Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Responsive image
Issue: Vol. 5343 No. 1: 6 Sept. 2023
Type: Article
Published: 2023-09-06
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5343.1.2
Page range: 31-54
Abstract views: 382
PDF downloaded: 16

A hidden gem from Northeastern Brazil: A new species of Metaphotina Piza, 1964 (Mantodea, Acontistidae) ecologically linked to the Caatinga

Departamento de Entomologia; Museu Nacional; Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro; Quinta da Boa Vista; São Cristóvão; Rio de Janeiro; RJ; Brazil
Departamento de Entomologia; Museu Nacional; Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro; Quinta da Boa Vista; São Cristóvão; Rio de Janeiro; RJ; Brazil
Department of biological sciences; Université de Montréal; Institut de Recherche en Biologie Végétale (IRBV); 4101 Sherbrooke St E; Montreal; Quebec; H1X2B2; Canada; Montreal Insectarium; 4101 Sherbrooke St E; Montreal; Quebec; H1X2B2; Canada
Mantodea Taxonomy Diversity Praying mantis iNaturalist Acanthopoidea

Abstract

A new species of praying mantis, Metaphotina austri sp. n., is described from the Caatinga biome in Brazil. The species can be easily distinguished from its congeners by its small body size and diagnostic characters found on the head, wings, and male genitalia. Distributional data compiled from specimen labels, historical literature, and the citizen science platform iNaturalist showed that M. austri sp. n. is mainly associated with the northernmost and driest region of the Caatinga, known as the “Depressão Sertaneja Setentrional.” Ecological and geographical data about the new species, as well as comments on the diversity of Mantodea in the Caatinga, are provided, highlighting the importance of crowdsourced data for a more comprehensive understanding of praying mantis species’ distribution and their natural history.

 

References

  1. Agudelo, A.A. & Chica, L.M. (2002) Mántidos—Introducción al conocimiento del orden Mantodea. 1st Edition. Grupo Editorial Gaia, Bogotá, Ed. 1, 1–30.
  2. Agudelo, A.A. & Rafael, J.A. (2016) Review of Paraphotina (Mantodea: Photinaidae). Zoologia, 33 (6), e20160055. https://doi.org/10.1590/s1984-4689zool-20160055
  3. Agudelo, A.A. & Rivera, J. (2015) Some taxonomic and nomenclatural changes in American Mantodea (Insecta, Dictyoptera)—part I. Zootaxa, 3936 (3), 335–356. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3936.3.2
  4. Agudelo, A.A., Maldaner, C. & Rafael, J.A. (2019) Dry leaf or twig mantis? A new genus and species of Acanthopidae with sexually dimorphic cryptic strategies (Insecta: Mantodea). Zootaxa, 4560 (2), 331–334. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4560.2.6
  5. Baker, F. (1913) The land and fresh-water mollusks of the Stanford Expedition to Brazil. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 65 (3), 623–624.
  6. Brannoch, S.K. Wieland, F., Rivera, J., Klass, K.-D., Béthoux, O. & Svenson, G.J. (2017) Manual of praying mantis morphology, nomenclature, and practices (Insecta, Mantodea). Zookeys, 696, 1–100. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.696.12542
  7. Cerdá, F.J. (1993) Valor taxonomico del complejo falico en mantidos neotropicales (Dictyoptera: Mantodea). Boletín de entomología venezolana, New Series, 8 (1), 33–52.
  8. de Albuquerque, U.P., de Lima Araújo, E., El-Deir, A.C., de Lima, A.L., Souto, A., Bezerra, B.M., Ferraz, E.M., Maria Xavier Freire, E., Sampaio, E.V., Las-Casas, F.M., de Moura, G.J., Pereira, G.A., de Melo, J.G., Alves Ramos, M., Rodal, M.J., Schiel, N., de Lyra-Neves, R.M., Alves, R.R., de Azevedo-Júnior, S.M., Telino Júnior, W.R. & Severi, W. (2012) Caatinga revisited: ecology and conservation of an important seasonal dry forest. The Scientific World Journal, 205182, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1100/2012/205182
  9. Ehrmann, R. (2002) Gottesanbeterinnen der Welt. Münster: Natur und Tier Verlag, 519 pp.
  10. Fernandes, M.F., Cardoso, D., Pennington, R.T. & de Queiroz, L.P. (2022) The origins and historical assembly of the Brazilian Caatinga seasonally dry tropical forests. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 10, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2022.723286
  11. Heleodoro, R.A., Agudelo, A. & Andreazze, R. (2016) The Mantodea (Dictyoptera: Insecta) of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil: First List of Species and Geographical Records. EntomoBrasilis, 9 (3), 202–206. https://doi.org/10.12741/ebrasilis.v9i3.648
  12. Mann, W.M. (1916) The Stanford Expedition to Brazil, 1911, John C. Branner, Director. The Ants of Brazil. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, 60 (11), 400–401.
  13. Medeiros, R., Andrade, J., Ramos, D., Moura, M., Pérez-Marin, A.M., dos Santos, C.A., da Silva, B.B. & Cunha, J. (2022) Remote sensing phenology of the Brazilian Caatinga and its environmental drivers. Remote Sensing, 14, 2637. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14112637
  14. Menezes, E. & Bravo, F. (2014) Mantodea (Insecta) do Semiárido. In:. Calor, A. & Bravo, F (2014) Artrópodes do Semiárido: biodiversidade e conservação. Printmídia, Feira de Santana, 298 pp.
  15. Menezes, E.C. & Bravo, F. (2012) A new species of Decimiana Uvarov (Insecta, Mantodea, Acanthopidae) from Brazil, with remarks on the distribution of Decimiana bolivari (Chopard). ZooKeys, 236, 55–64. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.236.3477
  16. Menezes, E.C. & Bravo, F. (2013) Uma nova espécie de Orthoderella Giglio-Tos (Mantodea, Mantidae, Photinainae) do Brasil. Revista Brasileira de Entomologia, 57, 12–18. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0085-56262013000100003
  17. Menezes, E.C. & Bravo, F. (2015) A new species of Margaromantis Piza, 1982 (Insecta: Mantodea) from Brazil. Biodiversity Data Journal, 3, e4343. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.3.e4343
  18. Menezes, E.C., Neto, A.M.S. & Quijano, F.R.B. (2013). First Records of Mantodea (Insecta, Dictyoptera) from the Serra das Confusões National Park, Piauí State, Brazil. EntomoBrasilis, 6 (3), 210–213. https://doi.org/10.12741/ebrasilis.v6i3.315
  19. Otte, D. & Spearman, L.A. (2005) Mantida species file, catalog of the mantids of the world. Association of Insect Diversity, Philadelphia, 489 pp.
  20. Pennington, R.T., Prado, D.E. & Pendry, C.A. (2000) Neotropical seasonally dry forests and Pleistocene vegetation changes. Journal of Biogeography, 27 (2), 261–273. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2699.2000.00397.x
  21. Piza de Toledo, S. Jr. (1964) Um novo genero de Mantidae do Brasil. Congreso Latino-Americano de Zoologia, 1, 125.
  22. Rehn, J.A.G. (1916) The Stanford Expedition to Brazil, 1911 Dermaptera and Orthoptera I, Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 42, 257–266.
  23. Rivera, J. (2010) Lost and found: Rediscovery of the genus Margaromantis Piza, 1982 and consequential nomenclatural changes in the genus Colombiella Koçak & Kemal, 2008 (Mantodea: Mantidae, Photinainae). Zootaxa, 2529 (1), 65–68. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.2529.1.4
  24. Rivera, J. & Svenson, G.J. (2016) The Neotropical ꞌpolymorphic earless praying mantisesꞌ—Part I: molecular phylogeny and revised higher-level systematics (Insecta: Mantodea, Acanthopoidea). Systematic Entomology, 41, 608–649. https://doi.org/10.1111/syen.12178
  25. Rivera, J. & Svenson, G.J. (2020) The Neotropical ꞌPolymorphic Earless Praying Mantisesꞌ—Part II: A taxonomic review of the genera and checklist of species. Thomas Say Publication in Entomology, Monographs, Annapolis, Maryland, 231 pp. https://doi.org/10.4182/QQHU9127
  26. Roy, R. & Ehermann, R. (2009) Révision du Genre Zoolea Audinet-Serville [Mantodea, Mantidae, Vatinae]. Revue française d’Entomologie, 31 (1), 1–22.
  27. Sampaio, E.V.S.B. (1995) Overview of the Brazilian Caatinga. In: Bullock, S.H., Mooney, H.A. & Medina, E. (Eds.), Seasonally Dry Tropical Forests. University Press, Cambridge, pp. 35–63. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511753398.003
  28. Santos, J.C., Leal, I.R., Almeida-Cortez, J.S., Fernandes, G.W. & Tabarelli, M. (2011) Caatinga: the scientific negligence experienced by a dry tropical forest. Tropical Conservation Science, 4 (3), 276–286. https://doi.org/10.1177/194008291100400306
  29. Saussure, H. (1872a) Mantides et Blattides. In: Melánges Orthoptérologiques. 2nd Tome. 4º fascicule. H. George, Genève et Bale, pp. 1–836.
  30. Saussure, H. (1872b) Recherchers Zoologiques pour servir a l’histoire de la faune de l’Amérique Centrale et du Mexique. Études sur les Insectes Orthoptères. Famille des Mantides. Mission Mexico, 6 (4), 202–295, Farb.-Taf. 5–6.
  31. Schwarz, C.J. & Roy, R. (2019) The systematics of Mantodea revisited: an updated classification incorporating multiple data sources (Insecta: Dictyoptera). Annales de la Société entomologique de France, New Series, 55 (2), 101–196. https://doi.org/10.1080/00379271.2018.1556567
  32. Silva, N.A.P., Frizzas, M.R. & Oliveira, C.M. (2011) Seasonality in insect abundance in the “Cerrado” of Goiás State, Brazil. Revista Brasileira de Entomologia, 55 (1), 79–87. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0085-56262011000100013
  33. Tabarelli, M., Pinto, L.P., Silva, J.M.C., Hirota, M.M. & Bedê, L.C. (2005) Desafios e oportunidades para a conservação da biodiversidade na Mata Atlântica brasileira. Megadiversidade, 1 (1), 132–138.
  34. Terra, P. (1995) Revisão sistemática dos gêneros de louva-a-deus da região Neotropical (Mantodea). Revista Brasileira de Entomologia, 39 (1), 13–94.
  35. Velloso, A.L., Sampaio, E.V.S.B. & Pareyn, F.G. (2002) Ecorregiões propostas para o Bioma Caatinga. Associaçao Plantas do Nordeste, Instituto de Conservaçao Ambiental. The Nature Conservancy do Brasil, Recife, 75 pp.