A novel form of wasp mimicry in a new species of praying mantis from the Amazon rainforest, gen. nov. sp. nov. (Mantodea, Mantoididae).

A wasp mimicking praying mantis (Mantodea) of the early evolving Mantoididae family was discovered in 2013 at a research station near the Amazon River in Northern Peru. This adult specimen exhibited a striking bright red/orange and black coloration pattern that was undocumented in all known praying mantis species. We tested the status of this new specimen using external morphology, male genital dissections, and geographic distribution.

A Cretaceous-aged Palaeotropical dispersal established an endemic lineage of Caribbean praying mantises.

Recent phylogenetic advances have uncovered remarkable biogeographic histories that have challenged traditional concepts of dispersal, vicariance and diversification in the Greater Antilles. Much of this focus has centred on vertebrate lineages despite the high diversity and endemism of terrestrial arthropods, which account for 2.5 times the generic endemism of all Antillean plants and non-marine vertebrates combined.

An elusive Neotropical giant, gen. n. & sp. n. (Antemninae, Mantidae): a new lineage of mantises exhibiting an ontogenetic change in cryptic strategy.

We present the description of a new genus and new species of praying mantis, This species of cryptic mantis, collected in National parks in Mexico and Honduras, remained unknown despite its considerable body size. Based on a phylogenetic analysis with molecular data and traditional morphological analysis, we place this new genus within Antemninae, a monotypic Mantidae subfamily. We update the subfamily concept for Antemninae and provide a key to the two genera.

Selection for predation, not female fecundity, explains sexual size dimorphism in the orchid mantises.

Here we reconstruct the evolutionary shift towards floral simulation in orchid mantises and suggest female predatory selection as the likely driving force behind the development of extreme sexual size dimorphism. Through analysis of body size data and phylogenetic modelling of trait evolution, we recovered an ancestral shift towards sexual dimorphisms in both size and appearance in a lineage of flower-associated praying mantises. Sedentary female flower mantises dramatically increased in size prior to a transition from camouflaged, ambush predation to a floral simulation strategy, gaining access to, and visually attracting, a novel resource: large pollinating insects.

Taxonomic revision of Stagmatoptera Burmeister, 1838 (Mantodea: Mantidae, Stagmatopterinae).

Stagmatoptera Burmeister, 1838 includes medium to large-sized (49.8-98.7mm) praying mantises distributed in the Neotropical region.