Observations on Mantoida maya (Orthoptera: Mantidae)

Abstract

The Little Yucatan Mantid, Mantoida maya Saussure and Zehntner, is a small (15 mm) ground-dwelling species native to Florida and Mexico (Blatchley 1920; Helfer, 1953), it appears to be relatively abundant at the Archbold Biological Station (Highlands Co., FL.), though live adult specimens are seldom seen and are apparently most active at night (Hubbell, 1945). Two small, continuously operated Townes traps set up in a dense stand-of sand pine (Pinus clausa Chapman) have captured 198 individuals over a period of 3 years. These capture records indicate that the flight period is concentrated in July and August (196 specimens), and strongly suggest that there is one generation per year. A dramatic decrease in number of individuals in 1985 might be related to very dry conditions in fall of 1984, and winter and spring of 1985. Immature Mantoida maya are difficult to see as they run through surface litter in their usual habitat of dimly lit hammocks and thickets of dense scrub. Immature individuals (Fig. 1) probably derive additional protection from their resemblance to ants and wingless ichneumonids. My work on ants at the Archbold Biological Station has led to occasional encounters with immature M. maya which I have mistaken at a distance of a few f for a novel species of ant. The presumed mimetic features of M. maya are: 1) The reu coloration of the head and thorax, contrasting strongly with the black abdomen, as in the abundant sympatric ants Camponotus abdominalisfioridanus (Buckley) and C. tortuganus Emery; 2) the apically expanded oval abdomen, resembling the gaster of an ant; 3) the white band on the first 2 visible abdominal tergites, reducing the visual impact of the petiole area; 4) the white median band on the antennal flagellum, as in females of many ichneumonids. The immature mantids run in a series of short spurts, the antennae quivering rapidly. The visual contrast between adult and young in this species is far more dramatic than in any other U.S. mantid. It is the only mantid I know in which the shape, color, and behavior is defensively mimetic rather than cryptic.