Miobantia Giglio-Tos 1917
Creators: name: Scherrer, Marcus V.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2014
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Mantodea
Thespidae
Miobantia

description: Miobantia Giglio-Tos, 1917
Miobantia Giglio-Tos, 1917a: 73 –74; 1919: 62; 1927: 259; Beier, 1935: 6; 1964: 944; 1968: 9; Jantsch & Corseuil, 1988: 227; Terra, 1995: 42 –43; Ehrmann, 2002: 225; Dorneles et al., 2005: 224; Agudelo et al., 2007: 120; Ehrmann & Koçak, 2009: 14; Rivera, 2010: 52.
= Miopteryx Kirby, 1904: 274; Giglio-Tos, 1915: 137; 1919: 60 (non Saussure, 1869: 55).
= Cnephomantis Rehn, 1920: 225.
= Antimiopteryx Giglio-Tos, 1927: 210; Beier, 1935: 6; Beier, 1964: 944, 1968: 9.
Type species: Miobantia aptera Giglio-Tos, 1917, by monotypy.
Diagnosis. Body small, general coloration darkish brown to pale yellow, ventrally often lighter, with dark spots of variable distribution; dimorphic sexes, with apterous females and fully winged males, often distinctly smaller than females. Head with eyes rounded; frontal sclerite laterally wider than long, sides parallel to very slightly converging towards lower margin; vertex somewhat straight to markedly convex, inconspicuously to distinctly higher than imaginary line joining apex of eyes; vertex region between parietal suture and eye straight to slightly convex or markedly convex forming distinct, low bulge (juxtaocular bulge). Pronotum about 3 times as long as wide; lateral margin without denticulation in males, distinctly present in females; supracoxal dilatation faintly to markedly pronounced; metazone about 1.6–2.0 times as long as prozone. Forecoxa longer than metazone; forefemora with claw groove just basad femur middle, 4 discoidal, 4 external, 12 internal spines; foretibiae with 7 external spines, spine 1 distinctly away from spine 2, 9–11 internal spines, dorsal spines absent. General pigmentation of wings highly variable, even intraspecifically, ranging from grayish to markedly brownish or blackish; main longitudinal veins with dark spots, crossveins sometimes with dark spots, large or small; forewing about same length or shorter than hindwing, reaching about half body length, its apex somewhat rounded; vein M branched, forming veins M1 and M2; vein M1 branched or not; hindwing vein CuA branched, forming veins CuA1 and CuA2; vein CuA1 branched or not. Supranal plate apex pointed, with sides slightly converging towards apex, or rounded.
Redescription. Body small (length from head to tip of abdomen 16.0– 26.4 mm), females as large as males or distinctly larger (Figs 2–10).
Head (Figs 11–13): Labrum slightly convex, lower margin rounded; clypeus about 2.0 times as wide as long, sides distinctly converging towards lower margin; frontal sclerite wider than long, longitudinally very to moderately short, sides parallel to inconspicuously converging towards upper margin, lower margin slightly convex, upper edge uniformly convex, medially extended between toruli; antenna filiform, markedly longer in males than females; flagellomeres in males with swollen apex, in females with apex not swollen, entirely thinner than in males; region between each compound eye and toruli often with tiny tubercle; eyes rounded, protruding head; ocelli in females vestigial, in males small to large, regularly distant or close to one another, placed over a slight elevation; central ocellus about as elevated as, or distinctly more elevated than lateral ocellus, placed atop a small, conical tubercle; lateral ocelli rounded or distinctly elliptical; vertex somewhat straight to markedly convex, inconspicuously to distinctly higher than imaginary line joining apex of eyes; vertex region between parietal suture and eye not or more elevated towards parietal suture, straight to slightly convex or markedly convex forming distinct, low bulge (juxtaocular bulge); parietal suture lower portion markedly curved towards ocelli cuticle elevation; vertex region between parietal sutures with lateral portion sometimes abruptly or gradually elevated close to parietal suture.
Pronotum (Figs 14 & 15): About 3.0 times as long as wide, smooth, with dense pilosity mostly distally on metazone; median keel more evident at metazone, in prozone often anteriorly inconspicuous; lateral margin without denticulation in males, distinctly present in females, with density of distribution variable across species; supracoxal dilatation faintly to markedly pronounced; metazone about 1.6–2.0 times as long as prozone, apical region with a pair of very low cuticle bulges.
Meso- and Metanotum: Posterior margin of mesonotum with a pair of triangular, densely pilose expansions; meso- and metanotum with median longitudinal pilosity often higher than general thorax pilosity.
Legs (Fig. 16): Densely pilose in males, pilosity very short and more sparsely distributed in females. Forecoxa longer than metazone, anterior edge with faint, longitudinal denticulation in females, denticulation absent or inconspicuous in males; forefemora with anterior edge somewhat straight or very faintly convex, claw groove just basad femur middle, 4 discoidal spines, 4 external spines, spines 1 and 2 distinctly close to each other, 12 internal spines, crenulated internally to lateral spine lines; foretibiae with 7 external spines, spine 1 distinctly away from spine 2, 9–11 internal spines, dorsal spines absent; foretarsus with basal tarsomere longer than remaining segments combined.
Wings (Figs 2–10): Apterous female; fully winged male. Forewing about same length or shorter than hindwing, about half as long as body length, its apex somewhat rounded; costal area about same width of forewing base, or slightly thinner; vein Sc somewhat parallel to vein R; vein R apically branched; vein M branched, forming veins M1 and M2; vein M1 branched or not; stigma long, very thin. Hindwing basally wide, apically rounded to distinctly pointed, or apex abruptly interrupted; vein R not branched; vein M basally branched; vein CuA branched, forming veins CuA1 and CuA2; vein CuA1 branched or not.
Abdomen: Dorsally slightly compressed in males, cylindrical in females; supranal plate rounded or faintly pointed, very short in males, longer in females, not overlaying ovipositor, sides somewhat parallel or distinctly converging towards apex (Fig. 17); cercus regularly sized, circular in cross-section; stylus circular in cross-section. Male Genitalia (Figs 19–26): Ventral phallomere broad; distal process thin, short to long, its apex rounded or pointed; left posterior corner with prominent expansion (proximal process), from slightly to markedly projected, often long, curved, forming a slit with posterior margin of ventral phallomere. Right dorsal phallomere of regular shape. Left dorsal phallomere with anterior process short to long; portion between anterior process and phalloid apophysis triangularly expanded; area between phalloid apophysis and membranous lobe sometimes with well sclerotized region; phalloid apophysis very short to very long, with basal portion projected to the back or left, then curved to the right towards apex, apical portion sometimes bent, not or slightly sharp; apical process (titillator) small, curved; membranous lobe wide to very slender; dorsal lamina posterior margin rounded or bent, sometimes projected; articular process elongate, slender.
Color (Figs 2–17): Body generally darkish brown to pale yellow, ventrally often lighter, with many dark spots of variable distribution. Head with ocelli margin dark in males, often with well pigmented transversal area between eyes, covering the ocelli cuticle elevation, sometimes pigmentation faint between ocelli. Legs with dark spots often densely distributed; forefemora sometimes with three, mid- and hinfemur sometimes with two, large transverse dark marks; tibiae often with three transverse dark marks; forefemora and foretibiae with spines at apex; all tarsomeres with dark apex. Wings general pigmentation highly variable, even intraspecifically, from grayish to markedly brownish, or blackish pigmented; main longitudinal veins with dark spots, crossveins sometimes also with dark spots, the latter large or small.
Ootheca (Fig. 18): Known for only one species. See M. fuscata redescription.
Distribution. Neotropical (Fig. 27). Recorded from Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina. The northernmost record is for a male of M. nordestina, collected in Cachoeira da Fumaça, Feira de Santana, in Bahia state, Brazil (10°28'43"S 40°12'27"W). The southernmost record corresponds to the types of M. rustica, collected in coastal Patagonia (exact locality unknown).
description: Published as part of Scherrer, Marcus V., 2014, A revision of Miobantia Giglio-Tos, 1917 (Mantodea: Thespidae, Miobantiinae), with molecular association of dimorphic sexes and immature stages, pp. 207-268 in Zootaxa 3797 (1) on pages 214-220, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3797.1.15, http://zenodo.org/record/252550