''Ameles spallanzania'', common name European dwarf mantis, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

praying mantis Mantises are an order (Mantodea) of insects that contains over 2,400 species in about 460 genera in 33 families. The largest family is the Mantidae ("mantids"). Mantises are distributed worldwide in temperate and tropical habitats. They ha ...

Etymology

The species name ''spallanzania'' honors the Italian naturalist

Lazzaro Spallanzani Lazzaro Spallanzani (; 12 January 1729 – 11 February 1799) was an Italian Catholic priest (for which he was nicknamed Abbé Spallanzani), biologist and physiologist who made important contributions to the experimental study of bodily function ...

Description

''Ameles spallanzania'' can reach a length of . Their colour may be brown, green, ocher or grey. The eyes are slightly pointed, antennae are threadlike, the

pronotum The prothorax is the foremost of the three segments in the thorax of an insect, and bears the first pair of legs. Its principal sclerites (exoskeletal plates) are the pronotum ( dorsal), the prosternum (ventral), and the propleuron (lateral) on e ...

is short and squared and the broad abdomen of the females is commonly curled upwards. This very small mantid (hence the common name) is characterized by an evident

sexual dimorphism Sexual dimorphism is the condition where the sexes of the same animal and/or plant species exhibit different morphological characteristics, particularly characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most an ...

. The males are winged and have a quite slender body, while females show stubby bodies and are unable to fly, as they possess only small wing vestiges (

brachypterous Brachyptery is an anatomical condition in which an animal has very reduced wings. Such animals or their wings may be described as "brachypterous". Another descriptor for very small wings is microptery. Brachypterous wings generally are not functi ...

).Roberto Battiston & Carlo Galliani
On the life-cycle of ''Ameles spallanzania'' (Rossi, 1792) (Insecta, Mantodea).
Atti Soc. it. Sci. nat. Museo civ. Stor. nat. Milano, 152, I, S. 25-35. January 2011

Biology

This thermophile species shows adaptable life-cycle strategies in different latitudes, as hatching earlier, more than one generation per year or overwintering nymphs or oothecae. Adults can be found from late spring to late summer, depending on the latitude. Nymphs usually hatch in July and the

ootheca An ootheca (pl. ''oothecae'' ) is a type of egg mass made by any member of a variety of species including mollusks (such as ''Turbinella laevigata''), mantises, and cockroaches. The word is a Latinized combination of ''oo-'', meaning "egg", f ...

is commonly laid in September. Similarly to the common ''

Mantis religiosa The European mantis (''Mantis religiosa'') is a large hemimetabolic insect in the family of the Mantidae ('mantids'), which is the largest family of the order Mantodea (mantises). Their common name praying mantis is derived from the distinctive ...

'' the females may cannibalise the males whilst mating.

Distribution

This species can be found in the Mediterranean area, from Morocco to Greece and from southern Europe to northern Africa (Albania, Algeria, Dalmatia, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, Libya, Morocco, Portugal, Spain, Tunisia).Fauna Europaea
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Habitat

These mantids prefer sparse low vegetation in warm, dry places.

Bibliography

* David D. Yager & Gavin J. Svenson: Patterns of praying mantis auditory system evolution based on morphological, molecular, neurophysiological, and behavioural data. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 94, S. 541–568, 2008 * Gavin J. Svenson & Michael F. Whiting
Reconstructing the origins of praying mantises (Dictyoptera, Mantodea): the roles of Gondwanan vicariance and morphological convergence.
Cladistics, 25, S. 468–514, 2009, S. 484 doi:10.1111/j.1096-0031.2009.00263. * Roberto Battiston & P. Fontana: A contribution to the knowledge of the genus Ameles Burmeister, 1838, with the description of a new species from Jordan (Insecta Mantodea). Atti della Accademia Roveretana degli Agiati, Serie 8 B, Classe di Scienze, Matematiche, Fisiche e Naturali, 5B, S. 173-197, 2005 * Cogo A. & Battiston R., 2007 – Nuovi dati sulla distribuzione di ameles spallanzania (Rossi, 1792) in Italia. (Insecta Mantodea, Amelinae). Natura Vicentina,11: 23-29 * Battiston R., Picciau L., Fontana P. & Marshall J., 2010 –The Mantids of the Euro Mediterranean Area. World Biodiversity association, Verona * Agabiti, Barbara; Salvatrice, Ippolito; Lomabardo, Francesco, 2010: The Mediterranean species of the genus Ameles Burmeister, 1838 Insecta, Mantodea Amelinae, with a biogeographic and phylogenetic evaluation. Boletin de la SEA 47 (31 Dec): 1-20. * Salemi M., Tomasinelli F., Le mantidi religiose e gli insetti stecco, De Vecchi Editore, 2006, .

References

External links

Amici Insoliti
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1282221 spallanzania Mantodea of Europe Insects described in 1792 Taxa named by Pietro Rossi