Margaromantis Piza, 1982

Rivera, Julio, 2010, Lost and found: Rediscovery of the genus Margaromantis Piza, 1982 and consequential nomenclatural changes in the genus Colombiella Koçak & Kemal, 2008 (Mantodea: Mantidae, Photinainae), Zootaxa 2529, pp. 65-68 : 65

Margaromantis Piza, 1982

During a routine literature search on the Internet, I came across a citation referring to an obscure genus and species described by the late Brazilian entomologist Salvador de Toledo Piza, Jr.: Margaromantis margaritaria Piza, 1982 . The new taxon was published in the Brazilian journal “Ecossitema”, a publication not particularly devoted to zoology but rather to agricultural and domestic animal sciences. This journal is regularly published by the “Centro Regional Universitário de Espírito Santo do Pinhal” in São Paolo State. In his one-page paper, Piza (1982) described in Latin this new genus and species, classifying it as a member of the Eremiaphilinae (an Old-World lineage, not found in the Neotropical region) and cited its distribution as Pernambuco State, in eastern Brazil. The description was accompanied by a single illustration (frontal view of the head). An extensive search in the mantid literature yielded no other reference for such genus and species, even in the most recent compilations of mantid literature ( Agudelo et al. 2007; Ehrmann 1998, 2002; Ehrmann & Schütte 2005; Ehrmann & Koçak 2009; Otte & Spearmann 2005). However, an exhaustive search in the most relevant databases yielded a single record in the AGRICOLA database (National Agricultural Library - USDA).

After analysis of the available literature and comparison of the original description of the holotype of Margaromantis margaritaria with previously published descriptions and illustrations (e.g., Rehn 1916; Lombardo 1999), it became obvious that Margaromantis margaritaria and Colombiella planicephala were the same species and clearly a member of the Photinainae (Mantidae) . Because Margaromantis was described 26 years before the replacement name Colombiella was applied to Rehniella planicephala , the principle of priority applies and thus Colombiella must be considered a synonym of Margaromantis .