A review of the biology and biogeography of Mantispidae (Neuroptera)

Abstract

Adult Mantispidae are general predators of arthropods equipped with raptorial forelegs. The three larval instars display varying degrees of hypermetamorphic ontogeny. The larval stages exhibit a remarkable life history ranging from specialised predators of nest-building hymenopteran larvae and pupa, to specialised predators of spider-eggs, to possible generalist predators of immature insects. Noteworthy advances in our understanding of the biology of Mantispidae has come to light over the past two decades which are compiled and addressed in this review. All interactions of mantispids with other arthropods are tabled and their biology critically discussed and compared to the current classification of the taxon. Additionally, the ambigous systematics within Mantispidae and between Mantispidae and its sister groups, Rhachiberothidae and Berotidae, is reviewed. Considering the biology, systematics, distribution of higher taxonomic levels and the fossil record, the historical biogeography of the group is critically discussed with Gondwana as the epicenter of Mantispidae radiation.

New host record for the enigmatic Neotropical mantidfly genus Anchieta Navás, 1909 (Neuroptera, Mantispidae), a mimic of wasps and stingless bees

“…It has previously been reported that some species of Anchieta mimic stingless bees (Penny, 1982;Penny & Costa, 1984;Hogue, 1993), social wasps (e.g., A. fumosella in Buys, 2008) or braconids equipped with repugnant glands (e.g., A. fasciatella in Ardila-Camacho & García, 2015). Aggressive social paper wasps are common models for mantispids throughout the world (Batra, 1972;Boyden, 1983;Beck, 2005;Snyman et al, 2020), and individual species have been shown to form distinct color morph mimics that traces the local wasp fauna through polymorphism (Batra, 1972;Opler, 1981). While a Vespidae wasp model is observed in a single species (i.e., yellow and black morph of A. fumosella), most species of Anchieta appear to closely resemble either Ptilotrigona Moure, 1951 (e.g., A. apiculasaeva Thouvenot, 2009, A. bella , A. eurydella , A. partheniella , A. remipes (Gerstaecker, 1888), and Anchieta sp.…”

“…Their general appearance superficially resembles that of praying mantises (Insecta: Mantodea), but such condition is evidently a product of evolutionary convergence (Aspöck & Aspöck, 2007). Despite the interesting morphology of the adults, the mimicry with toxic or poisonous insects exhibited by several genera, and the complex postembryonic development (hypermetamorphis) (Brauer, 1852(Brauer, , 1869(Brauer, , 1887 -in which their larvae may be ectoparasitoids, parasites, and spider-egg predators -, many aspects of mantidflies biology and taxonomy still need research (Redborg & MacLeod, 1985;Eggleton & Belshaw, 1992;Redborg, 1998;Snyman et al, 2020).…”

“…The Mantispidae species for which the biology is better known belong to the subfamily Mantispinae, whose larvae feed primarily on spi-der eggs, yet sometimes can feed temporarily on spider hemolymph, when the eggs are unavailable (Redborg & MacLeod, 1985;Redborg, 1998). Of the remaining smaller subfamilies, the New World Symphrasinae, which is composed of three extant genera, Anchieta Navás, 1909, Plega Navás, 1928and Trichoscelia Westwood, 1852 have been reported as ectoparasitoids of larval Hymenoptera, Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, and possibly Diptera (Redborg, 1998;Hook et al, 2010;Maia-Silva et al, 2013;Snyman et al, 2020). Most of the hymenopteran records has been on Polybia Lepeletier, 1836 (Vespidae: White, 1841;Walker, 1853;Rogenhofer, 1862;Smith, 1863;Hagen, 1877;Brauer, 1887;Berg, 1899;Parfin, 1958;Richards, 1978;Penny, 1982;Dejan & Canard, 1990), but also apoid wasps of the genus Trypoxylon Latreille, 1796 (Crabronidae: Parker & Stange, 1965;Buys, 2008), as well as various solitary bees, such as Melitoma Lepeletier & Serville, 1828 (Apidae: Linsley & MacSwain, 1955;Linsley et al, 1980), Hylaeus Fabricius, 1793(Colletidae: Hook et al, 2010, and Megachile Latreille, 1802 (Megachilidae: Parker & Stange, 1965).…”

High morphological disparity of neuropteran larvae during the Cretaceous revealed by a new large species

“…With nearly 6000 extant species, Neuroptera is the largest and best-known order of Neuropterida (Vasilikopoulos et al 2020;Lu & Liu, 2021;Oswald, 2021), its adults characterized by gracile bodies and membranous, many-veined wings (Lu & Liu, 2021), many of them resembling insects of other groups, such as the extinct butterfly-like adults of Kalligrammatidae (Labandeira et al 2016;Liu et al 2018a), extant dragonfly-like adults of Ascalaphidae (Gao et al 2018), and mantis or wasp-like adults of Mantispidae (Snyman et al 2020). Compared with adults, neuropteran larvae are less prominent and have received less attention (Tauber et al 2009); however, they play an important role in the study of lacewing phylogeny (Aspöck & Aspöck, 2007).…”

The first adult mantis lacewing from Baltic amber, with an evaluation of the post-Cretaceous loss of morphological diversity of raptorial appendages in Mantispidae

“…Mantis lacewings are representatives of Neuroptera (i.e., lacewings and their relatives). Neuroptera today comprise about 6,000 species worldwide (Engel et al 2018, Snyman et al 2020, Ardila-Camacho et al 2021. Mantispidae are classified within the larger group Mantispoidea, which aside from mantis lacewings also includes the groups Rhachiberothidae (thorny lacewings) and Berothidae (beaded lacewings), as well as extinct groups such as Mesoberothidae and Dipteromantispidae (Ardila-Camacho et al 2021).…”