126 FAMILY III. MANTIM3. THE MANTIDS. 



VI. OLIGONYX Saussure, 1869, 58. (Gr., "few" + "spines.") 



Very slender species having the head broad, strongly com- 

 pressed ; antennae setaceous, pubescent, half as long as body, male, 

 one-half shorter, female; eyes prominent; ocelli very large in male, 

 very small in female ; vertex in the form of a ridge with a promi- 

 nent tubercle at each end. Pronotum slender, finely carinate, 

 dilated just in front of middle, thence narrowed to the rounded 

 apex; basal half broader with sides parallel, margins distinctly 

 serrate, female, minutely so, male. Tegmina and wings of male 

 membranous, narrow, not passing the fifth segment of abdomen ; 

 of female wholly wanting. Legs very slender; inner margin of 

 upper surface of front coxae abruptly dilated at apex ; front tibiae 

 very short, with but four to six spines, the terminal one very 

 large. Abdomen in both sexes slender, cylindrical ; supra-anal 

 plate very long, lanceolate ; cerci in our species awl-shaped, cylin- 

 drical. 



This is also an exclusively American genus represented in 

 Mexico, Central and South America by a half dozen or more spe- 

 cies and in the Eastern United States, as far as known, by 

 only one. 



49. OLIGONYX SCUDDERI Saussure, 1870b, 239. Scudder's Mantis. 



Male brownish-yellow, more or less mottled with fuscous; legs, pro- 

 notum and margins of wings pubescent. Tegmina of male as long as the 

 wings, both very thin, translucent, their tips rounded; in female repre- 

 sented only by lateral prolongations of the meso- and metathorax. Front 

 tibiae only one-third the length of femur, armed with five spines. Length 

 of body, $ and $, 34 37; of pronotum, $, 1 8, $,9; of tegmina, 9, 

 24 mm. 



Sanford, Fla., March 28, (TF. . B.). This graceful little man- 

 tis occurs only in the Southern States, having been recorded by 

 R, & H. (1916, 123) from South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. 

 ' 7 In Florida it has been taken at Crescent City, Punta Gorda and 

 Miami, and doubtless occurs in small numbers throughout the 

 State. It is usually found close to the ground, on the grass and 

 other undergrowth of pine woods. 0. nlilcri Stal (1877, 66), de- 

 scribed from Louisiana, was considered by Caudell to be only a 

 dark form of scuddcri, and his opinion is upheld by R. & H. A 

 Texan form, 0. bolliantis Sauss. & Zehnt. (1894, 173) is regarded 

 by the same authorities as only a variety of xciuldcri. A record of 

 0. scuddcri from New Mexico by Scudder and Cockerell (1902, 20) 

 probably refers to this form. 



