An anatomical study of the abdominal muscular, nervous and respiratory systems of the praying mantid, Hierodula membranacea (Burmeister)

Abstract

The musculature of a typical (fourth) abdominal segment of the praying mantid, Hierodula membranacea (Burmeister), consists of 15 pairs of muscles, which can be divided into three groups: tergals, sternals and laterals. The tergals and sternals are arranged in two broad, flat layers: the internal longitudinal layer and the external longitudinal oblique layer. The laterals are a diverse group but can be divided broadly into ‘vertical segmentals’ (the cylindrical tergosternal muscles and the broad, flat tergosternal muscle) and ‘oblique intersegmentals’ (the narrow, flat tergosternal muscles and the pleurotergal muscle). There are four abdominal ganglia, the first three of which give rise to a pair of lateral nerves, which bifurcate after a short distance to form an anterior and a posterior branch, and an unpaired median nerve, which divides to form a pair of transverse nerves. A description is given of the innervation fields of the nerves in the fourth abdominal segment. Several peripheral nerve anastomoses are described and labelled with the aid of ‘symbolic landmark’ and ‘nominal’ systems of nomenclature. Three peripheral neurons are also described. There are ten pairs of spiracles located laterally on the body segments: two pairs of external thoracic spiracles and eight pairs of internal abdominal spiracles. Lateral longitudinal trunks, tergal and sternal longitudinal and transverse trunks and visceral trunks serve to interlink the spiracles.