Revision of the Neotropical bark mantis genus Liturgusa Saussure, 1869 (Insecta, Mantodea, Liturgusini)

The Neotropical praying mantises of the genus Liturgusa (Saussure) are comprehensively treated after receiving little or no taxonomic attention after their original descriptions. All species are strictly associated with tree bark habitats and appear flattened and highly camouflage while also being adept runners that will actively hide by fleeing to the opposite side of a tree trunk if disturbed; some species have even been observed fluttering to the forest floor and playing dead. This work includes redescriptions of the genus and all previously described species, descriptions of three new genera and 19 new species, identification of four new synonyms, complete bibliographies for each species, a key to identify males and females, locality data for all examined specimens, measurement ranges for all species, diagnostic illustrations, and high resolution images of types and representative specimens. This work triples the known diversity of Neotropical bark mantises and documents their natural history as well as geographic distribution, which includes central Mexico south to Bolivia and east to southern Brazil.

Contents:

Introduction.............................................................................................................. 4
Taxonomic history..................................................................................................... 4
Natural history.......................................................................................................... 8
Geographic range.................................................................................................... 10
Chromosomes......................................................................................................... 11
Revision.................................................................................................................. 11
Methods.................................................................................................................. 12
Taxonomic treatment.............................................................................................. 17
Key to genus..................................................................................................... 17
Liturgusa Saussure, 1869................................................................................... 19
Cayennensis Group........................................................................................... 34
Liturgusa cayennensis Saussure, 1869........................................................... 34
Liturgusa lichenalis Gerstaecker, 1889.......................................................... 41
Liturgusa guyanensis La Greca, 1939............................................................ 47
Liturgusa neblina sp. n................................................................................. 52
Maya Group...................................................................................................... 56
Liturgusa bororum sp. n............................................................................... 56
Liturgusa cura sp. n..................................................................................... 60
Liturgusa fossetti sp. n.................................................................................. 64
Liturgusa kirtlandi sp. n.............................................................................. 69
Liturgusa manausensis sp. n.......................................................................... 73
Liturgusa maya Saussure & Zehntner, 1894................................................ 76
Liturgusa stiewei sp. n.................................................................................. 86
Liturgusa tessae sp. n.................................................................................... 90
Liturgusa trinidadensis sp. n......................................................................... 95
Liturgusa zoae sp. n................................................................................... 100
Cursor Group A.............................................................................................. 105
Liturgusa cursor Rehn, 1950...................................................................... 105
Liturgusa dominica sp. n............................................................................ 110
Liturgusa milleri sp. n................................................................................ 115
Cursor Group B.............................................................................................. 120
Liturgusa actuosa Rehn, 1950.................................................................... 120
Liturgusa algorei sp. n................................................................................ 124
Liturgusa cameroni sp. n............................................................................ 129
Liturgusa krattorum sp. n........................................................................... 133
Liturgusa maroni sp. n............................................................................... 137
Liturgusa nubeculosa Gerstaecker, 1889..................................................... 139
Liturgusa purus sp. n.................................................................................. 147
Fuga gen. n..................................................................................................... 151
Fuga annulipes (Audinet Serville, 1838)..................................................... 155
Fuga fluminensis (Piza, 1965).................................................................... 163
Fuga grimaldii sp. n................................................................................... 167
Velox gen. n..................................................................................................... 171
Velox wielandi sp. n................................................................................... 174
Corticomantis gen. n........................................................................................ 178
Corticomantis atricoxata (Beier, 1931)....................................................... 180
Hagiomantis mesopoda (Westwood, 1889)....................................................... 185
Summary of taxonomic organization..................................................................... 204
Acknowledgements................................................................................................ 206
References............................................................................................................. 207
Supplementary material 1...................................................................................... 214
Supplementary material 2...................................................................................... 214