Miobantia rafaeli Scherrer & Agudelo, 2019

Scherrer, Marcus V. & Agudelo, Antonio A., 2019, A new species of Miobantia Giglio-Tos, 1917 with a novel morphological feature (Mantodea: Thespidae: Miobantiinae), Zootaxa 4555 (2), pp. 283-286 : 283-285

Miobantia rafaeli Scherrer & Agudelo , sp. nov. (Figs 1; 2A–B; 3A–C)

Description, male, holotype. Measurements (mm). Body length 17.2 (from head to tip of abdomen); pronotum, 4.6;

metazone, 3.0; forecoxa, 4.0; forewing, 17.4; hindwing, 17.8; maximum width of head, 3.0; prozone at mid-section, 1.1, supracoxal dilatation, 1.7; metazone minimum width, 0.8.

Head. Lower frons about twice as wide as its lateral length; tubercle between compound eye and circumantennal sulcus small, indistinct; ocelli medium-sized, central ocellus as elevated as lateral ocellus, distance between lateral and central ocelli equal to lateral ocellus length; vertex slightly convex, distinctly higher than imaginary line joining apex of eyes, with region between parietal sulcus and eye more elevated towards parietal sulcus, slightly convex; parietal sulcus regularly marked; vertex region between parietal sulci laterally abruptly elevated next to parietal sulci, medially following overall outline of lateral part.

Pronotum. Surface with moderately long pilosity, supracoxal dilatation 1.55 times as wide as prozone middle width; margins smooth, lacking denticles.

Prothoracic legs. Forecoxa markedly longer than metazone. Spination formula: F = 4DS/12AvS/4PvS; T = 9AvS/ 8PvS. Forefemora anteroventral spine 6 with shape and size more similar to spine 5 than spines 2 and 4, distance between anteroventral spines 12 and 11 about same distance as between spines 10 and 11, anteroventral spine 12 about same size of spine 10. Foretibiae with 8 equidistant posteroventral spines, spine 2 very small.

Meso- and metathoracic legs: unknown due to specimen damage.

Wings: Forewings slightly shorter than hindwings; vein M1 branched; vein CuA1 branches slightly sinuous. Hindwing apical angle about 47°, left vein CuA1 branched, right unbranched; apex rounded.

Abdomen: Supraanal plate very short, subrounded, faintly pointed.

Genitalia ( Fig. 3 A–C): right margin of ventral phallomere with distal process slightly long, thin, apex sharp, fully sclerotized, lacking denticulation; left process faintly sclerotized, markedly projected, long, curved, distinctly turned backwards, with basal portion slightly wider, apex rounded and narrower than base; slit between posterior margin of ventral phallomere and left process deep. Left phallomere with anterior process slightly long, moderately large, markedly curved at its middle, forwardly oriented, its forwardly oriented apex about as wide as in its middle section; expanded portion between anterior process and phalloid apophysis short and forwardly oriented; with strongly sclerotized area between phalloid apophysis and membranous lobe; phalloid apophysis regularly long, slender, its basal portion projected to the left, then continuously curved but straightening apically, not flattened; membranous lobe wide; posterior margin of dorsal lamina with its left portion projected, expanded, uniformly curved.

Color: Body entirely dark brown, except limbs and ventral aspect of thorax which are mostly light brown. Head: mouthparts, labrum, clypeus, lower frons, and frontal gena mostly with light brown pigmentation, but cuticle is darker in the central part of these aforementioned sclerites, as well as in mandibles and apex of labial palpi; circumantennal area and scape brown, except for apical dark mark; pedicel and each individual flagellomere brown, centrally darker; dorsal aspect of head dark brown with few, sparse light brown and irregularly-shaped marks of various intensities; vertex and ocellar tubercle with central light brown line. Pronotum: entirely dark brown dorsally, with irregularly-shaped light brown, evanescent marks; margins brown, with dark spots; ventral area light brown, with few, sparse dark spots, and black median stripe on its posterior half. Legs: foreleg mostly light brown, with many dark spots; foretrochanters laterally with few large dark spots, medially with large longitudinal dark mark; forefemora and foretibiae with three large, darkish transverse stripes, which are darker on tibiae; foreleg spines apically darkened; mid- and hindcoxae with dark spots; mid- and hindfemora, tibiae and tarsi unknown due to specimen damage. Wings: mostly dark brown, slightly translucent; apical costal margins, some of the forewing veins, and apical area of hindwing with lighter large marks, not restricted to vein limits; darker marks of forewing present only on main veins, cross-veins without dark spots; forewing vein R with dark spots, with marks of unequal sizes, spaced from each other by 2.0–3.0 times the length of the smallest dark spots.

Female, immature stages, and ootheca. Unknown.

Variability. Paratype very similar to holotype, except for the foretibiae with posteroventral spine 2 much smaller, almost vestigial; hindwing vein CuA1 of both wings branched. Paratype with left metafemur and tibia preserved, mostly brown, with dark spots; two large darkish, transversal stripes on distal area of hindfemur and on proximal area of hindtibia.

Comments. Until the description of Miobantia rafaeli the most distinct diagnostic features of Miobantia was the presence of seven posteroventral spines on the foretibia, and a spineless gap between the first two spines, thus making spine 1 distinctly removed from the others (Fig. 2C). It is even used to identify the genus in the final couplets of the key to the Neotropical genera provided by Terra (1995). Miobantia rafaeli is now the first species to be known for having 8 equidistant posteroventral spines in the foretibia (Fig. 2A & B). It is unlikely that this feature is a morphological anomaly of the specimens studied. In the recent review of the genus, Scherrer (2014) studied 793 males of Miobantia fuscata from 29 different locations, and even though there was some variation in the number of foretibial anteroventral spines, which ranges from 9 to 11, the number of posteroventral spines was consistently seven across specimen. It has also been found that individual anatomical variations are frequently found on only one side of the specimen, very rarely existing the same variation on both sides within the same specimen. In fact, it seems to be the case for the alternative hindwing vein CuA1 branching patterns found in the holotype of M. rafaeli which have the left vein CuA1 branched while the right one is unbranched. The paratype, however, have the vein CuA1 branched in both hindwings, which shows that this is probably the general pattern of the species. By contrast, eight posteroventral spines are present on both foretibiae in all specimens examined, thus reducing the probability of being individual anatomical variations.

This species is most similar to Miobantia fuscata based on the general body color, shape, and size, with both forewing vein M1 and hindwing vein CuA1 branched. Because of these features, the couplets leading to M. fuscata in the key to Miobantia spp. (males) provided by Scherrer (2014) will also fit M. rafaeli . However, M. rafaeli can be easily distinguished from M. fuscata by the presence of eight foretibial equidistant posteroventral spines, with spine 2 smaller than the others, and the distal process of the ventral phallomere fully sclerotized, distinctly thinner and sharper than the one of M. fuscata (compare Figs 3B & 3D ).

Distribution. Brazil. Recorded only from the type locality: Bahia, Berizal.

Material Examined. 2 ♂♂. Holotype: ♂ from BRAZIL, BA, Berizal , Fazenda Veredao, -15.2954, - 41.3956.12. xii.2012. J.A. Rafael & E.J. Grossi. ( INPA) . Paratype: ♂ BRAZIL, BA, Berizal , Fazenda Veredao, - 15.2954, -41.3956.12. xii.2012. J.A. Rafael & E.J. Grossi. ( INPA) .

Etymology. Named after Dr. José Albertino Rafael, one of the most notable Brazilian entomologists, leading advocate for research on Mantodea in Brazil, and collector of the type series.

Figures

FIGURE 3. A–C, Miobantia rafaeli sp. nov., male genitalia: A, paratype, right dorsal phallomere, ventral view; B, holotype, ventral phallomere, ventral view; C, holotype, left dorsal phallomere, dorsal view. D, M. fuscata, specimen from Brazil, Espírito Santo, Sooretama, Reserva Biológica Sooretama (from the Entomological Collection of the Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo—UFES), ventral phallomere of the male genitalia, ventral view (not to scale). Arrows: right distal process of the ventral phallomere.