Leptomantispa trilineata (Navás)

Pires Machado, Renato Jose, Li, Hongyu & Ohl, Michael, 2025, Solving taxonomic and nomenclatural problems among the Neotropical species of the family Mantispidae (Insecta, Neuroptera), Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 72 (1), pp. 57-83 : 57-83

Leptomantispa trilineata (Navás)

Fig. 18

Mantispa trilineata Navás, 1914 b: 230 . Holotype: female ( NHMUK). Type locality: Brazil: Paraná: Castro .

Notes.

This species was described by Navás, (1914 b) explicitly based on one specimen from the municipality of Castro, in the state of Paraná in southern Brazil. It was later reported from Argentina ( Navás 1921) and listed by Penny (1977). However, the first review of the species was published by Penny (1982), who mentioned that after studying the female holotype from NHMUK, he considered M. trilineata to be a junior synonym of M. gracilis (now in Dicromantispa ). The synonym proposed by Penny (1982) was followed by all subsequent authors ( Penny and Costa 1983; Carvalho and Corseuil 1995; Ohl 2004; Machado and Rafael 2010; Ardila-Camacho and García 2015; Ardila-Camacho et al. 2018). Herein, after analyzing the female holotype, it is clear to us that the species is, in fact, not a synonym of D. gracilis as currently accepted. Instead, the species clearly belongs in Leptomantispa : it presents all the diagnostic characters of the genus as described by Hoffman (2002): forewing without a mark posterior to cell 1 MP, and Sc and RA forming an angle between 40–50 ° (Fig. 18 G ), but most importantly the presence of prominent setae arising flush to the entire pronotal dorsal surface (Fig. 18 B ). Furthermore, M. trilineata perfectly matches with the specimens that are currently identified as L. axillaris (see discussion above). The overall body color is markedly similar, although the holotype of M. trilineata color seems a little faded, and the subcostal area in the forewing is hyaline (Fig. 18 G ). Additionally, L. axillaris can be easily collected in Paraná state including at the type locality of M. trilineata . In this sense, we are herein synonymizing Mantispa trilineata Navás, 1914 under Leptomantispa axillaris ( Navás, 1908) . (new combination, new synonym)

Figures

Figure 18. Mantispa trilineata Navás 1914, holotype, female. A. Head and thorax, dorsal view; B. Habitus photo, lateral view; C, D. Head, frontal and dorsal views; E, F. Foreleg, outer and inner surfaces; G, H. Right fore and hind wings; I. Labels.