THESPIDAE, Saussure, 1869

Rivera, Julio & Vergara-Cobián, Clorinda, 2017, A checklist of the praying mantises of Peru: new records, one new genus (Piscomantis gen. n.) and biogeographic remarks (Insecta, Mantodea), Zootaxa 4337 (3), pp. 361-389 : 381

THESPIDAE : THESPINAE , THESPINI

Galapagia solitaria Scudder, 1893 — Agudelo et al. (2007) recorded G. solitaria from Peru, but without reference to any specific locality. This record is based on a single male specimen Jantsch (1999) previously examined for his PhD thesis and collected at Quistococha, Ucayali, in the Peruvian Amazon. Because the occurrence of G. solitaria in Peru, especially east of the Andes, seemed unlikely, we re-examined this specimen (deposited at UMSP) and confirmed its identity as a member of Macromusonia (terminalia was missing, but likely referable to M. major ). The record of G. solitaria from Peru is therefore equivocal.

Thespis media ( Giglio-Tos, 1916) — Agudelo et al. (2007) and Patel & Singh (2016b) reported this species from Peru without citing specimens. This record traces back to Jantsch (1999) and is based on a single male collected in Quistococha, Ucayali. Members of Thespis Serville, 1831 exhibit a disjunct distribution across the Neotropics where they seem to be ecologically associated to xeric to seasonal habitats; accordingly, Thespis is not found in the Amazon. This biogeographic scenario thus makes the presence of Thespis media in the Peruvian Amazon unlikely, even more so because this species is known only from northern Venezuela and Trinidad & Tobago. Jantsch’s (1999) record of Thespis media is most likely a misidentification.