''Oligonicella scudderi'',

common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often contrast ...

Scudder's mantis or slender prairie mantid, 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 ...

native to the southern United States. It is a small brown insect; the males can fly but the females are wingless.

Taxonomy

''Oligonicella scudderi'' was first described in 1870 by the Swiss entomologist

Henri Louis Frédéric de Saussure Henri Louis Frédéric de Saussure (; ; 27 November 1829 – 20 February 1905) was a Swiss mineralogist and entomologist specialising in studies of Hymenoptera and Orthopteroid insects. He also was a prolific taxonomist. Biography Sauss ...

and named in honour of the American entomologist

Samuel Hubbard Scudder Samuel Hubbard Scudder (April 13, 1837 – May 17, 1911) was an American entomologist and paleontologist. He was a leading figure in entomology during his lifetime and the founder of insect paleontology in America. In addition to fossil insects, ...

from specimens found in Georgia. In 1894 another mantis ''Oligonyx bolliana'' was described from Dallas, Texas and from northern Mexico by Saussure and his collaborator, Leo Zehntner. In 1896, Scudder expressed the view that the two were the same species. Little further research has been done and many authorities now consider the two to be

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...

ous.

Distribution

''O. scudderi'' is found in the southern United States. Its range extends from the Great Plains and Nebraska, southwards to Texas and Mexico.

Description

This is a small, pale brown, stick-like, ground-dwelling species of mantis that grows to a length of about . The males are winged and are ready fliers, the wings being long enough to completely obscure the abdomen. The females have no wings and scuttle across the ground hunting prey.

Biology

Male ''O. scudderi'' are sometimes caught in

black light A blacklight, also called a UV-A light, Wood's lamp, or ultraviolet light, is a lamp that emits long-wave (UV-A) ultraviolet light and very little visible light. One type of lamp has a violet filter material, either on the bulb or in a separat ...

traps at night, and have been seen feeding on small flies, caddis flies and wasps. Females probably have a similar diet. When disturbed they tend to hide in tussocks of little bluestem grass (''Schizachyrium scoparium'') where their colouration makes them difficult to spot. They can best be caught by brushing a small-mesh net through the grass. As is the case with other mantis species, the eggs are laid in a clutch covered with foam which hardens into an egg case.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5792327 Thespidae Mantodea of North America Insects of the United States Fauna of the Southeastern United States Taxa named by Henri Louis Frédéric de Saussure Insects described in 1870