Redescription
of Hierodula coarctataSaussure (Mantodea: Mantidae) from Maharashtra, India
T.K. Mukherjee 1 &
H.V. Ghate 2
1Department of Zoology, Presidency
College, Kolkata, West Bengal 700073, India
2Departmentof Zoology, Modern College, Shivajinagar, Pune, Maharashtra 411005, India
Email: 1 mukherjee.tushar@gmail.com; 2 hemantghate@gmail.com
Date of publication (online): 26 August 2010
Date of publication (print): 26 August 2010
ISSN 0974-7907 (online) | 0974-7893 (print)
Editor: Muhammad Ather
Rafi / Syed Ahmed Zia
Manuscript details:
Ms
# o2176
Received
07 April 2009
Final
revised received 02 August 2010
Finally
accepted 07 August 2010
Citation: Mukherjee,
T.K. & H.V. Ghate (2010). Redescription of Hierodula coarctata Saussure (Mantodea: Mantidae) from Maharashtra, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa2(9): 1167-1171.
Copyright: © T.K.
Mukherjee & H.V. Ghate 2010. Creative Commons Attribution
3.0 Unported License. JoTT allows unrestricted use of this article in
any medium for non-profit purposes, reproduction and distribution by providing
adequate credit to the authors and the source of publication.
Acknowledgements:The authors are grateful to Dr. Roger Roy (Natural History Museum,
Paris, for help and encouragement. We thank students who brought specimens. The
authors are also thankful to the authorities of Presidency College, College
Street, Kolkata 700073 and Modern College, Shivajinagar, Pune 411005 for
laboratory facilities.
For images & table – click here
The Mantodea are an important group of predators on which
considerable taxonomic work has been done. Several species have been reported from India and
among these many need detailed revision and redescription. One is Hierodula coarctata, first described by Saussure
(1869) from Bengal. The species
was described briefly on the basis of a female (Habite: “Les Indes Orientales;
le Bengale”). Original description
was short but subsequently a more detailed description was given (Saussure
1871) along with two illustrations (frontal view of the head and dorsal aspects
of head-pronotum). The colouration
of spines, structure of male genitalia, male- female variation
etc. were not mentioned however. It was later placed under the genus Parhierodula (Parhierodula) by Giglio-Tos (1927) on the basis
of crenulation on the anterior margin of the forewing. Mukherjee et al. (1995) also treated it
under Parhierodula (Parhierodula), however, since the frontal sclerite structure, pronotum and other
structures resemble species under the genus Hierodula,it was transferred to this genus by
Ehrmann (2002).
The species is known so far from Mumbai
(Nadkerny 1965; Nadkerny 1974), Oriental India and Australia (Giglio-Tos 1927),
Madras, North Salem and Chichawatni in Punjab, Pakistan (Roonwal & Bhasin
1951), Sri Sailam, Andhra Pradesh (Rao et al. 2005), Bengal (Saussure 1869) and
from Maharashtra (present study).
Materials
and Methods: Specimens were collected during morning and evening hours by
aerial net and hand picking from bushy plantations in Nasik, Pune and
Ahmednagar during 2002-2004. These
were set-pinned and dried. Male
genitalia were dissected from some fresh specimens collected from Pune. Genitalia were dissected, treated with
hot KOH, washed, dehydrated through grades of alcohol and mounted in DPX on
slide. Dissection of male
genitalia, etc. and photography was carried out under binocular stereozoom
microscope (Leica SMZ 6 attached with Canon Powershot S 50). Taxonomic literature followed includes
work of Saussure (1869), Roonwal et al. (1951), Nadkerny (1965), Nadkarny
(1974), Giglio-Tos (1927), Mukherjee et al. (1995), Ehrmann (2002), and Rao et al. (2005).
Twenty
specimens of H. coarctata obtained
from different localities In Maharashtra were studied. Only 12 (2 females and 10 males) of
those have been dry preserved and stored In the
cabinets at Zoology Department, Modern College, Pune 5. Rest were dissected and discarded or
have been stored in alcohol. Specimens were collected by different people but all were
determined by the authors. The
details of specimens are given below (as: date, locality, collector and Modern College
Zoology Museum-MCZM number in parenthesis)
1
male, 01.x.02, Pune, HVG (MCZM-40); 1 male, x.2002, Pune, Nilesh (MCZM-41); 2
males, 2002, Pune, students’ collection (MCZM-42-43); 1 female, vii.2002, Pune,
students’ collection (MCZM-44); 1 male, vii.2003, Ahmednagar, Paturkar
(MCZM-45); 1 male, 01.x.03, Pune, HVG (MCZM-46); 1 female, 04.ix.03,
Khadkee-Pune, HVG (MCZM-47); 1 male, 10.ix.03, Mahalung-Pune, A. Sen (MCZM-48);
1 male, vii.04, Vishrantwadi-Pune, L.Singh (MCZM-49); 1 male, 22.viii.04, Pune,
HVG (MCZM-50); 1 male, 2004, Nasik, unknown (MCZM-51).
Results: In the
present study, male and female specimens of a mantid Hierodula coarctata were
collected from different localities and studied taxonomically. The details for this study are provided below. Measurement details for seven males and
two females are given in Table 1.
Diagnostic Characters
Both Sexes: General
body colouration: Green with a tinge of yellow (Image 1 live male). Head: triangular with prominent round
eyes. Antennae:
with scanty bristles (3-5 per segment). Ocelli: prominent. Mandibles: strong, terminal half dark black;labial palpi externally green but black internally. Frontal sclerite: wider than high with two vertical, blunt
carinae that create one median and two lateral feeble grooves that are usually
greenish (Images 2a
& 2b). Pronotum: supra-coxal
dilation prominent, dorsally pale yellow; prozona with
tubercles at edges. Prosternum near base with a deep reddish or magenta patch;
similar patch on mesosternum encloses a pair of central, jet-black nipple like
tubercles (Image
4). Forelegs: dark or pale green;
pre-apical lobes of forecoxa convergent, internal surface pale green, with few
bristles; posterior edge with feebly marked two rows of bristles; anterior edge
with few spinules in between bigger spines; pre-marginal spines strong, the
proximal one largest and totally jet black in some cases; rest spines usually
white, the second proximal spine is about 1/3rd of the first black
one (Images 5a & 5b). Forefemur with four external and four discoidal spines each; discoidal
spines arranged in a row, entirely blackish on inner face; internal spines 15
(7 long and 8 small); all entirely blackish or brownish with black tips;
external spines black at tips; claw groove towards base (Image 6). Anterior tibia with 9-10 external and
14-15 internal spines, all pale yellow with black tips; entire tarsi dorsally
bright green, internally often black at distal ends. Meso- and metathoracic legs: The Meso- and metathoracic
femora marked by three reddish to red-brown bands which may be complete around
like a ring or incomplete, very faint reddish or even obsolete in some
specimens; trochanters deep or pale brown. Wings: both wings extend beyond the tip of the abdomen; in
forewing, the costal area and part of discoidal area adjoining the stigma is
opaque bright green, rest of the areas transparent; stigma pale lemon yellow or
cream coloured, bordered
by reddish-brown or magenta patches on either ends (Image 7); venation green;
hind wing entirely transparent, costal area pale green; veins greenish. Abdominal segments: dorsally pale yellow,
ventrally with bright green transverse bands along posterior margin, bands are
wider on penultimate and on boat shaped sub-genital plate (Images 5a & 5b).
These green bands are thin and pale dorsally.
Male: Average
length (from vertex to the tip of the abdomen) for male was found to be
45mm. Body
colour pale green. Disc of frontal sclerite pale green. Lateral edges of pronotum pale yellow
of which the edges of prozona was magenta in some
dried males (Image 8, dried male). Bases of the pro- and mesosterna with broad pale red
transverse bands. These
bands contain paired light brown or white blotches with tubercles on the
mesosternum. Supra-coxal dilation
of pronotum less wide (width 6.0mm) as compared to that of the female; edges of
prozona with few fine tubercles in males; carina on metazona is indistinct
(Images 3a & 3b). Pre-apical lobes of forecoxa without transverse green band. Forefemur pale green externally. Number of the pre-marginal tubercular
spines on forecoxae varied from three to four, these spines are gradually
shorter distally. Meso- and
metathoracic legs may be pale green or pale yellow; with or without pale brown
bands. Larger inner spines on
forefemur black on inner face or pale brown with blackish apices; discoidal
spines pale brown on inner side. Meso- and metathoracic trochanters light brown. Forewings: pale green to dark
green; anterior margin of forewing smooth, stigma creamy or whitish, with dark
reddish patches on either side; subcosta bright yellow, rest veins pale
greenish. Costal
area of forewing pale to dark green. Abdominal
segments: less broad, width 7.8-8.1 mm; sterna pale
greenish with a thin band of green at the distal end. Male genitalia: found identical in all specimens (Images 9a
& 9b, male genitalia) and hence all are conspecific.
Female: Average
length for female was found to be 55mm. Body colour dark green; disc of frontal sclerite green. Bases of the pro- and mesosterna with
broad red or magenta coloured transverse bands. These bands contain paired dark brown blotches with
tubercles on the mesosternum. Supra-coxal dilation broader (width 7.5mm); prozona with a shallow
dorso-median, longitudinal sulcus; tubercles at edges of prozona stronger than
those of the male; edges of metazona also partly granular; metazona with a
mid-dorsal, blunt carina that ends posteriorly in two flat rounded
elevations. Pre-apical
lobes of forecoxa with a transverse green band in one case. Forefemur dark
greenish with dark patches on its inner side. Pre-marginal tubercular spines on forecoxae varied from 4-6
in numbers; the proximal one or two are uniquely very big, dark black or
red-brown (Images 5a & 5b) and rarely bifid at its apex. Dorsally meso- and metathoracic legs
pale green or light magenta in one case; with or
without distinct pale reddish bands. Larger inner spines on forefemur entirely black or
blackish; discoidal spines entirely blackish on inner face. Meso- and
metathoracic trochanters dark reddish-brown. Forewings: dark green in all females with smooth anterior margins; stigma
pale lemon, with dark reddish or magenta patches at proximal as well as
distal ends; subcosta bright yellow, rest of the veins dark greenish; costal
area of forewing dark green with magenta coloured streaks. Abdominal segments: broader than in the
case of male with width 9.0-10.0 mm; sterna yellowish or pale green with a
broad dark greenish bands at the distal end of some of the sterna or the entire
width and breadth of the sterna dark green (Images 5a & 5b); often a
mid-ventral proximal, half moon shaped black blotch on sterna may also be seen.
Discussion
The taxonomic studies of Mantodea are often
based on body colouration, coxal spines, inner spines
of forefemur and colour of stigma in forewings along with other
characters. During this study,
male and female specimens of Hierodula
coarctata exhibited several distinct colour patterns and
modifications of spines on forecoxae. Critical examination of these specimens confirmed their polymorphic
status. Moreover, the study of
male genitalia confirmed them to be conspecific.
The study indicates that all specimens showed
pale or light green to dark green colouration of the body. This variation seems to be adaptive to
the colour of vegetation. Comparatively, the females were more brightly
coloured as well as larger in size than males. The stigma, inner spines of forefemur, coxal spines and sterna
showed variable colouration. These
were notable taxonomic characters. The presence of variable coxal spines (by shape and colour) was very
distinct and quite striking. The proximal spine(s) on forecoxae appear to be
big, tubercular, jet black and even the apex was bifid in rare instances. Examples with white spines on coxae
showed no enlargement of spines. In one case only left coxa showed enlarged black
tubercle but tubercles on right coxa were normal. The presumed type of Hierodula coarctata is much discoloured but in
some other specimens the blackish coxal tubercles can be seen (Roger Roy, Paris
Museum of Natural History, pers. comm.). This study again confirms the view that members of a species may show
gradual changes in colouration as well as in few other structures
which can be important taxonomically but these may not be sufficient to
declare a new species.
REFERENCES
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