358 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950 



A second species of StagmomanfA^^ S. fioridensis Davis, occurs in 

 Florida. In the Southwestern States three others occur : S. calif ornica 

 Rehn and Hebard; S. gracilipes Rehn; S. liinbata (Halm). All are 

 closely related to the Carolina mantis, differing in size, color, and 

 technical structural details. Studies of the egg masses deposited in 

 Texas by species of >lS'^5a^7n(9m«7^^^'s (Breland and Dobson, 1947) showed 

 that apparently a species additional to any now recorded for the United 

 States occurs there. Three species, liinbata, Carolina^ and calif ornica^ 

 already occur in Texas, the Qgg masses being well known, while 

 gracilipes occurs west of the zone where the strange eggs have been 

 found. Perhaps the adults reared from such eggs will eventually be 

 found to represent one of the Mexican or Central American species, 

 since the genus Stagmomantis is richly represented south of the United 

 States. 



5. Minor mantis, LitaneutHa minor (Scudder) : 



This is the most widespread species of the West, occurring from 

 North Dakota and central Texas to British Columbia and south into 

 Mexico. Adults normally do not exceed I14 inches in length, and 

 the color is light buff to dark brown. Males are usually fully winged, 

 but wings of the female seldom cover more than one-third of the 

 abdomen. This mantid is most often found on the ground, but some- 

 times it occurs on vegetation. Egg masses are small, averaging about 

 one-fourth inch long, more or less rectangular with rounded corners. 

 In Texas a partial second generation of the minor mantid occurs 

 (Roberts, 1937a). Part of the eggs laid by the summer generation 

 hatch that fall, but the nymphs do not usually reach maturity. 



6. Unicorn mantids : 



There are two species of these striking mantids in the United States. 

 Both have a conspicuous split horn extending forward from between 

 the eyes, and there are usually two dark bars across each green front 

 wing. Body length (including folded wings) is about 2i/^ to 3 inches. 

 One of the two, Phyllovates chlorophaea (Blanchard), is widespread 

 in Central America but occurs within our borders only in southeastern 

 Texas. The other, Pseudovates arizonae Hebard, is quite rare and 

 known only in Arizona. It differs from the former species by having 

 swollen lobes projecting from the middle and hind legs. 



7. Grizzled mantis, Gonatista grisea (Fabricius) : 



The grizzled mantis is endowed with excellent camouflage, the body 

 and front wings usually being mottled with green and brown, thus 

 enabling the insect to escape being seen except when it moves. The 

 species is proportionally broader than our other mantids of the same 



