Propalachia odontomantiphaga Binoy & Sureshan, 2025

Propalachia odontomantiphaga Binoy & Sureshan , sp. nov.

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( Figs 20–30 View FIGURES 20–26 View FIGURES 27–30 )

Materials examined. Holotype ♀ [ ZSIK]. India: Kerala, Kozhikode, Elathur ( 11°19’32.5’’N 75°44’30.8’’E, 23.0 m above mean sea level), 26.ii.2025, coll. C. Binoy, ex. Odontomantis pulchra ootheca GoogleMaps . Paratype ♀, same data as holotype. ZSIK Reg.no. ZSI / WGRC /IR-INV. 30364 GoogleMaps .

Etymology. The species name is derived from the host genus Odontomantis and the Greek “ phaga ” (eater), reflecting its host association with its oothecae.

Description. FEMALE (based on holotype). Body length (excluding ovipositor) 2.31 mm, length of ovipositor sheath 0.58 mm, length of fore wing 1.58 mm.

Colour. Head, and mesosoma bluish-violet, faintly reflective; propodeum with metallic blue hue; metasoma brown with faint bluish-violet reflections. Scape, pedicel and flagellum yellowish-brown; clava dark brown. All legs yellow to honey-brown; denticles on metafemur brownish-black. Ovipositor sheath yellow with dorsal brown streak. Fore wing hyaline, wing venation pale yellow, setae brown.

Setation. Head and mesosoma with decumbent small white setae, the setae short, denser on mesoscutum. Propodeum bare. Setae on hind leg short.

Head. In frontal view 1.34× as broad as high ( Fig. 24 View FIGURES 20–26 ) and 2.1× as broad as long ( Fig. 25 View FIGURES 20–26 ); 1.47× as broad as breadth of pronotum. Frons and vertex rugose-reticulate; scrobe granulose to finely reticulate. Interantennal projection 0.27× as high as scrobe. Lower face finely reticulate, slightly convex; posterior margin of clypeus straight ( Fig. 24 View FIGURES 20–26 ). Malar space 0.18× as long as eye height ( Fig. 21 View FIGURES 20–26 ). Antenna with scape 5.87× and pedicel 1.48× as long as broad. Anellus 0.69× as long as wide ( Fig. 22 View FIGURES 20–26 ). Ratio of funiculars and clava (length: breadth) fl 1: 1.0×, fl 2 0.75×, fl 3 0.67×, fl 4 0.50×, fl 5 0.51×, fl 6 0.50×, fl 7 0.52×; clava 2.5×. POL 3.11× OOL, OOL 1.22× MOD ( Fig. 25 View FIGURES 20–26 ).

Mesosoma. Pronotum 0.88× as broad as mesoscutum, rugose-reticulate with short decumbent setae. Mesoscutum 1.86× as wide as long, reticulate, cells tending to become larger posteriorly; notauli indistinct; mesoscutellum 0.77× as long as wide, distinctly reticulate. Frenal area not demarcated from mesoscutellum; anterior margin of mesoscutellum smooth. Pro-, meso- and metapleura rugose-reticulate ( Fig. 23 View FIGURES 20–26 ). Propodeum coarsely rugose-reticulate, size of cells larger posteriorly.

Hind leg. Metacoxa 2.19× as long as wide, 0.62× as long as metafemur; metafemur 3.31× as long as wide, faintly reticulate on surface, ventral margin (beyond midlength) with six teeth, second, and fourth the largest; metatibia 1.13× longer than metafemur, ventrobasal margin with stout bristle-like setae ( Fig. 26 View FIGURES 20–26 ).

Fore wing. Fore wing 2.42× as long as broad; hyaline without any infumation; setae on membrane short, brown; speculum absent; smv with nine bristle-like yellow setae; mv 1.6× as long as pmv; pmv 1.47× as long as stv; uncus distinct ( Figs 27, 28 View FIGURES 27–30 ).

Metasoma. Petiole stout, 0.32× as long as wide, with median carina ( Fig. 29 View FIGURES 27–30 ); metasoma 0.65× as long as high and 1.86× as long as wide; Gt 1 longest, 0.56× as long as metasoma, posterior margin of Gt 1 convex; Gt 2 retracted within Gt 1; Gt 3 longer than Gt 2 ( Fig. 26 View FIGURES 20–26 ). Ovipositor sheath 0.65× as long as metasoma, 0.8× as long as metatibia ( Fig. 30 View FIGURES 27–30 ).

MALE. Unknown.

Variation. Examination of the paratypes reveal minor intraspecific variation as follows: body length (excluding ovipositor) 2.28–2.35 mm; length of fore wing 1.56–1.60 mm; ovipositor sheath length 0.57–0.59 mm. There are five or six denticles on the metafemur, with the second and fourth tooth consistently largest. Colouration is largely uniform across specimens, although the intensity of bluish-violet reflections on the mesosoma and metasoma shows subtle variation. Setal patterns are consistent, with small decumbent setae present on the head and mesosoma and the propodeum bare.

Host ( Figs 31–33 View FIGURES 31–33 ). Emerged from ootheca of Odontomantis pulchra (Fabricius, 1787) ( Mantodea : Hymenopodidae ).

Distribution. India.

Species comparison. Propalachia odontomantiphaga resembles the African species P. infumata in the key to species by Bouček (1978) in having: ovipositor 0.3× as long as body, vertex and mesosoma dorsally with blue reflections, eyes small, posterior ocellus separated from eye margin by twice its diameter, flagellum in female bicoloured (funicle pale yellow, clava brownish-black), and all coxae pale yellow. However, it differs from P. infumata in having the fore wing hyaline without any central infumation ( Fig. 27 View FIGURES 27–30 ) vs fore wing with broad central infumation ( Figs 11 View FIGURES 11–14 , 15, 18 View FIGURES 15–19 ); POL 3.1× OOL ( Fig. 25 View FIGURES 20–26 ) vs POL 2.0–2.5× OOL ( Figs 12 View FIGURES 11–14 , 18 View FIGURES 15–19 ); antennal toruli located below the midline between median ocellus and clypeal margin, with the distance from the ventral margin of the torulus to the clypeal margin 2.16× the distance from the ventral margin of the torulus to the median ocellus ( Fig. 24 View FIGURES 20–26 ) vs antennal torulus located midway between median ocellus and mouth margin, and ventral margin of the torulus to the clypeal margin 1.74× the distance from the ventral margin of the torulus to the median ocellus ( Fig. 16 View FIGURES 15–19 ); and ovipositor sheath 0.8× as long a metatibia ( Fig. 30 View FIGURES 27–30 ) vs ovipositor sheath 1.2–1.3× as long a metatibia ( Fig. 17 View FIGURES 15–19 ).

Propalachia odontomantiphaga resembles the Indian species P. beaveria in having the ovipositor 0.3× as long as the body. However, it differs in having the female antennal flagellum bicoloured ( Fig. 20 View FIGURES 20–26 ) vs antennal flagellum often dark, brown ( Fig. 1 View FIGURES 1–4 ); metacoxa entirely pale yellow ( Fig. 26 View FIGURES 20–26 ) vs metacoxa pale yellow with elongate blackish spot on the outer side ( Fig. 3 View FIGURES 1–4 ); thoracic dorsum slightly convex ( Fig. 20 View FIGURES 20–26 ) vs thoracic dorsum flat ( Fig. 1 View FIGURES 1–4 ); propodeum coarsely reticulate, without cross costula medially ( Fig. 23 View FIGURES 20–26 ) vs propodeum with distinct though slightly irregular cross costula just before middle ( Fig. 2 View FIGURES 1–4 ); hind margin of Gt 2 broadly, shallowly emarginate, and dorsally about half as long as Gt 3 ( Fig. 29 View FIGURES 27–30 ) vs posterior margin of Gt 2 straight, and Gt 3 distinctly longer than Gt 2 ( Fig. 2 View FIGURES 1–4 ).

Propalachia odontomantiphaga resembles P. borneana in having the ovipositor sheaths at most 0.7× as long as the length of metatibia. However, it differs from P. borneana in having eyes normal sized ( Fig. 24 View FIGURES 20–26 ) vs eye unusually large ( Fig. 7 View FIGURES 5–10 ); distance from ventral margin of the torulus to clypeal margin 2.16× distance from ventral margin of torulus to median ocellus ( Fig. 24 View FIGURES 20–26 ) vs ventral margin of torulus to clypeal margin 1.32× distance from ventral margin of torulus to median ocellus ( Fig. 7 View FIGURES 5–10 ); notauli shallow, obsolete at apex ( Fig. 23 View FIGURES 20–26 ) vs notauli well impressed ( Fig. 8 View FIGURES 5–10 ); legs pale yellowish-brown throughout ( Fig. 26 View FIGURES 20–26 ) vs all femora and tibiae brown with pale yellow on base of metafemur and base and apex of metatibia ( Fig. 5 View FIGURES 5–10 ); fore wing hyaline without any infumation ( Fig. 27 View FIGURES 27–30 ) vs fore wing with broad infumation below mv (except below its base) and stv and broad infumation at base of wing ( Fig. 9 View FIGURES 5–10 ).