Help me to ID this mantis.

[Timmy]

Hello,

i have some problems to identify this mantis.
Size 35 mm.
It is in the family Haptosquilla, but i don´t know the species.
Here are some pics.

Telson

 

[Gonodactylus]

Timmy,

I can't see some of the key characters. Are the fifth and possibly the 4th abdomenal segments corregated or not? I can see from the photo the the 6th is. My best bet right now is H. pulchella, a common rubble species in Indonesia.

Roy

 

[Timmy]

I think the 4th and the 5th AS are also corrugated.
Do you have some more infos about this species. I found no more infos in Revision of the A S C. I think i need some more books. ;-)

Here are some pics from this region.

 

[Gonodactylus]

I take it that there are no tiny blue spots on the body. The only other character that would be useful is knowing whether there are mandular palps. One of the things that confused me was the asymmetry of the telson teeth. This the number of teeth is a key character in this group.

Maximum size is around 40 mm. Color is somewhat variable. It is basically your standard stomatopod living in shallow water occupying cavities in coral rubble.

Mark Erdmann found tons of them in Indonesia.

Roy

 

[Timmy]

No tiny blue spots on the body like G. snidsvongi.
Here is another picture from the front. I don`t now exactly what present mandibular palps means. It is the cleaning leg, but what means it.

It is basically your standard stomatopod living in shallow water occupying cavities in coral rubble.

I never found this species in life rock since three years, only a lot h. glyptocerus.

 

[deboM3]

Wow, that is really pretty

 

[Timmy]

Here is a new pic. She has some nice blue spots.
Dr. Roy, do you have a pic or a draft from the mandibular palps?

 

[Gonodactylus]

No picture of the mandibular palps. THey are short appendages, usually three segments that extend out from the manible. You can rarely see them except in preserved specimens in which you can spread the mouth parts.

Haptosquilla fall into two major groups, those similar th H. glyptocercus and those similar to H. trispinosa. The latter all have polarized blue plates on the first maxillipeds. The former do not.

Roy

 

[Timmy]

Thanks for the good infos.