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2018 Southeastern Naturalist Notes Vol. 17, No. 2
B.D. Holt, W. Lilly, and S. Sanders
First Records of Gonatista grisea (Grizzled Mantis) from
Alabama with a Brief Review of the Current Distribution in the
US
Brian D. Holt1,*, William Lilly2, and Sean Sanders3
Abstract - Gonatista grisea (Grizzled Mantis) was previously known in the US from Florida, Georgia,
and South Carolina. This paper presents a new state record with a brief discussion of the currently
known distribution in the southeastern US.
Gonatista grisea (Fabricius) (Grizzled Mantis) is a cryptically colored species (Fig. 1)
distributed in Cuba and the southeastern US. Previously undocumented from Alabama, it
was known to have occurred through Florida and the Coastal Plain of Georgia and South
Carolina (Gurney 1950). However, Dakin and Hays (1970) suggested the occurrence of
the Grizzled Mantis in Alabama when they included it in the Mantidae key of A Synopsis
of Orthoptera (sensu lato) of Alabama. In the footnotes, the authors clarified that no specimens
had been recorded from the state, but that they believed the species likely occurred in
Alabama based on 2 extreme northwest Florida specimens present in the Auburn University
(Auburn, AL) entomology collection. A search of that collection by B.D. Holt yielded 2
1Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Natural Heritage Section, 64
North Union Street, Montgomery, AL 36130. 2225 Rue Maison Drive West, Apartment M, Mobile,
AL 36608. 34657 South State Highway 605, Dothan, AL 36301. *Corresponding author -
brian.holt@dcnr.alabama.gov.
Manuscript Editor: Jason Cryan
Notes of the Southeastern Naturalist, Issue 17/2, 2018
Figure 1. Mobile County, AL, Grizzled Mantis specimen before collection.
2018 Southeastern Naturalist Notes Vol. 17, No. 2
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B.D. Holt, W. Lilly, and S. Sanders
specimens fitting the locations described by Dakin and Hays. The label data is as follows:
Chipley, FL, 15 October 1930, O.B. Pullen; and Tallahassee, FL, 13 September 1948, Edgar
Evans. These locations are in Washington and Leon counties, respectively. No Alabama
specimens were present in the collection.
On 21 October 2016, W. Lilly photographed and captured a single Grizzled Mantis
(Fig. 1) at a private residence in Mobile County off Boykin Road, 0.24 road-km east of
Skyline Road (30.56153°N, 88.19193°W). This record represents the first documented occurrence
of Grizzled Mantis in Alabama and extends the currently recognized distribution
for the species ~244 km to the west from the nearest occurrence in Chipley, FL (Fig. 2). Sean
Sanders observed and collected another Grizzled Mantis at his home in Houston County off
County Road 203, 0.28 road-km south of County Road 59 (31.11920°N, 85.45100°W) on
17 September 2017. Numerous individuals have been observed by S. Sanders at this location
over the 6 years previous to this collection on limbs of cultivated Carya illinoinensis
Figure 2. Distribution of Gonatista grisea (Grizzled Mantis).
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2018 Southeastern Naturalist Notes Vol. 17, No. 2
B.D. Holt, W. Lilly, and S. Sanders
(Wagenheim) K. Koch (Pecan). The Houston County specimen is deposited in the Auburn
University Museum of Natural History (AUMNH), Dr. Charles Ray confirmed its identification
(AUMI00194521). The Mobile County specimen is currently held in the private collection
of W. Lilly and will be transferred to AUMNH at a later date. We used dichotomous
keys to identify specimens.
In preparation for this note, we constructed a county distribution map (Fig. 2) based
on literature records and vouchered museum specimens from Auburn University, University
of Georgia (Athens, GA), Florida State Collection of Arthropods (Gainesville, FL),
Clemson University (Clemson, SC), and the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural
History (Washington, DC, on long-term loan to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History,
Cleveland, OH) (Blatchley 1920; Rehn and Hebard 1912, 1914a, 1914b, 1916).
Rehn and Hebard’s study (1916) of the Dermaptera and Orthoptera of the Coastal Plain
and Piedmont regions found the Grizzled Mantis only occurred in what they described as
the Sabalian zone. This zone corresponds with the natural distributions of Sabal palmetto
(Walt.) Lodd. ex J.A. and J.H. Schultes (Cabbage Palmetto), for which the zone is named,
and Serenoa repens (Bartr.) Small (= Serenoa serrulata [Michx.] Nichols.) (Saw Palmetto)
(Rehn and Hebard 1916, Wright 1926), both of which appear to be sympatric with that
of the Grizzled Mantis.
Most of the Grizzled Mantis records are restricted to the Gulf Coastal Plain. However, we
located 6 records outside this region and the currently accepted distribution for the species
(Gurney 1950). A single specimen was reported from Evansville, IN, and was considered
to have been introduced via tropical fruits (Blatchley 1920). In Georgia, 2 specimens were
collected at different locations outside the Gulf Coastal Plain. One specimen was collected
on 26 September 2008 in Clarke County, GA, on the University of Georgia campus and is
housed in their entomology collection (Richard Hoebeke, University of Georgia, Athens,
GA, pers. com.). The other was collected from Putnam County, GA, on 8 September 1961.
The collection sites for these 2 specimens are located within the Piedmont ecoregion. It is
unknown if they represent naturally occurring populations.
Interestingly, 3 vouchered specimens were collected in Texas. One specimen is accessioned
within the collection of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia (now held
at Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA) and has no other information attributed to it (Rehn
and Hebard 1912; Jason Weintraub, Drexel University, Philadelphia, pers. com.). Two additional
specimens are located in the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
collection. Like the first, no other collection information is attributed to either specimen.
These records could very well represent a natural population or populations, but without
additional collection information their status is uncertain.
The Grizzled Mantis was likely present in Alabama, but undocumented until now due to
its excellent crypsis (its mottled grays and greens blend excellently with lighter-colored tree
barks) and lack of focused field surveys. Additional searches within Alabama, Mississippi,
Louisiana, and Texas could yield additional county and state records, especially through the
Gulf Coastal Plain and, specifically, coastal counties.
Acknowledgments. The authors thank Richard Hoebeke (University of Georgia), Kyle Schnepp
(Florida State Collection of Arthropods), Nicole Gunter (Cleveland Museum of Natural History),
and Jason Weintraub (Drexel University) for reviewing specimens in their care. Additional thanks to
Charles Ray for allowing access to the Auburn University Museum of Natural History collections,
Ashley S. Peters for generating the map of G. grisea, and T. Wayne Barger for reviewing the manuscript.
We accessed museum specimens for South Carolina via the Clemson University Arthropod
Museum Database.
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B.D. Holt, W. Lilly, and S. Sanders
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