apical cercomere flattened, ovoid, incised subapically. Subgenital plate slightly asymetrical, with cone-like styli. Male genitalia ( Fig. 74 ) with ventral phallomere elongate, with a long, sinuously curved sdp, apex of process pointing to the left. Bl with triangular apex curved to the left. Left phallomere with short paa, indistinct, rounded afa, and well-developed, only slightly pilose loa.

Measurements (in mm): body 38.0, head length 3.9, antennae 9.0, head width 4.2, pronotum length 12.4, pronotum width 2.8, prozona 2.8, metazona 9.5, forecoxa 7.4, forefemur 9.3, foretibia 7.1, mesofemur 5.7, metafemur 6.5, tegmen length 24.2, tegmen width 9.1, costal field 4.6, ala length 26.9.

Differential diagnosis. Males of M. poulaini can be distinguished from M. occidentalis and M. eseejja by their distinct genitalia. The sdp is more evenly sinuate than in M. occidentalis and points clearly to the left instead of downwards ( M. occidentalis ) or to the right ( M. eseejja ). M. poulaini resembles M. eseejja in the shape of bl, which is longer in these two species than in M. occidentalis , and has its apex subacute and pointing to the left. M. poulaini and M. occidentalis differ from M. eseejja by their more or less ovoid, not elongate last segment of the cercus. Other distinguishing characters of M. poulaini males are the more robust pronotum (length/width ratio 4.4) with a more elongate metazona (metazona/prozona ratio 3.4) when compared to M. occidentalis (5.4 and 3.0, respectively) and M. eseejja (4.7 and 2.7, respectively). As pointed out by Rivera (2005), M. lombardoi Roy, 2004 , known only from females, will probably turn out to be a synonym of M. occidentalis .

All three species co-occur in Peru ( Rivera 2005, Rivera & Vergara-Cobián 2017), but their level of sympatry remains to be evaluated.

Figures

FIGURES 71–74. Miracanthops poulaini Roy, 2004. 71. Male in dorsal view. 72. Same, ventral view. Scale bar: 10 mm. 73. Head in anterior view. Scale bar: 1 mm. 74. Terminalia and genitalia. Scale bar: 1 mm.