Ecological Relationships of Three Co-occurring Mantids, Tenodera sinensis (Saussure), T. angustipennis (Saussure), and Mantis religiosa (Linnaeus)

Abstract

Timed observations of Tenodera sinensis (Saussure) and censuses of it and two other species of mantids, T angustipennis (Saussure) and Mantis religiosa (Linnaeus), were made in the summer and autumn of 1981. Differences among these three similar species reduce niche overlap in a shared habitat. Height in the vegetation differed significantly between M. religiosa and Tenodera species but not between the two congeners. Earlier hatching time of T. sinensis reduces nymphal size overlap with its congener, whereas M. religiosa is spatially separated from both Tenodera spp. There were different degrees of emigration and oviposition between M. religiosa and Tenodera spp. on a censused field plot. Tenodera sinensis spent most of its time inactive, with feeding, grooming and changing of location accounting for progressively lower proportions of the time budget. Tenodera sinensis fed at higher sites in the vegetation more often than at lower ones. The proportion of green morphs, as opposed to brown, was also larger high in the vegeta-