Mantoididae Explained

Mantoididae is a family of praying mantises which contains Neotropical species of praying mantises from tropical North and South America. The family was formerly represented by the sole genus Mantoida, until the genus Paramantoida^[1] was described in 2014 and Vespamantoida^[2] in 2019. The family differs from the closely related Chaeteessidae in having an apical claw on the fore tibiae which are also less curved. Males have ocelli and a cylindrical body shape, unlike the dorsoventrally flattened Chaeteessidae. The cerci are also shorter.

Genera

The following genera are placed in the family Mantoididae:^[3]

• Mantoida - 11 species,
• Paramantoida - 1 species Paramantoida amazonica, typically dark colored with white spots resembling certain wasps
• Vespamantoida - 2 species, resemble some ichneumonid wasps^[4]
• †Pseudomantoida Schubnel and Nel 2019 Oise amber, France, Eocene (Ypresian)

Notes and References

1. Agudelo AA . A new genus and species of Mantoididae (Mantodea) from the Brazilian and Venezuelan Amazon, with remarks on Mantoida Newman, 1838 . Zootaxa . 3797 . 3797 . 194–206 . May 2014 . 24870864 . 10.11646/zootaxa.3797.1.14 .
2. Svenson GJ, Rodrigues HM . Vespamantoida wherleyi gen. nov. sp. nov. (Mantodea, Mantoididae) . PeerJ . 7 . e7886 . 2019-10-17 . 31656699 . 10.7717/peerj.7886 . 6812689 . free .
3. Web site: family Mantoididae: Mantodea Species File. mantodea.speciesfile.org. 2019-12-25.
4. Svenson GJ, Rodrigues HM . Vespamantoida wherleyi gen. nov. sp. nov. (Mantodea, Mantoididae) . PeerJ . 7 . e7886 . 2019-10-17 . 31656699 . 6812689 . 10.7717/peerj.7886 . free .