Stagmomantis floridensis (Part I)
family Mantidae Burmeister, 1838
subfamily Mantinae Burmeister, 1838
tribus Mantini Burmeister 1838
genus Stagmomantis Saussure 1869
species Stagmomantis floridensis Davis 1922
Larger Florida mantis, Stagmomantis floridensis, is a species that lives exclusively in Florida only. This species was first discussed in
the journal back in 1919 by Mr. Davis.
DAVIS, W. T. (1919). A new Stagmomantis from Florida. Orthoptera-Mantodea. Bulletin of the Brooklyn Entomological Society, 14:
4-7.
This species is considered elusive due to its rarity on images and captivity information, and the existence of this species was even
once labeled as myth. Before seeing a live specimen of the Larger Florida mantis, I want to believe that the reason of its rarity was due
to the misidentification between this species and another close relative but more common species, namely Carolina mantis
(Stagmomantis carolina). However, after seeing both species of mantis, there are actually some significant differences between this
two species (Apart from size!), although it might not be very obvious for people who are not familiar with bugs, apart from the size
difference.
Both species are under the same genus of Stagmomantis, and due to the similarity in appearance – except for the size – the S.
floridensis has been given a common name of Larger Florida mantis as compare to the S. carolina which is visibly smaller. However,
both species do share many similarities between them which explain why both species fall into the same genus. When collecting in
Florida, within Tampa vicinity, this species can be observed near swampy area which suggests the species is accustomed to high
humidity.
Until now, the most reliable key for this species was published by University of Florida entomology department, which also included
keys to all mantis species found in Florida State are stated. As to be seen in the following link.
http://www.entnemdept.ufl.edu/choate/mantid_key2_03.pdf
From the key above, the author mentioned about the differences between the two species of same genus. It could be summarized as
below.
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Stagmomantis floridensis
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Stagmomantis carolina
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Body size
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> 58 mm
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< 58 mm
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Physical form
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Longer with elongated appearance
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Shorter with obtuse appearance
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Abdomen shape
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Almost parallel on both sides along the
entire abdomen and appear narrow
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Abdomen is visibly widened at the
middle section of the abdomen with
rounder appearance
|
Wing shape
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Narrower, cover at most half of the
abdomen
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Wider, covers about 2/3 of the abdomen
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Wing’s pigment
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Lack the black stigmatic patch, white spot
|
Visible stigmatic patch (black) on middle
of the wing
|
The differences stated on the site are good indicator for distinguishing these two species, which is easy to observe through visual
inspection. I was actually keener on looking a step further at the details of the S. floridensis. The taxonomy details interest me and
since I couldn’t find the details on the internet I have decided to spend some time checking the details.
TO BE CONTINUE..........
