Family MANTISPIDAE

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Family MANTISPIDAE

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T.R. New La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria, Australia

Introduction

These specialised mantis-like lacewings are very distinctive. Adults of some species are brightly coloured, and may be collected by sweeping blossom; others are crepuscular and are attracted to light. Three (of four) subfamilies occur in Australia, following the taxonomic arrangement of Lambkin (1986a, 1986b), namely Mantispinae, Calomantispinae and Drepanicinae.

Eggs of some species are laid in very large batches, sometimes communally (McKeown & Mincham 1948). Larvae are initially active triungulins which either board a female spider and enter her egg sac when it is produced, or search directly for egg sacs. They then become sedentary parasitoids, and spend the rest of their immature life in the host egg sac. Some non-Australian taxa parasitise social Hymenoptera or other hosts. Life history information on Australian species is available only for Campion australasiae (Guérin-Méneville, 1844) (see McKeown & Mincham 1948) and C. spiniferus Lambkin, 1986 (see Mincham 1993).

The Australian Mantispidae were revised by Lambkin (1986a, 1986b), and a few additional species have been described since then. Four names treated by Lambkin as nomina dubia are treated here as incertae sedis. Mantispa vittata Guérin-Méneville, 1837 is probably a species of Campion Navás, 1914; Lambkin (1986b) noted that Campion tenuistriga (Gerstaecker, 1885) may be a synonym of this taxon. The type of Mantispa chrysops Stitz, 1913, is damaged and is a specimen of either Campion callosus Lambkin, 1986 or C. impressus Navás, 1914 (see Lambkin 1986b), and M. chrysops will have priority over one of these once its identity is confirmed. Neither Manega luddemani Navás, 1930 nor Nivella rubella Navás, 1930 can be identified from the original descriptions; their types were destroyed during an air-raid (30 July 1943). Two further species were excluded: Mantispa scutellaris Westwood, 1852 and Mantispa strigipes Westwood, 1852. The latter was included in the Australian fauna on the basis that the indistinct 'Adel' on the data label represented 'Adelaide' (SA); no subsequent specimens have been found in Australia and it seems doubtful that this is an Australian species (Lambkin 1986b). Likewise, M. scutellaris is almost certainly not Australian, and the type specimen has no locality label.