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Type: Article
Published: 2025-10-28
Page range: 433-440
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The northernmost Eocene genus and species of praying mantises (Mantodea Burmeister, 1838) from Fur Formation, Denmark

Department of Entomology; Faculty of Biology; Lomonosov Moscow State University; Moscow; 119991; Russia
Natural History Museum of Denmark; Universitetsparken 15; Copenhagen; 2100 Denmark
Fur Museum; Nederby 28; DK-7884 Fur; Denmark
Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences; Universitetskaya nab. 1; St. Petersburg; 199034; Russia
Mantodea fossil insect wing venation Eumantodea Schizomantodea ypresian

Abstract

A new fossil mantis, Sergyessa rusti gen. et sp. nov., is described based on a complete forewing from the Fur Formation, Ypresian (lower Eocene) of Denmark. The new genus can be easily distinguished from other praying mantis genera by a long ScP ending at ¾ of the forewing’s length, R with long anterior branches, CuA internally pectinate, CuP sigmoidal and V1 is 2.7 times longer than V2. The genus is tentatively placed within Schizomantodea as incertae sedis. It adds to our knowledge of Mantodea morphological diversity, being only the second Mantodea taxon formally described from Ypresian age after Pseudomantoida extendidera Schubnel & Nel, 2019 and the first fossil mantis from Denmark.

 

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How to Cite

Shcherbakov, E.O., Perkovsky, E.E., Sylvestersen, R.L. & Anisyutkin, L.N. (2025) The northernmost Eocene genus and species of praying mantises (Mantodea Burmeister, 1838) from Fur Formation, Denmark. Zootaxa, 5715 (1), 433–440. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5715.1.37