Mantellias Westwood 1889
Creators: name: Maldaner, Caroline
name: Agudelo, Antonio A.
name: Rafael, José Albertino
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2015
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Mantodea
Thespidae
Mantellias

description: Mantellias Westwood, 1889
Type species: Mantellias pubicornis Westwood, 1889 (monotypy)
Westwood 1889:38 (Miomantides); Kirby 1904: 225 (Mantinae); Giglio-Tos 1919: 62 (Pseudomiopteryginae, Pseudomiopteriges); Giglio-Tos 1927: 257 (Pseudomiopteryginae, Pseudomiopteriges); Beier 1935: 5; 1964: 944; 1968: 8 (Thespinae, Pseudomioterygini); Terra 1995: 51 (Thespidae, insertae sedis); Cerdá 1996: 6 (Pseudomioterygini); Ehrmann 2002: 213, 375 (Oligonicinae, Pogonogasterini); Agudelo et al. 2007: 110, 118 (Thespidae, Oligonicinae, Pogonogasterini); Ehrmann & Koçak, 2009: 16 (Thespidae, Oligonicinae, Pogonogasterini); Rivera 2010: 53 (Thespidae, Oligonicinae).
Our examination of the type series (three syntypes, Figs.1A, 2A –B) confirmed Mantellias pubicornis as a member of the Thespidae; all specimens were found to be males. Westwood (1889) mentioned characteristics of wing venation in relation to females; however, thespid females are wingless. Furthermore, two syntypes do not fit Westwood’s description and they are attributable to Bantiella instead, as they exhibit robust and triangular prothoracic femora, prothoracic tibiae with seven postero-ventral spines, all tibial spines ventrally inserted, and meso- and metathoracic wings with acute apex (Fig. 2A –B). The specimen Westwood used for the description of the taxon Mantellias bears a label with the following data: “ Type Orth: 427 1/3, Mantellias pubicornis Westwood ” (Fig. 1A). This specimen clearly exhibits wing and prothoracic leg characters mentioned in pages 38 and 39: “Alae tegminibus majores, praesertim in maribus, area postcostali magna, apice lato […] femoribus anticis compressis sulcatis, in medio dilatatis spinisque subbrevibus armatis; tibiis perbrevibus spinis perpaucis.” (“wings larger than tegminae, particularly in males, post-costal area large, apex broad […] prothoracic femora compressed and furrowed, dilated in the middle, armed with short spines; tibiae pilose with few spines.”).
Therefore, in agreement with ICZN Article 74 (ICZN 1999), this specimen is hereby designated as the lectotype for the taxon Mantellias pubicornis (Fig. 1A); the other two syntypes (Fig. 2A –B), now attributable to Bantiella, become paralectotypes. The lectotype had the abdomen originally glued to the body; however, upon closer examination we recognized that this abdomen does not belong to Mantellias but rather to an undertermined species of Bantiella. We corroborated this after comparing the lectotype’s abdomen and genitalia (Fig. 1 B) with those of other specimens of Bantiella and Mantellias, the latter from Amazonas state, Brazil (Fig. 1 D). Therefore, we consider the lectotype as a composite specimen and purposely remove its abdomen from our redescription of M. pubicornis, in agreement to ICNZ Article 73.1.5, which states: “If a subsequent author finds that a holotype which consists of a set of components (e.g. disarticulated body parts) is not derived from an individual animal, the extraneous components may, by appropriate citation, be excluded from the holotype.”
Redescription of male Lectotype (here designated). Color dark brown. Head small, almost as long as wide, without projections, post-clypeus short. Antennae thin and moniliform, longer than body and with conspicuous pilosity; general color brown, scape with pale base and dark apex, pedicel dark; first flagellomere slightly longer than the rest, maculated, central flagellomeres more rhomboidal. Vertex narrow, arched and slightly more elevated than eyes, the latter globosus. Juxtaocular tubercles not developed. Cuticle under ocelli dark; lateral ocelli oval, central ocellus more rounded. Ocellar tubercle developed, pale, dorsal section slightly elevated. Frontal shield flat, hexagonal, upper margin arched and elevated. Pronotum relatively slender and with marginal denticles, prozone as elevated as metazone in lateral view; metazone 1.5 times the size of the prozone, slightly longer than prothoracic coxae, with well-defined median carina; pronotum disc slightly granulated; supracoxal swelling marked; terminal tubercles of pronotum marked. Prothoracic coxae short, smooth, with dark maculae, the latter more pronounced on the posterior surface; genicular lobule present. Prothoracic femora triangular, slightly dilated dorsally, dark, its posterior surface thoroughly maculated, anterior surface with a black and shiny central macula, proximal and distal margins pale (Fig. 1 C); four postero-ventral spines, all with black apex; eight antero-ventral spines, all black apically but basally maculated; four discoidal spines, dark, tibial claw groove medial. Prothoracic tibiae shorter than metazone, smooth, anterior surface dark; five anteroventral, dark spines, these are separated and erect (not curved), first two spines clearly separated from the rest, and distalmost spine displaced into a more dorsolateral position; four postero-ventral, dark spines, separated, erect (not curved), the first small, the second slightly separated from the rest; tibial claw short, slightly convex, dark, pale anteriorly; prothoracic metatarsi longer than remaining tarsomeres altogether and bearing long, dark setae, tarsomeres II and III dark and maculated. Metathoracic femora and tibiae smooth, lacking keels or lobes; tibiae slightly pilose; metathoracic tarsi with distal maculae. Mesothoracic wings narrow longer than abdomen, hyaline-brown, stigma brown, central part whitish, slightly shorter than the metathoracic pair, apex narrow and almost as wide as proximal end, margins conspicuously pilose; costal area narrow, slightly arched, costal area veins reticulate; discoidal area with pale maculae. Metathoracic wings longer than the abdomen, hyaline-brown, weakly maculated, apically more opaque and discoidal area with distal margin broad, truncated.
Measurements (mm): body length, 16.5; pronotum, 4.7 mm; metazone, 3 mm; mesothoracic wing, 13 mm; metathoracic wing, 13.5 mm; prothoracic coxa, 4.2 mm; prothoracic femur, 4 mm.
Remarks. We concur with Ehrmann (2002) and retain Mantellias within the Oligonicinae, as our own examination of the lectotype confirmed the dorsolateral displacement of the distal-most posteroventral spine of the foretibiae, a distinct feature of the Oligonicinae (Terra 1995). Furthermore, we recognized morphological similarities between Mantellias, Thrynaconyx and Bantia, which suggests a close relationship among these three genera. These can be distinguished on the basis of characters found in the forelegs and wings. For instance, the prothoracic femora of Mantellias are distinct. Overall, these are triangular but somewhat distally tapered, the dorsal edge is slightly but decidedly expanded, forming a sort of lamella, and exhibit a black, shiny macula on its anterior aspect (Fig. 1 C). Thrynaconyx (Fig. 2 C), exhibits rather slender prothoracic femora (its distal half is notoriously narrower than the proximal half, whereas the same are clearly and strongly triangular in Bantia (Fig. 2 D); both Thrynaconyx and Bantia lack the macula on their anterior side or any indication of a dorsal lamella. Mantellias further differs from Thrinaconyx in having only one of its distal-most anteroventral spines slightly displaced into a more dorsolateral position, whereas Thrinaconyx exhibits two of the same and clearly dorsally positioned. The mesothoracic wings of both Mantellias (Fig. 1A) and Bantia (Fig. 2 D) are notoriously narrower than those of Trinaconyx (Fig. 2 C); the metathoracic wings of Mantellias are distinct for having a continuous, distal outline, as there is no break between the discoidal and anal areas (Fig. 1A), whereas the same is notorious in Bantia (Fig. 2 D).
Mantellias is known only from the Amazon rainforest, specifically from the States of Amazonas and Pará, in Brazil. Despite intense historical prospection of the Amazon, specimens of Mantellias are virtually absent in insect collections; this, in addition to the lack of further records outside the Amazon, make of Mantellias one of the rarest Neotropical praying mantis taxon.
The present study addresses the importance of revisiting mantodean taxa rarely cited in the literature, or that remain known from type specimens only (e.g. Agudelo & Rafael 2014). Unfortunately, such taxa still make up a large proportion of known praying mantis diversity. The eventual assessment and taxonomic reinterpretation of these rarely seen species will prove to be highly informative in future systematic treatments of the Mantodea.
description: Published as part of Maldaner, Caroline, Agudelo, Antonio A. & Rafael, José Albertino, 2015, Rediscovery of Mantellias pubicornis Westwood, 1889, a rare praying mantis from the Amazon (Mantodea, Thespidae, Oligonicinae), pp. 195-199 in Zootaxa 3973 (1) on pages 195-198, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3973.1.9, http://zenodo.org/record/233349