Wasp-mimicking Mantispidae (Insecta: Neuroptera) from Sabah, Malaysia

Mantispidae is a rarely encountered group of insects, which might be the reason why relatively little is known about their biology despite interesting features of larval and adult behaviour that must invite any entomologist to further studies in this group. Taxonomically placed as a family among the insect order Neuroptera, adult mantispids, or mantis flies, have raptorial forelegs and an elongated prothorax that lead to a superficial resemblance with praying mantids (Mantodea), another insect order that has only rarely been studied in Borneo (Helmkampf et al. in press). (Copied from article)