Sinaiella azadi Kolnegari & Schwarz, 2025

Kolnegari, Mahmood, Schwarz, Christian J., Ghrejyan, Tigran & Borer, Matthias, 2025, Sinaiella azadi sp. nov. (Mantodea: Toxoderidae); a new praying mantis species from Western Asia (Iran and Armenia), Zootaxa 5594 (1), pp. 98-110 : 102-106

Sinaiella azadi Kolnegari & Schwarz sp. nov.

Figs. 2 , 3 , 5A, C, E ; 6A, B ; 7A, B

Type material and repositories. Holotype labels: Gurehzar , Shazand, Markazi Province, Central Iran. 34°04’45.1” N, 49°19’51.9” E, elev. 2130 m; 12.VII.2021, leg. juv. M. Kolnegari. Genitalia preparation Schwarz No. 628 . Repository: Natural History Museum, Basel.

Paratype labels: 1 ♂, Yerevan outskirts. Zoo. , Armenia, 2.IX.[19]55; Avetyan H. ( IZAY) ; 1 ♂, Yerevan outskirts, Armenia. 30.VIII.1952. E. Poghosyan ( IZAY) ; 1 ♂, Yerevan outskirts, Armenia. 21.VIII. 1952. Avetyan H. ( IZAY) .

Allotype labels: Mighan Desert Wetland , Arak , Markazi Province, Central Iran. Elev. 1700 m; 5.VII.2024, leg. juv. M. Kolnegari MMTT-Art-4240 ( NMNHGR). Repository: National Museum of Natural History and Genetic Resources (Tehran).

Diagnosis. The new species is characterized by the dark, fully infumated hindwings with paler apical and basal area.

Male. Body length 25–32.0; head length 2.0; head width 3.2–3.3; lower frons width 1.0; lower frons height 0.4; antennae 15.0; pronotum length 7.5–7.6; prozone length 1.9–2; metazone length 5.7; pronotum width 1.5; forecoxae length 4.3–4.6; forefemora length 5.0–5.5; foretibiae length 3.2–3.4; mesofemora length 4.6; mesotibiae length 5.5; metafemora length 7.3; metatibiae length 8.4; tegmina length 18.3; tegmina width 3.5; alae length 17.4.

Head ( Fig. 6A ) distinctly wider than long. Compound eyes exophthalmic, with dark stripes (faded in preserved specimen). Ocellar area considerably elevated, with large ocelli. Vertex slightly convex, with 4 evident furrows. Lower frons trapezoid, strongly transverse, lower margin arched, dorsal edge rounded; surface with two shallow depressions. Antennae filiform, brownish, scape with a dark black patch; flagellum covered with light-colored setae.

Pronotum ( Fig. 6B ) slender, longer than forecoxa, with a well-marked supracoxal dilatation. Metazona three times as long as prozona. Metazona with a median keel, without granulations. Pronotum disk and lateral margins smooth, the latter finely ciliated. Greatest width of pronotum at supracoxal dilatation.

Forelegs brownish, with a few irregular darker patches. Forecoxae shorter than metazona, without dorsal spines; apical lobes divergent. Forefemora moderately slender, all spines with blackish tips; claw groove slightly proximal of middle of femur. Ventral side of femur with a row of tubercles.All tibial spines rather short and spaced well apart, posteroventral ones starting some distance from the base. Meso- and metathoracic legs slender, femora with two dorsal and two ventral carinae but without subapical lobes. Femoral spination = 4DS/11AvS/4PvS; Tibial spination = 9AvS/6PvS.

Wings reaching the seventh abdominal segment. Forewings subhyaline, except distal part between subcosta and radius anterior, which is subopaque; discoidal field and main veins with brownish spots in the distal two-thirds. Hindwings surpassing tegmina when at rest, infumated with hyaline base; distalmost part of the discoidal field pale subopaque, patterned like the tegmina; AA2 veins dark, intercalary and crossveins pale.

Abdomen slender, with parallel margins, keeled medially. Dorsal side in life with a distinct pattern, each tergite having a pale basal and dark apical half, and a pair of whitish paramedian markings crossing the border to the previous tergite (visible already in the sub-adult stage). Supraanal plate roughly triangular, rounded at the tip. Cerci dark due to dense dark markings, flattened, slightly surpassing subgenital plate, consisting of seven visible cercomeres. Distal cercomere of left cercus elongate, with conical, rounded apex, possibly consisting of two fused cercomeres, about twice the length of the penultimate cercomere. Distal cercomere of right cercus short and rounded, presumably due to regeneration ( Fig. 7B ). Cerci and abdomen end of paratypes missing. Subgenital plate asymmetrical, with a small dorsal keel at apex, between the styli. Styli short.

Genital complex of eremiaphiloid type ( Fig. 7A ). Right phallomere with pilose apex and left margin, with two additional pilosity fields anteriad and posteriad of R3. Ventral phallomere relatively elongate, with distinct, rounded sdpm; sdpl digitiform with a sharply demarcated terminal spine. Left phallomere typical for the group, with short, strongly curved paa, setose loa and deeply bifurcated, well-sclerotized phalloid apophysis; afa typical for the genus, with rugose aafa and bifid, acute pafa.

Female. Body length 31.6–33.1; head length 1.9; head width 3.8; antennae 11.2; pronotum length 8.7; prozone length 2.1; metazone length 6.6; pronotum width 1.6; forecoxae length 6.2; forefemora length 6.0; foretibiae length 4.8; mesofemora length 5.9; mesotibiae length 6.9; metafemora length 8.6; metatibiae length 9.6; tegmina length 7; tegmina width 2.3; alae length 5.1.

Pigmentation similar to male, with dark greyish brown body (variable from grayish to brownish tints) and very short wings not exceeding second abdominal tergite. Forewings opaque, apical half broad, with dark-spotted veins especially on costal area. Hindwings fan-like, brown, with large dark spot, fading gradually at costal and apical margins. Subgenital plate not pointed. Last segment of cerci approximately as long as the penultimate segment. Femoral spination = 4DS/11AvS/4PvS; Tibial spination = 9AvS/7PvS.

Etymology. Freedom is the essence of human life. Taxonomists require freedom to communicate, cooperate, and collaborate across geographic and political boundaries to correctly place species within the taxonomic tree of life. Honoring that, we have named this species azadi, Persian for freedom, representing and embodying the struggle for freedom by the people of Iran. The species name is used as a noun in apposition.

Differential diagnosis. Sinaiella azadi sp. nov. is immediately distinguishable from its congeners by its infumated hindwings with pale apex. This pattern seems to be ancestral to the whole superfamily, as it is also seen in other Toxoderidae like Compsothespis Saussure, 1872 , basal members of Tarachodinae ( Ariusia Stål, 1877 ) and most Rivetinidae , while derived conditions (either hyaline or with dark concentric lines around an anal field patch) are prevalent across the whole group. Among congeners, Sinaiella nebulosa has a slightly infumated patch in the anal field ( Uvarov 1924), while the two other known species have hyaline hindwings. S. raggei is immediately distinguishable from the other species by its simple, not bifid pafa. The closely related Iranian genus Lobothespis La Greca & Lombardo, 1987 also has an infumated anal field spot and similar genitalia. However, it is clearly distinguishable from Sinaiella azadi sp. nov. by a more robust pronotum, less extensively infumated hindwings, and distinctly lobate mesofemora.

Sinaiella azadi sp. nov. appears to be the only Sinaiella species outside the Arabian Peninsula ( Fig. 8 ). Substantial habitat separation of this species from its congeners, and proximity to the distribution range of the genera Lobothespis La Greca & Lombardo, 1987 , Oxyothespis Saussure, 1870 , and Severinia Finot, 1902 , underlie the importance of this species in phylogenetic studies.

Figures

FIGURE 2. Sinaiella azadi sp. nov. A‒C) Holotype male. A) Antepenultimate instar. B) Last instar. C) Adult. D, E) Allotype female. D) Antepenultimate instar. E) Adult.

FIGURE 3. Sinaiella azadi sp. nov. Holotype male and allotype female, dorsal view of preserved specimens. Scale = 5 mm.

FIGURE 5. Comparison of two Sinaiella species. A, C, E) S. azadi sp. nov., holotype male. B, D, F) Sinaiella nebulosa. Photo credits: Mahmood Kolnegari and Amir Weinstein.

FIGURE 6. Head and pronotum of Sinaiella spp. A, B) S. azadi sp. nov. C, D) S. nebulosa. E, F) S. sabulosa. G, H) S. raggei.

FIGURE 7. Genitalia and cerci of Sinaiella spp. A, B) S. azadi sp. nov. C, D) S. nebulosa. E, F) S. sabulosa. G, H) S. raggei.

FIGURE 8. Map of Western Asia highlighted in grey and known localities of the genera Sinaiella and Lobothespis.