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Photo#1447352
Mantis Fly - Dicromantispa sayi ??? - Dicromantispa sayi

Mantis Fly - Dicromantispa sayi ??? - Dicromantispa sayi
Tallahassee, Leon County, Florida, USA
September 28, 2017
Porch light visitor at dawn. Like many others, I have wavered back and forth on this one between D. sayi and Leptomantispa pulchella. However, after reading many comments on BG reports, and other reference provided, I finally settled on D. sayi. Here's why: There are several reliable characters used to distinguish these species. The presence of setae along the length of the pronatum indicates L. pulchella. These are not apparent on my specimen, although they may not show up without a good lateral view. I do believe that I can see a few setae at the anterior and posterior ends of the pronatum, which would be more typical of D. sayi. Further, to me the wing venation appears much finer (more cells) in my specimen than would be found in L. pulchella. But, the clincher for me was the antennae, which are dark brown in L. pulchella and tri-colored in D. sayi. My specimen clearly exhibits tri-colored antennae. This character is diagnostic at least according to research and comments of Aaron Schusteff regarding his BG specimen in Arizona, http://bugguide.net/node/view/822069. I might add that I have absolutely no previous experience with this family, so everything I think may be wrong!

You got it!
Moved from Mantidflies.

Your comments are right on...nice to see you studied info on BG so well :-)

 
Dicromantispa sayi
Thanks so much for your review and findings. Of course, it was your description of this species that made it possible for me to identify it correctly. This is why BG is the best resource available for naturalists like me. Thanks again!

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