Idolomorpha dentifrons, Saussure & Zehnter, 1895

Here's a game for you.

Tell me what this is.

(Nymph) Photographed in Chongwe, Lusaka, Zambia in December 2013, using Olympus E-420 DSLR, 40-150mm Zuiko lens and 3 KOOD magnifiers.

As a hint, the Chewa/Nyanja words include Mdulamphuno, Mdulamphiko and Kalandamfuno, according to my lovely dictionary (Amazon stocks it, click to see) and the Afrikaans is Bidsprinkaan.




A second hint - although the photograph is at its natural angle, you might find the animal easier to make out if you tilt your head ninety degrees to your right...




One final hint - it's featured in a fantastic post by Piotr Naskrecki (blogging God of Entomology that he is), here.



In fairness, that's less a hint than a dead giveaway. It is, in actual fact, a Praying Mantis - specifically:

Idolomorpha dentifrons

Saussure & Zehnter, 1895

And the whole animal looks more like this: 

 

Photographed in Chongwe, Lusaka, Zambia in December 2013, using Olympus E-420 DSLR, Zuiko40-150 lens and 1 KOOD magnifier.

  

And no, by the way, I haven't forgotten to rotate the image. This late-instar (i.e., nearly adult) nymph spent the bulk of its time walking at right angles to the ground - which would look significantly less awkward if its prothorax wasn't so ridiculously long...

Like most mantises, it's a voracious predator of other small invertebrates, but when you're human sized, it's about as harmless as harmless comes. So fear not the mdulamphuno. 

 With that, we may as well explore the taxonomy: 

- Idolomorphini   

- Empusinae           

- Empusidae             

- Mantodea                 

See also Sibylla.

- Dictyoptera                       

- Anartioptera                         

- Polyneoptera                           

See also Tettigonia viridissima, Stictogryllacris punctata, Enyaliopsis, Humbe tenuicornis, Lobosceliana loboscelis, Cyathosternum prehensile, Heteropternis thoracica and Pseudothericles jallae.

- Neoptera                                       

See also Dichtha inflata, Oedemera nobilis, Otiorhynchus atroapterus,Malachius bipustulatus , Phyllobius pomaceus, Cheilomenes lunata, Melolontha melolontha, Neojulodis vittipennis, Demetrias atricapillus, Anthia fornasinii, Lophyra cf. differens, Synagris proserpina, Vespula germanica, Astata tropicalis, Anthophora furcata, Andrena nigroaenea, Zebronia phenice, Crambus pascuella, Nemophora degeerella, Sphinx ligustri, Laelia robusta, Acada biseriata, Metisella willemi, Anthocharis cardamines, Papilio demodocus, Panorpa germanica, Chloromyia formosa, Senaspis haemorrhoa, Helophilus pendulus, Episyrphus balteatus, Metadon inermis, Diasemopsis meigenii, Dolichotachina caudata, Megistocera filipes, Hagenomyia tristis, Pephricus, Grypocoris stysi, Ranatra and Anoplocnemis curvipes.

- Metapterygota                                    

See also Enallagma cyathigerum, Pseudagrion hageni, Lestinogomphus angustus and Rhyothemis semihyalina.
- Pterygota                                               
- Dicondylia                                                
- Insecta                                                        
- Hexapoda                                                     
- Arthropoda                                                     

See also Phrynarachne rugosa, Hyllus argyrotoxus, Enoplognatha ovata, Argiope bruennichi, Pardosa amentata, Alopecosa barbipes,  Dicranopalpus ramosus and Ligia oceanica.

- Ecdysozoa                                                         

- Protostomia                                                         

See also Burtoa nilotica.

- Nephrozoa                                                              

- Bilateralia                                                                 

See also Synchiropus splendidus, Rana temporaria, Breviceps poweri, Chiromantis xerampelina, Hipposideros vittatus, Syncerus caffer, Tockus alboterminatus, Larus argentatus, Sterna hirundo, Burhinus vermiculatus, Troglodytes troglodytes, Megaceryle maxima, Ardea goliath, Chalcophaps indica, Stigmatopelia senegalensis, Lygodactylus capensis, Thelotornis capensis, Zootoca vivipara, Trachylepis varia and Trachylepis wahlbergi.

- Eumetazoa                                                                   

- Animalia                                                                         

- Eukaryota                                                                           

And that's all, folks!

You may recall that I wax lyrical about the Orthoptera Species File whenever I feature an African grasshopper. Well, it has a baby! It's called the Mantodea Species File, and just at the moment it's still teething, but it's AWESOME!