Tenodera angustipennis


Tenodera angustipennis is a species of mantis native to Asia and nearby areas of Oceania. The species was introduced and became established in the eastern United States. Tenodera angustipennis was noticed as early as 1921 in Aberdeen, Maryland, but that occurrence was not noted in a published record until 1933.

Etymology

This species has two common names narrow-winged mantis and Japanese mantis in English.. Iy is knonw as チョウセンカマキリ in the Japanese language and 참사마귀, as well as just plain 사마귀 in the Korean language.
"Tenodera" is from Greek meaning "slender neck" and "angustipennis" is from Latin meaning "narrow wing".

Description

Adults and nymphs

Size: Males 65~80 mm, females 68~85 mm in length. Tenodera angustipennis are often brown or green. Tenodera angustipennis proportionately have a more elongate pronotum and shorter, narrower tegmina and wings than Tenodera sinensis. T. angustipennis have a brown, patterned streak on each of their transparent hind wings, while T. sinensis have hind wings that are completely patterned and brown.
The Chinese mantis is thicker or more stocky than the narrow-winged, mantis. It can be easy for a person to tell apart between the adults of these two species, Tenodera angustipennis and Tenodera sinensis when the two species are placed side by side.

Ootheca

The oothecae of Tenodera angustipennis are elongate, about 40 to 60 millimeters long and about 14 millimeters in diameter and are sometimes mistaken to be Stagmomantis carolina oothecae. T. angustipennis oothecae probably hatch around 1 to 2 weeks later than T. sinensis do.

Range

This species occurs in China, Hawaii, India, Java, Korean Peninsula, Ulleung-do, Jejudo, Taiwan, Vietnam, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu, Tsushima Island, Okinawa Island.
Non-native range in the United States:
Delaware, Maryland,New York, North Carolina, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania,Virginia.

Habitat

The oothecae are often laid on twigs of shrubs, stems of tall herbs, but in field margins they seem to prefer to lay their oothecae on tree trunks and fence posts. In some areas T. angustipennis is just as common as T. sinensis.

Additional images