Species

BackPseudoyersinia betancuriae Wiemers, 1993

Pseudoyersinia betancuriae Wiemers, 1993

Betancurian Dwarf Mantis

  • Kingdom: Animalia
  • Phylum: Arthropoda
  • Class: Insecta
  • Order: Coleoptera
  • Family: Mantidae
DD Data Deficient
IUCN Red List Status:

Countries of Occurrence:
Spain - Canaries

Archipelago(s):
Canaries

Assessor/s:
Battiston, R., Amerini, R., Garcia Becerra, R. & Oromi, P.

Reviewer/s:
Bushell, M. & Hochkirch, A.

Contributor/s:

Facilitators / Compilers/s:


Assessment Rationale:

Pseudoyersinia betancuriae is an endemic mantid of the island of Fuerteventura. At present most of its ecology is unknown and the taxonomy needs to be better defined (Becerra and Oromi 1999, Becerra et al. 2001, Wieland et al. 2014). Due to the extremely small amount of available data on this species, it is assessed as Data Deficient (DD). Further field research is strongly encouraged because this species, by the reduced AOO (56-400 km²) and EOO (ca. 1,300 km²) could very well fall into the Endangered category and conservation measures may be urgently required.

Geographic Range:

Pseudoyersinia betancuriae is endemic to the Canary Islands archipelago and distributed in the islands of Fuerteventura, Montaña Clara and Isla de Alegranza (Becerra et al. 2001, Perez et al. 2003). Its area of occupancy (AOO) is between 56 and 400 km². Its extent of occurrence (EOO) is ca. 1,300 km².

Regions:
Spain - Canaries
Extent of Occurrence (EOO):
1300 (km2)
Area of Occupancy (AOO):
56-400 (km2)
Elevation Lower Limit:
(m)
Elevation Upper Limit:
600 (m)
Biogeographic Realms:
Paleartic
Presence:
Extant
Origin:
Endemic Canaries
Seasonality:
Resident

Population:

Pseudoyersinia betancuriae was discovered in February 1991 by M. Weimer who, in 1993, described the species from a single specimen found on the slope of Ajuì (Betancuria). In April 1992, J. Martin captured a second specimen in Morro de La Cruz, in this case a juvenile female. R. Garcia and P. Oromí (1999) observed a high number of mantid oothecae in Jandia Peninsula which, presumably because of their small size, could belong to this species. This species was more recently recorded in two localities on Montaña Clara and on the Isla de la Alegranza (Perez et al., 2003). A juvenile probably belonging to this species was recorded in 2003 on Lanzarote, but the presence of a subpopulation on this island needs to be verified.

Habitat and Ecology

The few collecting records suggest that this species is active at least between February and April (Becerra et al. 2001) and can be found on the herbaceous vegetation or on small bushes like Salsola L. (Perez et al. 2003).

Major Threat(s):

Current threats are unknown but, considering the reduced distribution, habitat destruction from overbuilding or agriculture may be a serious threat to this species.

Conservation Actions

This species benefits indirect conservation in some protected areas of the Canary Islands Network for Protected Natural Areas, in particular on the small island where the natural habitat is preserved. Most of the ecology of this species is unknown and research is needed. The taxonomy of the subfamily Amelinae is also problematic and needs to be solved with further morphological and molecular research (Wieland et al. 2014), in particular the validity of this species in relation to the other Pseudoyersinae of the Canary Islands needs to be verified.