Photiomantis Piza, 1968

Agudelo, Antonio A. & Rivera, Julio, 2015, Some taxonomic and nomenclatural changes in American Mantodea (Insecta, Dictyoptera) — Part I, Zootaxa 3936 (3), pp. 335-356 : 345

Photiomantis Piza, 1968 stat. rev.

The taxonomic history of this genus is much complicated due to a number of nomenclatural procedures applied at various times, and by different authors, on multiple other genera. Lombardo (1999) recognized distinct morphological characters in Metriomantis planicephala , species that Rehn (1916) described from Gravatá, Ceará- Mirim , Rio Grande do Norte State ( Brazil) ( Fig. 8 a) and created a new genus to accommodate this species, Rehniella Lombardo, 1999 ; however, this name was not available as it was preoccupied by Rehniella , a genus of Gryllidae (Orthoptera) previosuly erected by Hebard (1928). This case of homonymy prompted Koçak & Kemal (2008) and Özdikmen (2008) to propose, almost simultaneously, two replacement names, Colombiella Koçak & Kemal 2008 and Lombardoa Özdikmen, 2008, with the former name having priority over the latter by just a few weeks of antecedence, thus making Colombiella planicephala ( Rehn, 1916) the new valid name. Rivera (2010a) discussed all the resulting historical nomenclatural issues upon rediscovering the “lost” publication where Piza (1982) described Margaromantis margaritaria Piza, 1982 . After a detailed analysis of this publication, including the holotype of M. margaritaria, Rivera (2010a) concluded that the combination Margaromantis planicephala ( Piza, 1982) should be the valid name for this species, placing Rehniella (sensu Lombardo, 1999; non Hebard, 1928), Colombiella and Lombardoa under synonymy of Margaromantis and M. margaritaria as a synonym of M. planicephala .

During the course of our investigations, we had the opportunity to study the type material corresponding to Photiomantis silvai described by Piza (1968b), a species later transferred to Photinella by Terra (1995). Our analysis of this type ( Fig. 8 b) and additional material made necessary a closer reexamination of the type of M. margaritaria ( Fig. 8 c) in addition to topotypical material of Metriomantis planicephala ( Fig. 9 a–d), as they all seemed to correspond to one single species. Indeed, we could not detect any relevant difference in the constitution of the male genitalia that cannot be attributed to intraspecific geographic variation ( Fig. 9 c–d). Consequently, the name Photiomantis is here resurrected from synonymy and, in accordance to the “Principle of Priority”, Photiomantis planicephala ( Rehn, 1916) is now the valid name for this species.

More recently, Menezes & Bravo (2015) described Margaromantis nigrolineata from northeastern Brazil. This is a valid species, but referable instead to Photiomantis .

The summary of the taxonomy of this genus and species is a follows:

Figures

FIGURE 8. Metriomantis planicephala (now Photiomantis planicephala): a) holotype ♀, dorsal habitus, from Ceará-Mirim, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil (ANSP). Photiomantis silvai (now Photiomantis planicephala): b) holotype ♂, dorsal habitus, from Piauí, Brazil (ESALQ). Margaromantis margaritaria (now Photiomantis planicephala): c) holotype ♂, dorsal habitus, from Petrolima, Pernambuco, Brazil (ESALQ).

FIGURE 9. Structures of the phallic complex and variation of pseudophallus in ventral view: a) left epiphallus, and b) hypophallus of topotypical male of Photiomantis planicephala, c) pseudophallus of Photiomantis silvai (now Photiomantis planicephala); d) pseudophallus of Margaromantis margaritaria (now Photiomantis planicephala) (ESALQ).