Buyda phthisica (Gerstaecker, 1885)

Ardila-Camacho, Adrian, Calle-Tobón, Arley, Wolff, Marta & Stange, Lionel A., 2018, New species and new distributional records of Neotropical Mantispidae (Insecta: Neuroptera), Zootaxa 4413 (2), pp. 295-324 : 310

Buyda phthisica (Gerstaecker, 1885)

Mantispa phthisica Gerstaecker, 1885 [“1884”]: 35. Holotype: female, Brazil ( EMAU).

Entanoneura phthisica (Gerstaecker, 1885) , Handschin 1960: 208.

Mantispa confluens Navás, 1914: 19 . Holotype: sex not indicated, Panama (BMNH); New synonym. Buyda apicata Navás, 1926: 87 . Holotype: female, type locality not indicated (MZBS); New synonym. Mantispa neotropica Navás, 1933: 309 . Holotype: female, French Guiana (MNHN); New synonym.

New locality records. Colombia: Casanare: Aguaclara, “ Station service”, 630 m, 13.IX.2015, 4°59’56’’ N ‒ 72°47’13’’ W, C. Gonzalez, light trap (1 ♂ — ANDES-E).

Distribution. Argentina, Brazil, Colombia (Casanare, Meta, Valle del Cauca), Costa Rica, French Guiana, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Surinam, Uruguay (Hoffman 1992).

Comments. The genus Buyda was described by Navás (1926) based on the species B. apicata , whose type specimen lacked specific locality data. The author mentions that the species was probably from Central Africa due to similarities with Pseudoclimaciella tropica (Westwood, 1852) , and other African species ( Navás 1926; Ohl 2004). However, in the list by Monserrat (1985) of the Mecoptera and Neuroptera from the Navás collection (CN) deposited in MZBS, it is indicated that the type specimen comes from Costa Rica ( Ohl 2004). Then, Hoffman (1992) emphasized that this genus is an exclusive Neotropical element ( Ohl 2004). In the original description of B. apicata, Navás (1926) illustrated the wing apex of the right wing, where the apical infuscation distinctive of B. phthisica is evident ( Hoffman 2002). Furthermore, in a previous work, Navás (1914) described Mantispa confluens from Central America, specifically from Panama. In that publication, the author illustrated the wing apex and pronotum, which are undoubtedly diagnostic characters of B. phthisica . Additionally, after the description of B. apicata, Navás (1933) proposed a Neotropical species whose diagnostic traits (e.g., apical infuscation of wings and pronotum color pattern) perfectly match with those of B. phthisica . The species in question is Mantispa neotropica , and it was described based on a single female specimen deposited in the MNHN. Even, the specimen was labeled as Entanoneura phthisica (Gerstaecker, 1885) by R.G. Beard in 1968 ( Tauber et al. 2017). In this work we synonymize these species with B. phthisica as it was already suggested by Hoffman (1992).