A new species of dwarf mantis, Ameles serpentiscauda, also known as the snake-tailed mantis, has been identified for the first time as endemic to Sardinia and described in a scientific article published in the journal Ethology Ecology & Evolution by a team of researchers led by Roberto Battiston of the Museum of Archaeology and Natural Sciences “G. Zannato” in Montecchio Maggiore (Vicenza).
The article focuses on a particular characteristic of the Ameles serpentiscauda, namely, the researchers emphasize , its "highly elaborate courtship behavior, characterized by coordinated movements of the abdomen, cerci (appendages of the 10th segment of the insect's abdomen, ed.), and terminals." Essentially, it's a sort of dance to impress the individual identified as a potential mate.
A discovery, defined as "exceptional" which, as we read at the bottom of the article, "reveals an unexpected communicative capacity within" the Mantodea genus, generally considered rather solitary.
"Discovering a new species, something no one has ever seen before, is always exciting. It's even more so if it turns out to be an all-Italian endemic, from a land we think we know everything about but which instead continues to surprise us," Battiston wrote on his Facebook profile. He added: "The Dwarf Snake-Tailed Mantis (Ameles serpentiscauda), as we've named it, is not only a new species but a surprising animal, capable of a never-before-seen nuptial display that not even Bezos in Venice can match. With an intricate analysis of different species and their "love languages," we've understood for the first time how the behavior of even unsociable animals like mantises, besides surprising us, can tell us something about their origins and relationships. And perhaps even prevent them from being devoured by their partners."
