Mantoididae is a family of

praying mantis Mantises are an order (Mantodea) of insects that contains over 2,400 species in about 460 genera in 33 families. The largest family is the Mantidae ("mantids"). Mantises are distributed worldwide in temperate ...

es which contains

Neotropical The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In biogeogra ...

species of praying mantises from tropical North and South America. The family was formerly represented by the sole genus ''

Mantoida ''Mantoida'' is a genus of praying mantises in the family Mantoididae. The species of this genus are native to Mexico, Central America, and South America. Species The following species are recognised in the genus ''Mantoida'' : *'' Mantoida arg ...

'', until the genus ''Paramantoida'' was described in 2014 and ''

Vespamantoida ''Vespamantoida'' is a genus of praying mantises in the family Mantoididae. The genus was erected in 2019 and the name was derived from the Latin word ''vespa'' which means wasp and ''Mantoida'' referring to the mantis Mantises are an ...

'' in 2019. The family differs from the closely related

Chaeteessidae Chaeteessidae is a family of praying mantises. It contains a single extant genus, '' Chaeteessa'', native to South America which is thought to be the most primitive and earliest diverging lineage of living mantises. Fossil genera are known from t ...

in having an apical claw on the fore tibiae which are also less curved. Males have ocelli and a cylindrical body shape, unlike the dorsoventrally flattened Chaeteessidae. The cerci are also shorter.

Genera

The following genera are placed in the family Mantoididae: *''

'' - 11 species, *''

Paramantoida ''Paramantoida amazonica'' is a species of praying mantis Mantises are an order (Mantodea) of insects that contains over 2,400 species in about 460 genera in 33 families. The largest family is the Mantidae ...

'' - 1 species ''

Paramantoida amazonica ''Paramantoida amazonica'' is a species of praying mantis Mantises are an order (Mantodea) of insects that contains over 2,400 species in about 460 genera in 33 families. The largest family is the Mantidae ...

'', typically dark colored with white spots resembling certain wasps *''

'' - 2 species'','' resemble some ichneumonid wasps *†'' Pseudomantoida'' Schubnel and Nel 2019

Oise amber Oise amber () is a type of amber found near the Oise river near Creil in northern France. Oise amber is around 53 million years old, dating to the Early Eocene (Ypresian). Oise amber is softer than Baltic amber, although Oise amber is older ...

, France,

Eocene The Eocene ( ) is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (Ma). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes ...

(

Ypresian In the geologic timescale the Ypresian is the oldest age (geology), age or lowest stage (stratigraphy), stratigraphic stage of the Eocene. It spans the time between , is preceded by the Thanetian Age (part of the Paleocene) and is followed by th ...

)

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q16914818 Mantodea families Mantodea of North America Mantodea of South America Taxa named by Ermanno Giglio-Tos Extant Eocene first appearances