Phasmomantella Vermeersch 2018, gen. nov.

Genus Phasmomantella gen. nov.

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Type species

Phasmomantella nuichuana gen. et sp. nov. by present designation.

Diagnosis

Compound eyes globular, frontally and laterally bulging. Cranial vertex flat.Antennae filiform. Pronotum smooth, narrow without lateral cuticular expansions and longer than remaining body in females. Procoxae much shorter than pronotum. Profemora with four discoidal spines and four posteroventral spines of which the 3 rd spine is the longest. Spinal formula: F = 4DS/15AvS/4PvS; T = 12¯15AvS/7PvS. Ratios ♀: MzL/PzL: 3.90‒4.22; PL/TgL: 1.70‒1.89. Ratios ³: MzL/PzL: 3.65; PL/TgL: 0.82. Brachypterous females and macropterous males, tegmina cover about half the post-pronotum body length (PPBL) in females and reach at least as far as the end of the abdomen in males.

Etymology

The genus name is formed by the combination of ‘ Phasmo- ’ (Latin: Phasma) meaning ‘ghost, apparition, spectre’, and referring to the Phasmatodea (stick insects) with which the new genus shares a slender and stick-like appearance, and ‘ -mantella ’ (Latin) which is the diminutive of ‘mantis’ The proposed genus name also indirectly refers to the unrelated South American genus Phasmomantis which is similar in general appearance. It is feminine in gender.

Differential diagnosis

The new genus Phasmomantella gen. nov. is morphologically closest to the oriental genus Euchomenella with which it shares a number of morphological traits such as shape of the head, long and slender pronotum (longer than the remaining body in females), adjacent coxal lobes and protibiae with seven posteroventral spines. Spinal formula is similar to that of Euchomenella: F = 4DS/15AvS/4PvS; T = 12¯14AvS/7PvS. In both Phasmomantella gen. nov. and Euchomenella, femoral AvS 10 and 15 are long with four significantly smaller spines of equal size between them. The following differential diagnosis is based on females.

- Euchomenella differs from Phasmomantella gen. nov. by the following characters: more slender prozone with lateral margins strongly curved inwards; tegmina much shorter, covering only about a quarter to ¼ of the PPBL; abdomen narrower and more elongate; general colour in most cases variations of brown (very rarely green or with greenish hues but not stable throughout development) with two well-defined dark bands transversely crossing the inner side of the profemora and a darkened area near the distal end of the procoxae (Roy 2001).

- Indomenella differs from Phasmomantella gen. nov. by the following characters: smaller (TL: 75 mm); eyes slightly more laterally and ventrally bulging; lateral margins of the prozone curved inwards; pronotum shorter than the remaining body; profemora similar to those of Euchomenella; tegmina shorter, covering about ¼ of the PPBL; abdomen narrower and more elongate. Spinal formula: F = 4DS/15AvS/4PvS; T = 14AvS/7¯8PvS (Ghate & Mukherjee 2004).

- Tagalomantis differs from Phasmomantella gen. nov. by the following characters: smaller (TL: 63.4– 71.0 mm); eyes slightly less bulging laterally; pronotum shorter than the remaining body, with two prominent tubercles behind the supra-coxal sulcus; no spot on the inner side of the profemora; tegmina much shorter, covering about ¼ of the PPBL; abdomen much narrower and more elongate. Femoral AvS arrangement: IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII with only three short AvS before the most distal spine (Hebard 1920) compared to four in Phasmomantella gen. nov. Spinal formula: F = 4DS/16AvS/4PvS; T = 16¯18AvS/10¯12PvS (Schwarz 2017).

Species included and distribution

Phasmomantella nuichuana gen. et sp. nov. (Núi Chúa National Park, Vietnam)

Phasmomantella pallida (Roy, 2001) gen. et comb. nov. (Nha Trang, Vietnam)