List of mantids of Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is a tropical island situated close to the southern tip of India. The invertebrate fauna is as large as it is common to other regions of the world. There are about 2 million species of arthropods found in the world, and still it is counting. So many new species are discover up to this time also. So it is very complicated and difficult to summarize the exact number of species found within a certain region.

The following list is about Mantids recorded in Sri Lanka.

Mantid

Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Mantodea

Mantises are an order (Mantodea) of insects that contains over 2,400 species and about 430 genera in 15 families. The largest family is the Mantidae ("mantids"). Mantises are distributed worldwide in temperate and tropical habitats. They have triangular heads with bulging eyes supported on flexible necks. Their elongated bodies may or may not have wings, but all Mantodea have fore legs that are greatly enlarged and adapted for catching and gripping prey; their upright posture, while remaining stationary with fore arms folded, has led to the common name praying mantis.

They are mostly ambush predators, but a few ground-dwelling species are found actively pursuing their prey. They normally live for about a year. In cooler climates, the adults lay eggs in autumn then die. The eggs are protected by their hard capsules and hatch in the spring. Females sometimes practice sexual cannibalism, eating their mates after copulation. Occasionally, the females decapitate the males just before or during mating. Over 2,400 species of mantis in about 430 genera are recognized.[1]

The following list provide the mantids currently identified in Sri Lanka.[2] The first known mantid study was done by Henry in 1931 and 1932. Then much work was done by Beier in 1956.[3] It is thought that 56 species of mantids can be found from Sri Lanka[4] Most of the recent scientific works are associated with other South Asian countries[5] and checklists[6] by these countries indicate the presence of Sri Lankan mantids as well.[7][8][9][10]

Endemic species are denoted as E.

Family: Amorphoscelididae - Bark mantids

Family: Empusidae - Violin mantises

Family: Hymenopodidae - Flower mimic mantises

Family: Iridopterygidae

Family: Liturgusidae

Family: Mantidae - Praying mantises

Family: Tarachodidae

Family: Thespidae

Family: Toxoderidae


References

  1. ↑ Otte, Daniel; Spearman, Lauren. "Mantodea Species File Online". Retrieved 17 July 2012.
  2. ↑ "Checklist of Mantidae of Sri Lanka". insectoid.info. Retrieved 8 June 2016.
  3. ↑ Bambaradeniya, Channa N. B. "The Fauna of Sri Lanka: Status of Taxonomy, Research, and Conservation". Amazon.com. Google books. Retrieved 23 January 2016.
  4. ↑ Wijesekara, Anura and Wijesinghe, D.P. "HISTORY OF INSECT COLLECTION AND A REVIEW OF INSECT DIVERSITY IN SRI LANKA". Ceylon Journal of Science. p. 59. Retrieved 6 June 2016.
  5. ↑ "Updated checklist of Praying mantid species (INSECTA: MANTODEA) from Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam Tiger Reserve, Andhra Pradesh". researchgate.net. Retrieved 8 June 2016.
  6. ↑ "CHECK LIST of Mantodea (=Mantoidea or Manteodea) of India" (PDF). shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in. Retrieved 8 June 2016.
  7. ↑ "Mantodea (Insecta) of Nepal: an annotated checklist" (PDF). orion-berlin.de. Retrieved 8 June 2016.
  8. ↑ Dr. Riedel, Alexander. "Praying mantises (Mantodea)". smnk.de. Retrieved 8 June 2016.
  9. ↑ Vyjayandi, M.C. , Rajeesh, R.S. , Sajin John, P. , Dhanasree, M.M. "On a collection of praying mantids (Insecta: Mantodea) from Goa, India, with new distribution records". Journal of Threatened Taxa. Retrieved 8 June 2016.
  10. ↑ Ghate, H.V. , Jadhav, S. S. , Sureshan, P. M. , Sharma, R. M. "Updated checklist of Indian Mantodea (Insecta)" (PDF). ibrarian.net. Retrieved 8 June 2016.
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