Toxoderella Giglio-Tos, 1914

Connors, Matthew G., 2023, Studies in Australian Mantodea: New synonyms, notes on distributions, and an updated checklist, Zootaxa 5239 (4), pp. 477-499 : 480

Toxoderella Giglio-Tos, 1914

Toxoderella fortnumi ( Westwood, 1889)

I have examined the type of this enigmatic species and although it is undoubtedly a member of the Toxoderinae , the type locality is almost certainly incorrect. The collection locality is tentatively given as northern Australia by both Westwood (1889) and Giglio-Tos (1914), but no other member of the Toxoderinae is known from anywhere outside of Afro-Eurasia ( Schwarz & Roy 2019). The type specimen was collected by C. D. E. Fortnum, who also collected the type specimens of Amorphoscelis pellucida (see comments under that species). One of these specimens has been mislabelled as having come from Adelaide when in fact it was from Sri Lanka ( Roy 2009), and it seems highly likely that the type of T. fortnumi is similarly mislabelled. Indeed, the purported closest relatives of the species ( Toxodanuria Uvarov, 1940 ; Euthyphleps Wood-Mason, 1889 ; and Toxoderopsis Wood-Mason, 1889 ) all occur in South Asia ( Schwarz & Roy 2019), and it is almost certain that this is where the specimen originated. For this reason, it is removed from the Australian list.