Mantis viridis Saussure, 1872

Svenson, Gavin J., 2014, The type material of Mantodea (praying mantises) deposited in the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, USA, ZooKeys 433, pp. 31-75 : 52-53

Taxon classification Animalia Mantodea Mantidae

Mantis viridis Saussure, 1872

Mantis viridis : Saussure 1872: 47-48; Saussure and Zehntner 1895: 201; Giglio-Tos 1912: 19; Rehn 1914: 16; Giglio-Tos 1927: 409; Beier 1935: 92.

Paramantis viridis : Roy 1967b: 144; Kaltenbach 1996: 320; Ehrmann 2002: 265; Otte and Spearman 2005: 266.

Type.

Holotype Female (Fig. 10 D–F; USNM ENT 00873982). A single female was used in the original description, but not referred to as the type. Under Article 73.1.2 of the Code the female is the holotype by monotypy.

Holotype labels.

Madagasc - Annanarivo / SAUSSURE / Mantis - viridis - Sauss / Co-Type - No. - U.S.N.M. [The original publication referenced the following locality: Habite: L’Afrique méridionale. Natal.]

Measurements.

Body length 48.57; forewing length 31.78; pronotum length 12.60; prozone length 4.23; pronotum width 5.25; pronotum narrow width 3.55; head width 6.83; head vertex to clypeus 3.28; frons width 2.42; frons height 1.58; prothoracic femur length 12.25; mesothoracic femur length 9.76; mesothoracic tibia length 7.77; mesothoracic tarsus length 6.10; metathoracic femur length 12.53; metathoracic tibia length 12.36; metathoracic tarsus length 8.81; discoidal femoral spines R4/L4; anteroventral femoral spine count R15/L15; posteroventral femoral spine count R4/L4; anteroventral tibial spine count R12/L12; posteroventral tibial spine count R8/L8.

Note.

The type status of this specimen is questionable. Saussure did not provide a repository and this specimen is among the type collection of the USNM. However, the locality labels on the specimen do not match the locality mentioned in the original publication. This specimen and the type status needs more investigation.