Genus Sphodropoda Stål, 1871

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Regional Maps

• Sphodropoda Stål, C. 1871. Orthoptera quaedam africana. Öfversigt af Kongelige Vetenskaps-Akademiens Förhandlingar, Stockholm 3: 375-401 [399] [first introduced as a subgenus of Hierodula Burmeister].

  Type species:

   Mantis tristis Brunner in Saussure, 1871 by original designation.

 

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia

Extra Distribution Information

Possibly Fiji.

IBRA and IMCRA regions

drainage basins and coastal and oceanic zones

IBRA

NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Burt Plain (BRT), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Coolgardie (COO), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Central Ranges (CR), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Davenport Murchison Ranges (DMR), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Esperance Plains (ESP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Finke (FIN), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gascoyne (GAS), Gawler (GAW), Gibson Desert (GD), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Great Sandy Desert (GSD), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Great Victoria Desert (GVD), Hampton (HAM), Jarrah Forest (JF), Kanmantoo (KAN), Little Sandy Desert (LSD), MacDonnell Ranges (MAC), Mallee (MAL), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Murchison (MUR), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Nullarbor (NUL), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Sturt Plateau (STU), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tanami (TAN), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT), Yalgoo (YAL)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • New South Wales: Lake Eyre basin, Murray-Darling basin, SE coastal
  • Northern Territory: W plateau
  • Queensland: Lake Eyre basin, Murray-Darling basin, N Gulf, NE coastal
  • South Australia
  • Victoria: Murray-Darling basin
  • Western Australia: N coastal, W plateau
• Fiji
• Papua New Guinea
• Solomon Islands

Distribution References

Diagnosis

Head about as high as wide, frontal shield without dorsal extensions; pre-acetabular spine strong; inner face of first tarsal segment partly or wholly black, ventral face of fore femur tuberculate, especially toward outer margin; both sexes macropterous (some females slightly brachypterous), ventral face of costal area of tegmen at least partly red. Can be distinguished from Trachymantis by the lack of a tooth on the apex of the frontal shield and from Zopheromantis by the hind femur being only about half the length of the abdomen.

 

ID Keys

Key to species of Sphodropoda
1 Internal face of fore coxa with 5–6 transverse white bands anteriorly (Fig. 15) --- S. quinquedens
—— Internal face of fore coxa lacking bands -----------------------------------------------2
2 Anterior margin of fore coxa internally with six to seven whitish tubercles (Fig. 12) -- S. tristis
—— Anterior margin of fore coxa without such tubercles ------------------------------- 3
3 Major veins of discoidal area of tegmina uniformly green --------------------- S. viridis
—— Major veins of discoidal area of tegmina flushed reddish brown----------- S. lepida

 

Diagnosis References

Milledge, G.A. 2005. Revision of the Genera Sphodropoda, Trachymantis and Zopheromantis (Mantodea: Mantidae: Mantinae). Records of the Australian Museum 57: 191-210 [192, 193] (diagnosis; key to species)

 

General References

Beier, M. 1935. Mantodea: Fam. Mantidae: Subfam. Mantinae. Genera Insectorum 203: 1-146 [99] (presenting alternative taxonomic arrangement synonymy of Ngawala Tindale with Sphodropoda)

Milledge, G.A. 2005. Revision of the Genera Sphodropoda, Trachymantis and Zopheromantis (Mantodea: Mantidae: Mantinae). Records of the Australian Museum 57: 191-210 [192]

Stål, C. 1871. Orthoptera quaedam africana. Öfversigt af Kongelige Vetenskaps-Akademiens Förhandlingar, Stockholm 3: 375-401 (presenting alternative taxonomic arrangement subgenus)

 

History of changes

Published	As part of group	Action Date	Action Type	Compiler(s)
		12-Feb-2010	(import)