Chordodes moutoni Camerano, 1895

(Figures 1 A, 2, 3)

Type locality. North-Eastern Hill University campus, Shillong, Meghalaya, India, 25°57'N, 91°77'E. Collected February 24, 2010 by Arun K. Yadav.

Material investigated. A single female specimen from the type locality emerged from Hierodula sp.; alcohol preserved pieces and SEM stubs are deposited in the Museum of Department of Zoology, NEHU, Shillong with the accession no. MDOZ/NEHU/INV/111.

Host. Hierodula sp. (Mantodea) (Fig. 1 A).

Description. The specimen was 220 mm long, with a diameter of 1.4 mm in mid-body region. The specimen is dark brown in colour. The anterior end is distinctly tapered and curved ventrally. The posterior end is slightly swollen with a terminal cloacal opening (Fig. 2 A).

The cuticle has five types of areoles (areoles are elevated cuticular structures), for which the terminology of Schmidt-Rhaesa et al. (2008) will be applied. Simple areoles are most abundant, and are variable in size and shape. Usually, they are rounded structures, with a few tiny bristles on their apical surface (Figs. 3 A, 3B). In some regions, bristles can be more abundant, forming a tuft. In the posterior end, simple areoles tend to be more elevated and some are almost club-shaped (Fig. 3 A). Tubercle areoles (Fig. 3 A) are regularly seen among the simple areoles and rarely thorn areoles (Fig. 3 C). Tubercle areoles carry a finger-like process on their tip, thorn areoles have a strong thorn on top of a broader base. Bulging areoles are not clearly evident. These resemble simple areoles, but are more elevated. Because simple areoles are quite diverse in shape and elevation, a clear distinction between simple and bulging areoles cannot be made.

Clusters of crowned areoles and circumcluster areoles are present over the entire cuticle (Fig. 2 B). The crowned areoles on the lateral sides of the body carry a crown of apical filaments on an elevated stem. Crowned areoles occur in pairs, and a tubercle-like process is sometimes visible between the two areoles of one pair. The apical filaments of the crowned areoles are moderately long and extend slightly over the borders of the entire cluster (Fig. 3 D). Some filaments are branched. The circumcluster areoles are slender areoles with a tuft of tiny bristles on top (Fig. 3 F). They surround the paired crowned areoles. On the ventral and on the dorsal side, crowned areoles with very long apical filaments are arranged roughly in paired rows (Figs. 2 C, 2D & 3E). Length of the apical filaments is between 150 and 200 µm. More tubercle areoles are present between the clusters of crowned areoles with long filaments than on the lateral sides of the body. Additionally, very slender areoles, probably thorn areoles (Fig. 3 E), occur among the clusters of crowned areoles with long filaments more often than thorn areoles are distributed on the lateral sides.

Taxonomic remarks. The description of the cuticular pattern of the specimen fits well with the descriptions for Chordodes moutoni. This species was originally described from Ngan Hoei province in China (Camerano 1895), and later from Malaysia (Camerano 1899, 1901, Schmidt-Rhaesa & Brune 2008) and from Chengijang province in China (Wu & Tang 1933). The type material was reinvestigated with SEM by Zanca & De Villalobos (2005). From these reports, and the present report from India, C. moutoni appears to have a broad distribution in Southeast Asia.