Theopropus Saussure, 1898

Wu, Chao & Liu, Chun-Xiang, 2021, Notes on the genus Theopropus Saussure (Mantodea, Hymenopodidae) from China, with description of a new species from the Himalayas, ZooKeys 1049, pp. 163-182 : 163

publication ID	https://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1049.65295
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scientific name	Theopropus Saussure, 1898
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Genus Theopropus Saussure, 1898 View in CoL

Figs 1 View Figure 1 , 2 View Figure 2 , 3 View Figure 3 , 4 View Figure 4 , 5 View Figure 5 , 6 View Figure 6 , 7 View Figure 7 , 8 View Figure 8 , 9 View Figure 9 , 10 View Figure 10 , 11 View Figure 11 , 12 View Figure 12 , 13 View Figure 13 , 14 View Figure 14

Theopropus Saussure, 1898: 204; Kirby 1904: 293; Giglio-Tos 1915: 106; Giglio-Tos 1927: 561; Beier 1934: 27; Beier 1942: 152; Beier 1964: 939; Beier 1968: 6; Ehrmann 2002: 353; Otte and Spearman 2005: 99; Zhu et al. 2012: 52; Schwarz and Konopik 2014: 145; Schwarz and Roy 2019: 118, 152.

Type species.

Blepharis elegans Westwood, 1832

Diagnosis.

Medium to large-sized Hymenopodidae , with mottled body coloration. Male and female distinctly differing by body size, male body smaller, often shorter than half body length of females.

Head (Fig. 5 View Figure 5 ): Triangular. Compound eyes oval, convex, uprising beyond vertex. Vertex with a robust vertical process, coniform. Lower frons wider than high. Antennae filiform, shorter than body length; antennae thick and long in males, thin and short in females.

Pronotum (Figs 6 View Figure 6 , 7 View Figure 7 ): Short, wide, with obvious lateral pronotal expansion at transverse groove, prozone slightly shorter than metazone. Lateral margins of pronotum with small spines.

Prothoracic legs (Fig. 8 View Figure 8 ): Long, robust; coxa distinctly longer than pronotum, with small dorsal spines. Femora with 4 posteroventral, 3 discoidal and about 15-20 anteroventral spines; tibia with about 15-20 anteroventral and posteroventral spines, posteroventral spines decumbent.

Meso- and metathoracic legs: Long, robust; subapical part of the femur with a posteroventral lobe (Fig. 9D-F View Figure 9 ). Base half of tibia swollen.

Wings: Forewings opaque, narrow, long in males, wide, fusiform in females; a white spot lying subbasally in the discoidal area; a white band with black borders on both lateral margins lying in middle of the discoidal area; anal area long, narrow. Hindwings broad, shorter than forewings; transparent or with opaque areas in males, subopaque in females.

Abdomen: Narrow, long in male, wide in female. Cerci short, hairy. Male subgenital plate short, wide, with small styli.

External genitalia (Fig. 10A-F View Figure 10 ): Male genitalia simple, similar among congeners. Secondary distal process reduced.

Ootheca (Fig. 4C View Figure 4 ): Very elongated, flat, narrowing at both ends.

Discussion.

The characteristics for the head, pronotum, and the range of the ratio of the pronotum length to supracoxal dilatation width are relatively stable in the species; these characteristics can be used to identify species. The male genitalia of Theopropus lack sclerotized projections and show little differences between species.

Distribution.

The genus Theopropus is distributed in the tropical areas of southern Asia. In China, Theopropus species are widely distributed in South and Southwest China (Fig. 12 View Figure 12 ).