NEW DATA ON THE FAUNA, TAXONOMY AND ECOLOGY OF PRAYING MANTISES (DICTYOPTERA, MANTODEA) FROM RUSSIA

Two little known species of praying mantises, Severinia turcomaniae (Saussure 1872) and Rivetina nana Mistshenko 1967, are reported for the faunas of Russia and Europe for the first time based on the material collected in Astrakhan oblast of the Russian Federation. New data on the morphology, ecology and distribution of these species are given. Male genitalia of S. turcomaniae and female of R. nana are described for the first time. Lectotype of Oxythespis turcomaniae Saussure 1872 is designated and deposited in the collection of the Zoological Museum of the Moscow University. The synonymy of O. turcomaniae and Mantis wagneri Kittary 1849 is shown to be insufficiently grounded. M. wagneri is placed provisionally in the genus Severinia Finot 1902. Since R. nana Lindt 1968 is likely not a synonym of R. nana Mistshenko 1967, but it is a separate species, its name was substituted for R. pseudonana Shcherbakov nom. n. Some characters traditionally used for the identification of Rivetina species are shown to be significantly variable and thus unreliable. A key for the identification of 11 praying mantis species from the Russian fauna is provided. The discovery of S. turcomaniae and R. nana in the northern Caspian Sea region only recently is assumed to reflect an expansion of the natural range of thermophilic species caused by increasing the climate aridity.