Unidad de Investigación en Entomología y Medio Ambiente, Univ San Ignacio de Loyola, Avenida La Fontana 550, La Molina, 15024, Lima, Peru.
Depto de Entomología, Facultad de Agronomía, and Museo de Entomología Klaus Raven Büller, Univ Nacional Agraria La Molina, Lima, Peru.
Neotrop Entomol. 2020 Apr;49(2):234-249. doi: 10.1007/s13744-019-00744-y. Epub 2019 Dec 16.
A new species of lichen-mimicking praying mantis, Carrikerella simpira n. sp., is described from Tingo María region in Peru. The new species differs from its congeners in having reduced tergal lobes, a relatively sinuous pronotum, and it is found in the highland tropical rainforest of the Central Andes. Behavioral observations conducted on captive individuals revealed that juveniles and adults hunt by impaling prey using modified foretibial structures. Anatomical examinations of the incumbent trophic structures revealed functional adaptations for prey impaling in the foretibiae, primarily consisting of prominent, forwardly oriented, barbed spines. We provide an overall description of this novel hunting behavior in Mantodea and hypothesize on its evolutionary origin and adaptive significance for the Thespidae.
一种新的拟态叶䗛 Carrikerella simpira n. sp. 被描述于秘鲁 Tingo María 地区。该新种与同属种的区别在于缩小的背板叶，相对曲折的前胸背板，并且在安第斯山脉的高地热带雨林中发现。对圈养个体的行为观察表明，幼体和成虫通过使用改良的前腿结构刺穿猎物来捕食。对现行取食结构的解剖检查显示，前腿具有用于刺穿猎物的功能适应性，主要由突出的、向前的、有刺的刺组成。我们对 Mantodea 中这种新颖的狩猎行为进行了全面描述，并假设了它的进化起源及其对 Thespidae 的适应性意义。
