ИСТИНА

Due to their complexity, male genitalia is one of the most important source of morphological characters in many groups of insects, including the praying mantises. These characters could potentially contribute significantly to solving taxonomical problems, estimating phylogeny and proposing hypetheses about sexual selection mechanisms active in this interesting group. One of the most serious obstacles to achieving these goals is the lack of a universally accepted terminology for the male genitalia of the praying mantises. Historical terminology systems are reviewed. It is shown that, despite their progressive granularity, they are insufficient for encapsulating the diversity of genital structures present in Mantodea and sometimes confuse different homologues. A new terminology, based on the system of Klass (1997), is proposed. According to the newly proposed system, the male genitalia are deconstructed into four distinct layers of consideration, with homological features of each layer identified across Mantodea and Blattaria using standart homology criteria. New terminology allows unambiguous descriptions of the genitalia and easy identification of potentially important individual characters. Suitable methods for preparation and storing the genitalia are also briefly discussed.