Thespidae
Creators: name: Rivera, Julio
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2010
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Mantodea
Thespidae

description: Thespidae
A rather diverse assemblage of small, slender, dull-coloured and usually delicate-looking mantids with wingless females. Species in this group often show little interspecific variability. This taxonomically complicated family has received little treatment and is in need of a major revision. The current subfamily arrangement follows Terra (1995), which is based on the author’s unpublished Master’s thesis (Terra 1982b) and it includes four subfamilies in the Neotropics (Terra 1995; Ehrmann 2002):
Pseudomiopteriginae has seven genera (Ehrmann 2002), five of which occur in the Neotropics. Pseudomiopteryx Saussure includes ten species and is in need of revision. Most of these species were described in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and most descriptions lack useful distinctive characters or detailed illustrations that might allow accurate identifications and comparative analysis. This genus seems to be very diverse and in most cases species are only separable by comparative analysis of the male genitalia (pers. obs.). Only the male genitalia of P. f e s t a e (Giglio-Tos 1898) (Lombardo & Agabiti 2001) and P. bogotensis gorgonae Ariza & Salazar, 2005 (Ariza & Salazar 2005) have been described. Salazar (2006b) presented a photograph of the holotype of P. bogotensis Saussure, 1870. The genus Anamiopteryx Giglio-Tos includes three species and Beier (1935a) and Rehn (1920) may still be of some utility for their identification. Only the male genitalia of A. borelli Giglio-Tos, 1915 is known (Lombardo 2000b). Eumiopteryx Giglio-Tos includes three poorly known species. Jantsch (1991) presented a key for separation of E. magna Jantsch 1991 and E. laticollis Giglio-Tos, 1915. Leptomiopteryx Chopard includes only two species and the original descriptions may still be of some use to distinguish them (Chopard 1912; Beier 1930). Finally, Pizaia Terra includes a single species known only from the original description (Terra 1982a).
Miopteryginae consists of five genera (Ehrmann 2002), all in the Neotropical region. Most of these genera, such as Promiopteryx Giglio-Tos (5 spp.), Emboicy Terra (1 sp.) and Miobantia Giglio-Tos (6 spp.) are poorly known and in need of revision. Salazar (2006b) published a photograph of the holotype of Promiopteryx granadensis (Saussure, 1870). The highly cryptic, lichen mimics in Calopteromantis Terra (4 spp.) were partially treated by Lombardo & Ayala (1999), who described the male genitalia of C. hebardi Terra, 1982a and C. otongica Lombardo & Ayala, 1999; two other species have been described by Jantsch (1994a) and Salazar (2002a). Chloromiopteryx Giglio-Tos has a single distinctive species, C. thalassina (Burmeister, 1838), from southern Brazil.
Thespinae contains nine genera (Ehrmann 2002), eight of which are distributed in the Neotropical region. None of these genera have been reviewed with the exception of the monospecific Paramusonia Rehn; P. cubensis (Saussure, 1869), was thoroughly redescribed recently by Lombardo & Perez-Gelabert (2004). The taxonomy of this subfamily is chaotic and generic limits are not well established. Musonia Stål (8 spp.), Musoniella Giglio-Tos (9 spp.) and Musoniola Giglio-Tos (5 spp.) all include very similar species, most of them almost impossible to differentiate using the available literature. A number of synonymies are likely to exist within these genera. Male genital structure is known only for Musoniella margheritae Battiston & Picciau, 2008b. A similar paucity of data is found in Thespis Serville, which has seven species but only one (Thespis media Giglio-Tos, 1916) with the male genitalia described (Cerdá 1993b). The remaining genera are Eumusonia Giglio-Tos (3 spp.), Macromusonia Hebard, and Galapagia Scudder (3 spp.). Macromusonia has two well known, widely distributed species. Battiston & Picciau (2008a) illustrated a living specimen of M. compersa (Saussure, 1870), whereas Galapagia amazonica Terra, 1982a probably should be placed elsewhere (J. Rivera, unpublished).
Oligonicinae is a rather diverse and morphologically heterogeneous subfamily of 16 genera (Ehrmann, 2002), none of which has ever been reviewed. The taxonomy of this subfamily is especially complicated and in most cases species are known from unique type specimens. The taxonomic literature may allow the identification of only a handful of species, but these references must be interpreted with caution since most of these descriptions relied on highly variable characters of little importance, such as coloration and size. Taxonomically informative characters, such as male genitalia, have never been mentioned or described for most species, except for: Thesprotiella festae Giglio-Tos, 1915 (Lombardo & Agabiti 2001), Thesprotia brevis Giglio-Tos, 1915 (Agudelo & Chica 2003b), Bactromantis tolteca (Saussure & Zehntner, 1894) and Oligonicella bolliana (Saussure & Zehntner, 1894) (Battiston et al. 2005), and Oligonicella agudeloi Ariza & Salazar, 2005 (Ariza & Salazar, 2005). A photo of one syntype of Thrinaconyx fumosus Saussure & Zehntner, 1894 and Mionyx saevus Saussure & Zehntner, 1894 (= Pseudomusonia lineativentris (Stål, 1877) is presented by Salazar & Stiewe (2009). This subfamily appears to be very speciose and the number of described species certainly underrepresents its actual diversity, making literature-based species identification challenging (pers. obs.). Some other poorly known genera such as Mantellias Westwood and Liguanea Rehn & Hebard, placed in Oligonicinae by Ehrmann (2002), are in need of further evaluation. Finally, the genus Mantillica Westwood, often considered to belong to Oligonicinae, includes two species, but at least one species, M. beieri Kaltenbach, 1957, probably should be transferred to Mantoida (J. Rivera, unpublished).
description: Published as part of Rivera, Julio, 2010, A historical review of praying mantid taxonomy and systematics in the Neotropical Region: State of knowledge and recent advances (Insecta: Mantodea), pp. 44-64 in Zootaxa 2638 on pages 52-53, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.198493