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First records of Hierodula transcaucasica Brunner von Wattenwyl, 1878 in Slovenia and Spain (Mantodea: Mantidae)

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Torsten van der Heyden at Independent researcher
Torsten van der Heyden
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www.aegaweb.com/arquivos_entomoloxicos
ISSN: 1989-6581
van der Heyden (2021)
ARQUIVOS ENTOMOLÓXICOS, 24: 265-266
265
NOTA BREVE / SHORT NOTE
First records of Hierodula transcaucasica Brunner von
Wattenwyl, 1878 in Slovenia and Spain (Mantodea: Mantidae)
Torsten van der Heyden
Immenweide 83, D-22523 Hamburg (GERMANY). e-mail: tmvdh@web.de
Key words: Mantodea, Mantidae, Hierodula transcaucasica, invasive species, first records, Slovenia, Spain.
Primeras citas de Hierodula transcaucasica Brunner von Wattenwyl, 1878 en Eslovenia y España (Mantodea:
Mantidae)
Palabras clave: Mantodea, Mantidae, Hierodula transcaucasica, especie invasora, primeras citas, Eslovenia, España.
Recibido: 10 de septiembre de 2021 Publicado on-line: 18 de septiembre de 2021
Aceptado: 14 de septiembre de 2021
Hierodula transcaucasica Brunner von Wattenwyl, 1878 (Mantodea: Mantidae), a large mantis with a
mainly Asiatic distribution, is an invasive species currently spreading in the eastern part of the
Mediterranean Region, particularly on the Balkan Peninsula and on islands of the Aegean Sea
(Romanowski et al., 2019; van der Heyden & Schwarz, 2021).
Recently, H. transcaucasica was detected in Slovenia and Spain:
On 27.08.2021, a nymph was photographed in Ljubljana by Alenka Bogovič (Fig. 1a). The
photo was uploaded to the online database iNaturalist (under the pseudonym “lenca”)
(see here). The specimen was found in a garden in the center of Ljubljana while resting
on a stalk of Asparagus sp. (Asparagaceae) (Alenka Bogovič, pers. comm.).
On 07.09.2021, an adult specimen of H. transcaucasica was observed and photographed in
Madrid, in the district Alameda de Osuna, by Sergio López Castelo (Fig. 1b). Various
photos of the specimen were uploaded to the online database iNaturalist (under the
pseudonym ”sergiolc_2077--el_avistador”) (see here).
Both findings reported here were made in urban areas, which is in concordance with most
records in other parts of the recently colonized area, as stated by van der Heyden & Schwarz (2021).
Apparently, H. transcaucasica is currently increasing its European distribution area in two
directions: from the Balkan Peninsula northward and from the north of the Mediterranean Basin
westward. So far, the record from Madrid is the westernmost one of H. transcaucasica in Europe.
Acknowledgements
I like to thank Alenka Bogovič and Sergio López Castelo for allowing me to use their photos of H.
transcaucasica to illustrate this note and for additional information.
van der Heyden (2021): First records of H. transcaucasica Brunner von Wattenwyl in Slovenia and Spain (Mant.: Mantidae)
266
References
Romanowski, J., Battiston, R. & Hristov, G.
2019. First Records of Hierodula
transcaucasica Brunner von Wattenwyl,
1878 (Mantodea: Mantidae) in the Balkan
Peninsula. Acta Zoologica Bulgarica, 71(2):
297-300.
van der Heyden, T. & Schwarz, C.J. 2021.
New data on the presence of Hierodula
transcaucasica Brunner von Wattenwyl,
1878 on Crete/Greece (Mantodea:
Mantidae). BV news Publicaciones
Científicas, 10(118): 6-12.
Fig. 1.– Hierodula transcaucasica Brunner von
Wattenwyl, 1878. a.- Nymph, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
(Photo: Alenka Bogovič). b.- Adult specimen, Madrid,
Spain. (Photo: Sergio López Castelo).
1a
... Hierodula tenuidentata, known from Afghanistan, Pakistan, China, Nepal, North India and Central Asia, has become invasive by spreading rapidly to the Caucasus, Ukraine, the Balkans and Europe, mostly through transportation and trade (Liu et al., 2021;Martinović et al., 2022;Moulin, 2020;Pintilioaie et al., 2021;Romanowski et al., 2019;van der Heyden, 2021). Hierodula tenuidentata has been recorded from many European countries including Crimea (Pushkar & Kavurka, 2016), Croatia (Martinović et al., 2022), Romania (Pintilioaie et al., 2021), Bulgaria (Zlatkov et al., 2020), Greece Romanowski et al., 2019), Serbia (Mihailo et al., 2021, Albania (van der Heyden, 2018, Slovenia (van der Heyden, 2021), Italy (Romanowski et al., 2019), Spain (van der Heyden, 2021), and Asia including Kazakhstan (Temreshev & Makezhanov, 2020), Caucasica (Cianferoni et al., 2018;Kharabadze et al., 2022), Iran (Mirzaee et al., 2022). ...
... Hierodula tenuidentata, known from Afghanistan, Pakistan, China, Nepal, North India and Central Asia, has become invasive by spreading rapidly to the Caucasus, Ukraine, the Balkans and Europe, mostly through transportation and trade (Liu et al., 2021;Martinović et al., 2022;Moulin, 2020;Pintilioaie et al., 2021;Romanowski et al., 2019;van der Heyden, 2021). Hierodula tenuidentata has been recorded from many European countries including Crimea (Pushkar & Kavurka, 2016), Croatia (Martinović et al., 2022), Romania (Pintilioaie et al., 2021), Bulgaria (Zlatkov et al., 2020), Greece Romanowski et al., 2019), Serbia (Mihailo et al., 2021, Albania (van der Heyden, 2018, Slovenia (van der Heyden, 2021), Italy (Romanowski et al., 2019), Spain (van der Heyden, 2021), and Asia including Kazakhstan (Temreshev & Makezhanov, 2020), Caucasica (Cianferoni et al., 2018;Kharabadze et al., 2022), Iran (Mirzaee et al., 2022). Little is known about its presence in Anatolia, which is a bridge between Western Asia/Caucasus and Europe. ...
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