- Iranian researcher Mahmood Kolnegari has described a new praying mantis species in central Iran, naming it Sinaiella azadi (“freedom” in Persian) to symbolize the importance of scientific freedom and collaboration across borders.
- The discovery represents the first record of the genus Sinaiella in Iran and Armenia, expanding the known range of this mantis group previously thought to exist only in the Arabian Peninsula and Egypt.
- Despite being relatively large insects, praying mantises remain poorly studied compared to other insect groups due to their cryptic appearance, low population densities, and limited specialist researchers focusing on them.
- The international collaboration that led to this discovery, involving scientists from Iran, Armenia, Germany and Switzerland, demonstrates how cross-border scientific partnerships can advance biodiversity knowledge despite political challenges that researchers may face.
A new-to-science species of praying mantis found in Iran has been named as a symbol of universal freedom.
Sinaiella azadi was found in the mountainous region of central Iran in 2022 by Mahmood Kolnegari, a Ph.D. researcher at the University of Córdoba in Spain. The species name “azadi” means freedom in Persian, a language spoken across multiple countries, including Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan.
Although many mantis species have been found in Iran, Kolnegari is the first Iranian scientist to describe a new species of praying mantis from the country.
“I saw that slender, very tiny mantis, and I thought it couldn’t be here, because it is originally from the southern part of Asia,” Kolnegari told Mongabay. It is a “completely morphologically new type of mantis and completely different from other types of mantises known from central Iran. So, I was so amazed and excited to see something like that in a mountainous region.”
Kolnegari found the mantis in the Zagros Mountains of central Iran’s Markazi province, at an elevation of 2,130 meters (6,988 feet). Additional specimens were later identified in museum collections from Armenia, expanding the known range of both the species and the genus. The mantis represents the first record of the genus Sinaiella in Iran, previously known only from the Arabian Peninsula and Egypt.
“What was even more remarkable is that they were collected right in the Armenian capital, way back in the [20th] century,” Evgeny Shcherbakov, a mantis expert from Lomonosov Moscow State University, who was involved in connecting the researchers, told Mongabay in an email. “This study yet again demonstrated how poorly studied praying mantises are. For all their fame and captivating charisma, we still know very little about these predators, especially when compared to beetles or butterflies.”
The new mantis can be easily identified by its dark back wings, which fade to lighter colors at the tips and base. Males are about an inch long (25-32 millimeters), with females being slightly bigger. Unlike males, females have very short wings that only cover the front part of their body.
“Even in non-tropical areas we can expect an entirely new genus to be discovered,” Shcherbakov said. “Part of the problem is their excellent cryptic morphology, looking like twigs and grasses, requiring some skill to be found, another part is that like all apex predators they are low in numbers in their ecosystems.”
The mantis exhibits a defensive strategy fairly common among other smaller species. When disturbed, it drops to the ground along with plant parts and remains motionless for up to five minutes, perfectly imitating fallen vegetation. This behavior, known as thanatosis, helps the mantis avoid predation.
In 2018, Kolnegari and colleagues published findings about an ancient mantis-like petroglyph in central Iran, demonstrating that the cultural significance of mantises in the region dates back thousands of years. “People of Iran have a very special bond with mantis, and we believe it’s a sacred animal,” Kolnegari said.
This new mantis species raises conservation concerns, as the its habitat lies outside protected areas and faces threats from livestock grazing and human development. The finding also expands our understanding of mantis diversity in West Asia and emphasizes the importance of international scientific collaboration in documenting and preserving biodiversity, Kolnegari said.
“Freedom is the essence of human life,” Kolnegari said of why he named the species after the Persian word for freedom. “Taxonomists require freedom to communicate, cooperate, and collaborate across geographic and political boundaries to correctly place species within the taxonomic tree of life.”
“Good professional and personal relationships between scientists from all countries are especially important now, with so many wars and political divisions going on,” Shcherbakov said. “We researchers don’t always have the capability to change our countries, but we can always strive to preserve the interconnectedness of the web of science, as it benefits us all greatly … the name of the fruit of such international collaboration could not be more apt.”
In 2018, the Iranian government arrested nine scientists working on cheetahs and accused them of spying for foreign governments. A 2018 story in Science reported that Iranian scientists have struggled to send specimens abroad for analysis or access necessary research equipment, the result of sanctions imposed by the U.S. and of the latter abandoning the 2015 nuclear deal. Researchers working on international collaborations in Iran can face scrutiny and pressure, leading many to self-censor or limit their work, according to a 2024 story on the website Index on Censorship.
The international collaboration that led to identifying this new mantis species, involving researchers from Iran, Germany, Armenia and Switzerland, is an example of a cross-border scientific partnership advancing our understanding of biodiversity despite such challenges.
“Ecologists and naturalists and nature enthusiasts, they need to be free to travel across these man-made boundaries,” Kolnegari said. “To explore, to find species, and this is the first step of conservation.”
Banner image of Mahmood Kolnegari holding new to science mantis species Sinaiella azadi courtesy of Mahmood Kolnegari.
Liz Kimbroughis a staff writer for Mongabay and holds a Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology from Tulane University, where she studied the microbiomes of trees. View more of her reporting here.
Citation:
Kolnegari, M., Schwarz, C. J., Ghrejyan, T., & Borer, M. (2025). Sinaiella azadi sp. nov. (Mantodea: Toxoderidae); a new praying mantis species from Western Asia (Iran and Armenia). Zootaxa, 5594(1), 98-110. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.5594.1.4
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