Published April 24, 2025 | Version v1
Taxonomic treatment Open

Acontista cayennensis Saussure and Zehntner 1894

Description

Acontista cayennensis Saussure and Zehntner, 1894 (Figure 3A, B, 4C)

Head. (Figure 5C) Triangular, wider than long. Compound eyes kidney-shaped and barely protruding, outer outline rounded. Ocelli small, as small as antenna’s pedicel; distance between lateral-central ocelli shorter than lateral-lateral ocelli; distance between lateral ocelli about 2× ocelli height, between lateral-central ocelli about 4× ocelli height. Vertex flat, not surpassing or, if so, just slightly exceeding imaginary line connecting the top of compound eyes; ps excavated and job protruding to vertex’s height. Frontal sclerite wider than long, T-shaped, and tripartite.

Prothorax. (Figure 6C) Pronotum small, with smooth margins. Supracoxal dilatation wide, rounded. Metazone constriction slender (Figure 6C 1). Prozone bulges in lateral view, metazone flattened, in lateral view pronotum is thick, posterior end of the metazone sloping upwards (Figure 6C 2).

Prothoracic legs. (Figure 7C) Forecoxae elongated, slightly longer than pronotum (Figure 7C 1). Forefemora robust, wide, well developed, and triangular, with straight dorsal margin (Figure 7C 2). Foretibiae dorsal margin curved (Figure 7C 3). All femoral and tibial spines the same colour as foreleg but with darkened tips (Figure 7C 2, C 3). Spination formula: F = 3DS/12-13AvS/5PvS; T = 13–14AvS/16PvS.

Wings. (Figure 8C) Mesothoracic wings slightly long than metathoracic, in resting position latter projecting slightly beyond the apex of former; both wings reaching apex of abdomen; membrane of costal field of mesothoracic wing densely reticulated with cross veins branching in all directions. Forewing with green or yellowish colouration ranging from proximal region of wing almost to end of costal field, crossing wing diagonally in a straight line or discrete sigmoid shape; distalmost region not covered by this colouration, but hyaline and presenting two dark brown marks, proximal one smaller than distal one, both can have rounded shape or somewhat striped shape. A stigma under radius vein can be present with different degrees of pigmentation and sizes, from light brown to black, and from a small spot to a conspicuous stigma. In live specimens, when wings overlap, three white stripes can be seen, before stigma, before proximal mark and between marks, creating a striped pattern. White stripes usually fade and become inconspicuous or not visible in preserved specimens. Hindwings with vivid orange colouration in the costal field and upper part of discoidal and anal fields; right beneath orange portion is a hyaline portion, followed by dark stripe ranging from anal margin towards orange portion, followed by another small hyaline area near hindwing apex. This dark stripe can be thicker or thinner, varying among specimens but always presenting those hyaline regions in this configuration. Veins on forewing green; veins on the costal field of hindwing orange, but longitudinal veins on discoidal and anal fields gradually becoming black.

Abdomen. Ovoid, usually wider than width of wings when in resting position. TG10 short, wider than long, convex. CS6 wide and long, obtuse, with small distal central fold towards the gpal8, high number of setae distally; cerci short, shorter than in male, not extending beyond CS6. In live specimens, a red/orange colouration can be observed in the region of the abdomen which is usually covered by the wings.

Genitalia. (Figures 9C, 10C, 11C, 12C) CG8 with inner portion rounded, facing sbu, moderately sclerotised with central sclerotised spot, outer portion concave, almost membranous with outer margin well sclerotised with pentagonal sclerotised expansion; spb somewhat wrinkled; agsl smooth, transversal, poorly sclerotised (Figure 9C). CX8 larger at base in contact with CG8, inner margin membranous, its curvature at base tapered with some sclerotisation at base, outer margin more sclerotised at cxal, cxvl not presenting curvature at base of genitalia but an abrupt transversal sclerotised line through CX8 instead, cxvl large, rounded, and smooth with many bristles, median part of the gp8 with constriction of CX8 with outer margin sclerotised bearing many setae then sharply curving inwards, gpmo8 discrete, membranous; gpal8 with many setae organised in two clumps, in lateral view with denser one at ventral margin and smaller one at dorsal margin; in lateral view, gp8 with discrete vertical enlargement at medial side-to-side constriction, upper margin bending downwards forming a duct-like structure at medial region, posteriorly bending upwards with a moderate curvature towards gpal8 which is strongly curved upwards; inner portion of gp8 with multiple clumps of setae, some with small setae and others with larger setae along gp8 (Figure 10C). gp9 membranous, poorly sclerotised, short, beginning near medial constriction of gp8 and ending near gpmo8; rh extending through outer margin from the base of gp9 and smoothly curving downwards towards ventral portion, gptm9 membranous; in lateral view, gp9 with sclerotised base widening just before middle, where membranous dorsal expansion can be observed (Figure 11C). gl9 broad, divided into a proximal and distal portion, with former more sclerotised; a few bristle-like spines forming clumps at ventral margin of gl9 and at dorsal apex, the latter composed mainly of elongated setae, with a few sparse bristles at distal portion; upper margin of the proximal portion curved inwards and bent over itself, forming an Ω-like cross section (Figure 12C).

Notes

Published as part of Ferraz, Bernardo R. & Souza-Dias, Pedro G. B., 2025, Redescription of females of four species of the Neotropical dwarf mantis genus Acontista Saussure and Zehntner, 1894 (Mantodea: Acontistidae) and enhancement of diagnostic characters based in female genitalia, pp. 1353-1381 in Journal of Natural History 59 (17 - 20) on pages 1369-1371, DOI: 10.1080/00222933.2025.2468674, http://zenodo.org/record/17006120

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Linked records

Additional details

Biodiversity

Scientific name authorship
Saussure and Zehntner
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Arthropoda
Order
Mantodea
Family
Acanthopidae
Genus
Acontista
Species
cayennensis
Taxon rank
species
Taxonomic concept label
Acontista cayennensis and, 1894 sec. Ferraz & Souza-Dias, 2025

References

  • Saussure H, Zehntner L. 1894. Fam. Mantidae. Biologia Centrali-Americana. 1: 123-197. Societe Entomologique.
  • Gerstaecker A. 1889. Charakteristik einer Reihe bemerkenswerther Orthopteren. Mitteilungen aus dem Naturwissenschaftlichen Verein fur Neu-Vorpommern und Rugen in Greifswald. 1: 1-58.
  • Burmeister H. 1838. Handbuch der Entomologie. Fangschrecken, Mantodea. Berlin 2 (v - viii): 517-522: Theodor Christian Friedrich Enslin.
  • Perty M. 1832. Delectus animalium articulatorum, quae in itinere per brasiliam annis 1817 - 1820 jussu et auspiciis Maximiliani Josephi I bavariae regis augustissimi. 1 st ed. Impensis Editoris, Monachii; p. 1-224.