Gonioscelis mantis ( Loew, 1852 )

Londt, Jason G. H., 2004, A review of the afrotropical genus Gonioscelis Schiner, 1866 (Diptera: Asilidae), with descriptions of new species, African Invertebrates 45, pp. 21-124 : 68-72

Gonioscelis mantis ( Loew, 1852)

Figs 83–85 , 146

Stenopogon mantis Loew, 1852: 659 ; Loew 1862: 8.

Gonioscelis mantis: Engel 1925: 168–169 ; Oldroyd 1974: 41 ( Fig. 31 fore-leg).

Gonioscelis calopus Bigot, 1879: 441 ; Ricardo 1925: 266 (Syn. of Engel 1925).

Redescription: Based primarily on holotype ^ ( ZMHB) .

Head: Antenna (both broken off beyond pedicels) with scape and pedicel dark redbrown to black (postpedicel in other material similarly coloured), setae dark red-brown ventrally, pale yellow dorsally. Facial swelling poorly developed, mystax pale yellow, covering entire face although somewhat weaker in dorsal half. Frons and vertex thinly gold pruinose. Ocellar tubercle apruinose with dark red-brown oc. Occiput gold-silver pruinose, two weakly pruinose small spots behind vertex, setae pale yellow. Proboscis and palpus dark red-brown, proboscis with pale yellow-white setae, palpus pale-brown setose.

Thorax: Dark red-brown to black, gold pruinose. Postpronotal lobes not clearly contrasting with adjacent mesonotum, with long weak pale yellow setae. Mesonotal setae mostly yellow: ac not evident; approx.3–4 pairs dark red-brown dc, a few extending anterior of transverse suture; 2 pale yellow npl; 2 yellow sa; 3 yellow pa. Scutellum dark red-brown to black, gold pruinose, with approx. 4 (broken and difficult to see) yellow mrg sct. Wing length 8.1 mm, membrane uniform yellowish. Legs: Tibiae and tarsi orange-brown, darker distally, prothoracic femur dark red-brown to black, distal parts orange, macrosetae black on dark red-brown parts, yellow on orange sections, mesothoracic femur similar to prothoracic but all setae yellow, metathoracic femur entirely dark red-brown to black with yellow setae. Prothoracic coxa black, gold-silver pruinose, white setose; femoral spur moderately pointed (angle approx. 40°).

Abdomen: Tergites mostly dark red-brown to black (posterior margins somewhat orangebrown), mostly gold-silver pruinose, setae yellow. Sternites dark red-brown to black, weakly silver pruinose, setae yellow.

Terminalia ( Figs 83–85 ): Long ep (epandrial lobes projecting beyond proctiger), lobes tapering and slightly downturned distally, tips equipped with fine setae; gcx with two distal projections and a few fine setae, ventral projections are broad horizontally orientated flanges (best seen in caudal view); hyp, in ventral view, clearly broader than long, slightly constricted at mid-length and bilobed distally, lobes slightly divergent and equipped with fine setae.

Variation: A fairly uniform species. The holotype female has much darker prothoracic femora than all the other specimens studied, which have largely orange femora with a variable-sized dark red-brown posterodorsal marking. The holotype’s femoral spur is more acute than in other material measured (approx. 60–70°). Until more topotypical material is available there must be uncertainty concerning the association between the type and all other material listed below. Some variation in male genital morphology is evident, this being noticeable in slight variations seen in shape and size of hypandrial lobes.

Type material: MOZAMBIQUE: 1^ holotype ( mantis seen), ‘Mozambique / Tette [Tete – 16°10'S 33°36'E] / Peters S.’, ‘465’, ‘ Gonioscelis / mantis / Type (Loew *)’, ‘ Gonioscelis / mantis / Type (Loew) / Dr. Enderlein det. 19’, ‘Holotypus’ ‘Zool. Mus. / Berlin’ (ZMHB). SOUTH AFRICA: 1^ holotype ( calopus seen), no provenance data [but cited as ‘Natal’ by Bigot (1879)] (OXUM).

Type locality: Here designated as Mozambique: Tete .

Other material: MOZAMBIQUE: 1ơ, ‘Mozambique / Belavista [26°20'S 32°40'E] / 30/3/1980 / Coll. H.R. Feijen’. SOUTH AFRICA: 4ơ 3^, ‘South Africa 2327DB / Transvaal Ellisras / 30.i.1978 JGH Londt / Grass near trees on / Makolo River banks’; 1ơ 1^, ‘Woodb. Vill. [i.e. Woodbush Village. Woodbush Forest Reserve – 23°47'S 30°04'E] / iv.1915 / C. J. Swierstra’; 1^, ‘Boekenhoutskloof [24°27'S 28°10'E] / South Africa / (30km NE Pretoria) / 5.iv.1977 / G. Bernon 5’; 1^, ‘Boekenhoutskloof / South Africa / (30km NE Pretoria) / 17.ii.1977 / G. Bernon 1’; 1ơ, ‘Nylstroom [Modimolle - 24°42'S 28°24'E] / 16/31/12/21 / G.P.F.v.Dam’; 1^, ‘Pretoria [25°45'S 28°10'E] / 7.xi.1931 / A. Roberts’; 5ơ 5^, ‘De la Rey [Delareyville – 26°42'S 25°28'E] / W. Transvaal / Dr Brauns / 1. 1917’; 1ơ, ‘De la Rey / W Transvaal / Dr. Brauns / i. 1917 ’, ‘Sammlung / E. Engel’, ‘ Gonioscelis / mantis / ơ Loew’ (ZSMC); 1^, ‘ I 1919 / Dr. Brauns. / De la Rey / W Transvaal’, ‘Engel / 4’, ‘Sammlung / E. Engel’, ‘ Gonioscelis / mantis Lw. ^ / det. E.O. Engel’ (ZSMC); 1ơ, ‘De la Rey / W. Transvaal / Dr Brauns / Jan. 1919 ’ (SAMC); 2^ same data but ‘1 1917’ (SAMC); 2ơ, ‘Lichtenburg [26°09'S 26°11'E] / Transvaal / Dr. Brauns’, ‘Sammlung / F. Hermann’, ‘ Goniosc. / calopus / Bigot’, ‘ Gonioscelis / mantis Lw. / det. E.O. Engel ơ’ (ZSMC); 1^, ‘Lichtenburg / Transvaal / Dr. Brauns’, ‘Sammlung / F. Hermann’, ‘ Gonioscelis / ventralis ^ / Schin / det. E.O. Engel ơ’ (ZSMC); 1^, ‘Potchfstm [Potchefstroom 26°43'S 27°06'E] / T Ayres [not April as cited by Engel]’, ‘ G. / mantis / Lw. / det Engel’, ‘ Gonioscelis / mantis Lw. ^ / det. E.O. Engel’ (ZSMC); 1^, ‘Potchfstm / T Ayres [blurred – probably as above]’, ‘ Gonioscelis / ventralis / Schin. / det Engel’, ‘ Gonioscelis / ventralis Schin. / det. E.O. Engel ^’ (ZSMC); 1ơ, ‘Natal / Zululand / Kosi Bay [26°53'S 32°55'E] / I. Bampton / 19 Sept. 1972 ’; 3^, ‘South Africa: Natal / Ndumu Game Reserve / Rest Camp 2632Cd 95m / 15 Feb 1978 Malaise / Brothers & Bampton’; 1^, ‘South Africa, Natal / Zululand, Ndumu Game / Reserve, 26-x-1972 / ME Irwin, 2632Cc’; 6ơ 7^, ‘S Africa: N Cape #8 / 8km N Schweizer-Reneke / 27 09'S 25 15'E 1350m / Date: 12.iii.1991 / Whittington & Londt / Acacia thicket’; 1^, ‘Schweizer- / Renecke [Schweizer-Reneke – 27°11'S 25°20'E] / 29.3.69 / A. Strydom’; 5ơ 6^, ‘S Africa: NW Province / S.A. Lombard Nature Reserve / 27°35'08”S: 25°30'41”E / 1260m 11.iii.2003 J Londt / Rhus , Maytenus savanna’; 4 ơ 4^, ‘S Africa: NW Province / S.A. Lombard Nature Reserve / 27°36'02"S: 25°28'39"E / 1230m 12.iii.2003 J Londt / Mixed woodland savanna’; 1ơ, ‘S Africa: N Cape #7 / S A Lombard Nat. Res. / 27 37'S 25 29'E 1250m / Date: 12.iii.1991 / Londt & Whittington / Sand, Acacia thornveld’; 1ơ ‘S Africa: NW Province / Bloemhof Dam (reserve) / 27°38'05"S: 25°40'13"E / 1230m 12.iii.2003 J Londt / Acacia , Ziziphus savanna’; 1ơ, ‘S Africa, O.F.S. / Sandveld Nature Reserve / Hoopstad / SE2725Da’, ‘ 8-12 Feb 1982 / Entomology Dept’, ‘National Museum / Bloemfontein / Dept. Entomology’; 1ơ, ‘Bothaville [27°22'S 26°37'E] / Orange Fr St / Dr. Brauns / 25 11 [18]98’, ‘ Gonioscelis / calopus / Bigot’, ‘ mantis Lw. / (= calopus Big. )’ (ZSMC); 1^, ‘Bothaville / Orange Fr. St. / Dr. Brauns / 20 2 [18]99’, ‘ G. / mantis Lw. / det. Engel’ (ZSMC); 3^, O. Free State / Bothaville / 30-xii- 1964 / D.J. Brothers’ (AMGS); 1^, ‘Kroonstad, [27°40'S 27°14'E] O.R.C. [Orange River Colony] / E. Eckersley. / 1904-90.’ (BMNH); 1^, O. Free State / Chicago Lindley [27°52': 27°55'E] / 2-i-1965 / D.J. Brothers’ (AMGS); 1ơ 1^, ‘South Africa, Natal Prov / Zululand, 20mi. S. Ndumu / Game Res. Camp (2732Aa) / Nov. 29, 1971; ME & BJ Irwin / dry scrub forest; 320ft’; 1^, ‘South Africa: Natal / 5km E Makana – near / Ndumu Game Reserve / 2732AB 3.xii.1982 / Londt, Stuckenberg & / Barraclough Roadside’; 1ơ, ‘South Africa: Natal; / False Bay Park Res. / ca 27°58'S 32°22'E / Sand Forest J Londt / 30.i.-1.ii.1988 40m / Mpophomeni Trail area’; 1ơ, ‘S Africa, O.F.S. / Voorspoed 1585 / Boshof / SE2825Cd’, ‘ 21-28 Mar 1977 / A. Strydom’; 1ơ, ‘S Africa: OFS #35 / 42km SW of Winburg / 28 45'S 26 45'E 1500m / Date: 20.iii.1991 / Londt & Whittington / Grassland and bushes’; 1ơ, ‘South Africa / Senekal [28°19'S 27°36'E] / Feb. 1940 ’; 1^, ‘South Africa / Senekal / Nov. 1941 / Ac. US.’; 2ơ 1^, ‘Orange F. State. / Harrismith. [28°17'S 29°08'E] / March 1-20.1927.’, ‘S. Africa. / R.E. Turner. / Brit. Mus. / 1927-147.’ (BMNH); 1^, ‘South Africa OFS / 46km W. Bloemfontein / 2925BB 26.iii.1982 / J. Londt & L. Schoeman / Gentle slope with / rocks shrubs & grass’; 1ơ, ‘Bloemfontein, [29°08'S 26°10'E] / S. Africa. / Maj. E. Eckersley. / 1904.189’ [recorded Ricardo (1925)] (BMNH); 2^, ‘South Africa OFS / 20km W. Bloemfontein / 2926AA 26.iii.1982 / J. Londt & L. Schoeman / Open grass & sand’; 1^, ‘S. Africa: OFS #4 / 15km NE of Ladybrand / 2927Ab 28.xii.1982 / Modderpoortspruit / P. Stabbins & R. Miller’; 1ơ 1^, ‘Natal / Estcourt [29°00'S 29°53'E]’ ~ ‘A.E. Haviland / 189 [cut off, probably 1894, see under longulus ]’, ‘ G. mantis / Lw / det. Engel’, ‘ Gonioscelis / mantis Loew’ (ZSMC); 1ơ 1?, ‘ Type by the / description of / the male by / the author.’, ‘Pres. by / Govt. Mus. Natal. / 1911-45’, ‘S. Africa: / Natal / Estcourt / 1896’ [recorded Ricardo (1925)] (BMNH); 4ơ 5^, ‘Estcourt, / Natal. / Sept. & Oct. 1896. / G.A.K. Marshall. / 1903-17.’, ‘ v. close to St. mantis, Lw. / (Peters Reise nach Mozambique p.8), / but differs in legs being yellow in- / stead of black. – E.E.A. 28.x.02.’ [1^ only with this label] (BMNH); 1^, ‘Malvern, [29°53'S 30°55'E] / Natal. / Mar. 1897, / G.A.K. Marshall. / 1903-17.’, ‘Malvern / Natal 3.97’ (BMNH); 3ơ 2^, ‘Smithfield [30°13'S 26°32'E] / O.R.C. [Orange River Colony] / Kannemeyer’, ‘Sammlung / F. Hermann’, ‘ Gonioscelis / calopus / Bigot’, ‘ Gonioscelus / mantis Lw. / det. E.O. Engel ơ’ (ZSMC); 1ơ 1^, ‘Smithfield / O/R/C. / Kannemeyer’ ~ ‘orangia / 1910’ (SAMC); 1^, ‘Smithfield / O.R.C. / Kannemeyer’ ~ ‘orangia / 1910’, ‘ Goniosc. / calopus / Bigot’, ‘Pres. by / Imp. Inst. Ent. / Brit. Mus. / 1931-331.’, ‘ Gonioscelis / calopus / Bigot’, ‘ Gonioscelus / mantis / Lw. / Dr E O. Engel det.’, ‘Sammlung / F. Hermann’ (BMNH); 1ơ, ‘South Africa; O.F.S. / 8mi. N of Aliwal North / March 9, 1972, 1260m / ME & BJ Irwin, 3026Db’; 1ơ 1^, ‘Aliwal North, [30°42'S 26°42'E] / Cape Province. / 4350 ft. / 1-13.i.1923.’, ‘S. Africa. / R.E. Turner. / Brit. Mus. / 1923-70.’[1^ lacks this label] (BMNH); 2^, ‘Aliwal North, / Cape Province. / Dec. 1922 ’, ‘S. Africa. / R.E. Turner. / Brit. Mus. / 1923-45’ (BMNH).

Recorded material not studied: SOUTH AFRICA: 1ơ (1.1917) 1^ (1.1919), Delarey, W. Transvaal, Dr Brauns (Engel Coll.). Oldroyd (1980) states that mantis has also been recorded from Lesotho, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. Most if not all the localities mentioned are likely to be within the range of mantis , so for the present these records are accepted.

Notes: Loew (1852) gives little information about the type apart from saying that it was from ‘Mossambique’. Engel (1925) records 1^ mantis from ‘ Mozambique, Tette, Peters’ (ZMHB) and this is the specimen currently considered to be the holotype. Engel (1925) synomymised calopus with mantis , but this appears to have been overlooked by subsequent authors. As the calopus type is a female without a locality label (but stated as being from ‘Natal’ by Bigot (1879)) it cannot be with certainty assigned to mantis – however, the type agrees with females of what is here considered to be mantis , and so I support the synonymy suggested by Engel (1925) in the interests of taxonomic stability. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that the mantis type is also a female, and the need for male specimens from the type-locality still exists. The males Engel identified as mantis are here accepted as correctly associated, even though the type does have much darker prothoracic femora (see above).

Distribution, phenology and biology (Tables 1–2, Fig. 146 ): Distributed widely throughout the north-eastern parts of South Africa, an area dominated by the Grassland biome, and to a lesser extent the adjacent Savanna biome. The type locality is somewhat removed from the area where all the other studied material has been found. This suggests that the holotype could belong to a separate species, but as much of southern Mozambique is poorly sampled this issue will have to receive further attention at a later date. Adults have been collected throughout the warmer months of the year (September through to April) in this area of summer rainfall. Commonly found in low open vegetation (usually grass), often where trees are present. There are two Natal Museum prey records as follows: 1ơ 1^ (42 km SW Winburg 1; Ndumu Game Reserve 1) – Coleoptera (probably Chrysomelidae 1), Hymenoptera ( Formicidae 1).

Similar species:A member of the large and widely distributed group of species possessing a poorly defined facial gibbosity. The species is probably related to other southern African species possessing a rather short, distally bilobed hypandrium, but is otherwise reasonably distinctive. A particularly useful distinguishing feature is the arrangement of gonocoxal processes. In caudal view the ventrally situated processes lie more or less horizontally rather than having the more usual vertical orientation.

Figures

Figs 77–88. Gonioscelis male genitalia. 77–79. G. macquartii (Jaennicke, 1867) (Nguruma). 77. Lateral. 78. Dorsal. 79. Ventral. 80–82. G. maculiventris Bigot, 1879 (holotype). 80. Lateral. 81. Dorsal. 82. Ventral. 83–85. G. mantis (Loew, 1852) (De La Rey). 83. Lateral. 84. Dorsal. 85. Ventral. 86–88. G. melas sp. n. (25 km N Kamieskroon holotype). 86. Lateral. 87. Dorsal. 88. Ventral. Scale lines = 1 mm.

Figs 146–147. Distribution of Gonioscelis species found only in southern Africa. 146. closed circle = bykanistes, open circle = cuthbertsoni, closed square = hadrocantha, open square = mantis. 147. closed circle = engeli, open circle = scapularis, closed square = ventralis, open square = xanthochaites.

Figs 30–41. Gonioscelis male genitalia. 30–32. G. chloris sp. n. (Clanwilliam paratype). 30. Lateral. 31. Dorsal. 32. Ventral. 33–35. G. congoensis Oldroyd, 1970 (holotype). 33. Lateral. 34. Dorsal. 35. Ventral. 36–38. G. cuthbertsoni sp. n. (Angwa Bridge paratype). 36. Lateral. 37. Dorsal. 38. Ventral. 39–41. G. engeli sp. n. (holotype). 39. Lateral. 40. Dorsal. 41. Ventral. Scale lines = 1 mm.