Roythespis israelensis gen. et sp. n. (Dictyoptera: Mantodea: Toxoderidae), a new praying mantis from Israel

Authors

  • Martin B. D. Stiewe The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD, UK. E-mail: m.stiewe@nhm.co.uk https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9591-9244
  • Amir Weinstein The Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, Israel National Center for Biodiversity Studies, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, 69978 Israel. E-mail: highswalker@gmail.com https://orcid.org/0009-0008-4641-0909
  • Dany Simon The Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, Israel National Center for Biodiversity Studies, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, 69978 Israel. E-mail: dysimon@tauex.tau.ac.il

Keywords:

Biodiversity, Dictyoptera, Mantodea, identification key, new genus, new species, taxonomy, Israel, Levant, Middle East

Abstract

A new genus and species of praying mantises, Roythespis israelensis gen et sp. n., is described from Israel. The new genus belongs in the subfamily Toxoderinae (Toxoderidae), and is most closely related to Belomantis Giglio-Tos, 1914 and Calamothespis Werner, 1907, from which it differs in having a weakly rounded and very short pseudophallus, and conspicuous but not overdeveloped juxta­ocular bulges. The new species features an elongated body and slender ha­bitus, short legs, a prognathous head and greatly extended and distally flattened cerci. The holotype of Toxomantis sinensis Giglio-Tos, 1914 is illustrated for the first time.

To cite: Stiewe, M.B.D., Weinstein, A. & Simon, D. 2025. Roythespis israelensis gen. et sp. n. (Dictyoptera: Mantodea: Toxoderidae), a new praying mantis from Israel. Israel Journal of Entomology 54: 95–112. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17761269
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:08D44E51-836A-44DC-8CB5-21A9479A934D

A male of a new genus and species of praying mantises Roythespis israelensis

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Published

2025-12-03

Issue

Vol. 54 (2025)

Section

Articles

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Copyright (c) 2025 Martin B. D. Stiewe, Amir Weinstein, Dany Simon

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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