Stagmomantis Limbata Research Articles

First record of Stagmomantis limbata (Hahn) (Mantodea: Mantidae) from Chiapas, Mexico

First record of Stagmomantis limbata (Hahn) (Mantodea: Mantidae) from Chiapas, Mexico

Behavioral variation post-invasion: Resemblance in some, but not all, behavioral patterns among invasive and native praying mantids

Animal invasions can be devastating for native species. Behavioral variation is known to influence animal invasions, yet comparatively less is known about how behavioral variation influences invasive-native species interactions. Here we examined how the mean and variance surrounding several behavioral traits in two sympatric species of praying mantis differ and how these behavioral types translate to actual prey capture success using the introduced European mantis, Mantis religiosa, and the native bordered mantis, Stagmomantis limbata. We assayed time spent in the open (risk proneness), response towards a novel prey, and voracity within a population of M. religiosa and S. limbata. We found that the native and invasive mantids displayed no differences in their average behavioral tendencies. The native exhibited significant levels of repeatability in voracity while the invasive did not. The lack of repeatability in the invasive appears to be driven by lower levels of among-individual variation in voracity. This may have evolutionary consequences for native S. limbata if it results in strong selection in native levels of mean and among-individual variation. Significant levels of among-individual differences were found in other behaviors (response to a novel prey and risk proneness) across species, suggesting less selection on invasive behavioral variation in these traits. Risk proneness and response towards a novel prey also formed a behavioral syndrome across species, yet neither behavior was correlated with voracity in either species. Our results illustrate the need to examine the ecological effects of behavioral variation of both invasive and native species to determine how that might impact invasive-native interactions.

Two-headed butterfly vs. mantis: do false antennae matter?

The colour patterns and morphological peculiarities of the hindwings of several butterfly species result in the appearance of a head at the rear end of the insect’s body. Although some experimental evidence supports the hypothesis that the “false head” deflects predator attacks towards the rear end of the butterfly, more research is needed to determine the role of the different components of the “false head”. We explored the role of hindwing tails (presumably mimicking antennae) in predator deception in the “false head” butterfly Callophrys xami. We exposed butterflies with intact wings and with hindwing tails experimentally ablated to female mantises (Stagmomantis limbata). We found no differences in the number of butterflies being attacked and the number of butterflies escaping predation between both groups. However, our behavioural observations indicate that other aspects of the “false head” help C. xami survive some mantis attacks, supporting the notion that they are adaptations against predators.

New Records of Stagmomantis limbata for Three States of Central Mexico

The mantids of Mexico are not well known. We found records of Stagmomantis limbata Hahn for the states of Guerrero, Morelos, and Puebla, in central Mexico, and discuss the geographical range and weather variables in the recorded information. Results suggested that, at least S. limbata was found in deciduous forest, grassland, and cloudy forest vegetation in places with semi-warm to temperate climates throughout Balsas and Tuxpan-Nautla hydological regions.

Developmental Patterns inStagmomantis limbata(Mantodea: Mantidae): Variation in Instar Number, Growth, and Body Size

Development affects many components of life history and fitness, including body size. The present study examined the influence of developmental pattern, specifically the number of nymphal instars, on body size (pronotum length) in the praying mantid Stagmomantis limbata Hahn. Mantids were reared in the laboratory from hatching, on standardized diet, to examine variation in instar number. These lab data were then used to assess developmental patterns forfield-collected female nymphs. Laboratoryreared males and females varied in number of instars. Most females required 6 nymphal instars to reach adulthood (64%), whereas 36% underwent 7 instars. Seven-instar females reached the 4th, 5 th, and 6th instars faster than six-instar females, but had shorter pronota than the six-instar females at each of these stages. Seven-instar females were longer than six-instar females at adulthood. Interestingly, the total developmental period from hatching to adulthood was similar for lab-reared seven-instar and six-instar females. In the lab, most males (91%) underwent 6 instars, with the remaining 9% following a five-instar pattern. By the 4th instar, differences between the sexes began to appear. From the 4th instar onwards, females typically took less time than males to reach each instar. From the 5th instar onwards, females were longer than the males, and were longer as adults. Variation in developmental pattern (number of instars) was evident among siblings from the same ootheca; such intra-clutch variability in number of instars may be a bet-hedging strategy by ovipositing females in a variable environment. The laboratory data allowed for the detection of six-instar and seven-instar patterns among the field-collected females. The field-collected data suggest that females undergoing 6 nymphal instars reach adulthood later in the season, and at smaller body size, than seven-instar females.

Consequences of Intraspecific Variation in Female Body Size inStagmomantis limbata(Mantodea: Mantidae): Feeding Ecology, Male Attraction, and Egg Production

Body size is an important feature of organisms, influencing many components of life history and fitness, such as feeding success and reproductive output. Body size is considered especially salient for solitary predators, whose food intake hinges on individual predation success, which in turn is often driven by the relative sizes of predator and prey. The current study examined intraspecific variation in adult female length and its fitness consequences in a solitary predator, the praying mantid Stagmomantis limbata Hahn. Through a 5-yr integration of observational and experimental work in the field and captivity, we investigated the relationship between female pronotum length and prey size, diet breadth, male attraction, and measures of egg production (fecundity and ootheca mass). We found that longer females ate longer prey in the field and showed greater breadth of prey size than shorter females. Longer females did not necessarily feed at higher rates in the field, as measured by the rate of abdominal expansion. Female length failed to show significant effects on male attraction or on the incidence of cannibalism. Longer females had higher fecundity (mature eggs in body at death) and laid heavier oothecae than shorter females. In nature, longer females consistently emerged as adults earlier in the season than shorter females. Shorter female adults emerged when feeding rates were higher in the field, suggesting an incidental ecological benefit of shorter adult size.

Effects of female feeding regime in a sexually cannibalistic mantid: fecundity, cannibalism, and male response inStagmomantis limbata(Mantodea)

1. Female feeding regime exhibited a cascade of effects on reproductive biology and behaviour in the mantidStagmomantis limbata(Hahn).2. Well‐fed females (High diet) consistently attained greater body mass, thicker abdomens, and higher fecundity than food‐limited females (Low diet) in four annual generations. Dorso‐ventral abdominal thickness strongly correlated with fecundity.3. In an experiment in captivity, Low diet females were more likely to cannibalize males than High diet females.4. High diet females attracted more males than Low diet females in several contexts. In terms of long‐range attraction, caged High diet females attracted more males in the field. In terms of short‐range attraction, males preferentially mounted and copulated with High diet females in captive paired choice trials. In naturally‐occurring pairs in the field, a preference for females with thick abdomens was evident. These results point to two possible explanations: male choice for well‐fed females and state‐dependent female pheromone emission.5. Two years of field data indicate considerable variation in female feeding success, as measured by abdominal thickness. Average feeding success in nature appears to be relatively high, when comparing the rate of abdominal expansion in the field to captive females maintained on High diets.6. In the field, nearly all mounts and copulations occurred in September in both years, when female feeding success is expected to be high. If mating activity occurs during a window of high female feeding success, so as to reduce the risk of cannibalism for males, then the female feeding regime may be implicated in the phenology of mating activity in cannibalistic species.

Habitat edges as a potential ecological trap for an insect predator

Abstract. 1. Ecological traps, where animals actively select poor habitat for reproduction over superior habitat, are generally associated with birds at forest edges. This study examines oviposition preference, predation, and parasitism rates in the mantid Stagmomantis limbata to determine the potential generality of this phenomenon.2. Egg case (oothecae) densities were measured across two edge types (cottonwood and desert scrub) within desert riparian ecosystems. A positive edge effect in oothecae density was found with an approximate three‐fold increase in density at cottonwood (Xedge = 0.05 oothecae/100 m2 vs. Xinterior = 0.015 oothecae/100 m2) and desert scrub (Xedge = 0.20 oothecae/100 m2 vs. Xinterior = 0.06 oothecae/100 m2) edges (P < 0.01).3. Rates of bird predation were significantly higher for oothecae at desert scrub edges and showed a trend of higher predation rates at cottonwood edges, suggesting that riparian habitat edges may be acting as an ecological trap for this mantid species. There was no effect of edges on oothecal parasitism rates.4. These results provide an example of the effect of habitat edges on a generalist insect predator and indicate that an ecological trap may exist with respect to one of its natural enemies.

Can vertebrate predation alter aggregation of risk in an insect host–parasitoid system?

Summary 1 Insect host–parasite systems allow investigations of the trophodynamics of ecological communities within a well-formed theoretical context. A little explored feature of such systems involves the interplay between generalized consumers and host–parasitoid dynamics. I report a study investigating how the impacts of generalized consumers, viewed here as interaction modifications, may influence the stability of a particular interspecific interaction. 2 In a study involving overwintering oothecae of the praying mantis Stagmomantis limbata (Hahn), birds damaged 36% of oothecae, 85% of which had also been parasitized by winter-active, multivoltine torymid wasps of the genus Podagrion. Birds preferentially preyed upon oothecae oviposited high on trees, but such predation was often incomplete, leaving both viable and parasitized mantid eggs inside damaged oothecae. 3 Two factors allowed bird damage to influence the distribution of risk of parasitism among oothecae and among hosts. These were (1) that some parasites − but no mantids − emerged successfully prior to bird predation and (2) that extensive post-damage foraging by parasitoids occurred, but that the nature of this foraging was altered little by oothecal damage. 4 In all, bird damage engendered a fourfold increase (from 1·5 to 6·5) in the CV2 of parasitism risk among hosts (a stability criterion that has been proposed for host–parasitoid interactions) and increased the relative importance of host-density-dependent parasitism. The role of timing of the two natural enemy impacts for stability of the host–parasitoid interaction is discussed.

Contrasting scales of oviposition and parasitism in praying mantids

AbstractWe report on spatial patterns of parasitism of oothecae (egg cases) of praying mantises (Stagmomantis limbata) by torymid wasps, Podagrion spp. Using collections of mapped mantid oothecae from Riparian sites in the Sonoran desert and Grassland sites in the Chiricahua Mountains (both in Arizona, USA), we characterized the spatial distributions of oothecae and parasitism. The likelihood of an egg case suffering some parasitism was higher at Grassland sites, which had high oothecal densities, than at low‐density Riparian sites. However, experimental isolation of Grassland oothecae to densities comparable to Riparian sites reduced parasitism rates. At Riparian sites, parasitized oothecae exhibited on average the same extent of parasitism as parasitized oothecae at high densities but with much greater variation. Indeed, large fractions of Riparian oothecae suffered both severe (>50%) and light (<20%) parasitism, whereas most parasitized Grassland oothecae suffered intermediate levels of parasitism. Analysis of first nearest neighbor distances indicated that the parasite load of an ootheca did not depend on its immediate isolation. However, extending the analysis to include subsequent nearest neighbors (using a technique from spatial statistics called the R(K) function), we found that even though oothecae of S. limbata were spatially clustered, some oothecae in a (statistically defined) cluster escaped parasitism when overall oothecal densities were low. This pattern suggests that when oothecae are sparsely distributed, Podagrion wasps exploit only a fraction of the oothecae available locally, even though the oothecae are strongly aggregated relative to their overall density. We suggest this lack of congruency in the scales of oothecal deposition and parasitism at low densities (which is absent when oothecae are at high densities) may be explained in part by behavioral aspects of the parasite's reproduction, including increased host fidelity by relatively sedentary female parasites.

Range Expansion of an Introduced Mantid Iris oratoria and Niche Overlap with a Native Mantid Stagmomantis limbata (Mantodea: Mantidae)

Iris oratoria L. invaded southern California in the 1930s. We describe its subsequent northward and eastward expansion in the southwestern United States. The rate of expansion into Arizona suggests that human activities have played a part in its spread. This mantid has come into contact with a native species Stagmomantis limbata Hahn. We present 3 yr of field data on 2 components of niche overlap between these 2 species: overlap in habitat use over time and in diet. At a field site in Davis, CA, S. limbata hatched earlier in the season than did L. oratoria , and I. oratoria tended to persist longer into the year than did S. limbata . The diets of the species overlapped to a moderate extent, yet they differed with respect to prey type and length. S. limbata ate a greater proportion of orthopterans and mantids than did I. oratoria , and S. limbata ate longer prey than did I. oratoria . Additionally, S. limbata adults had longer pronota and forelegs than I. oratoria adults. This difference in body size might be an important cause of the dietary differences between the species. Furthermore, the earlier hatch date for S. limbata also might result in a reduction of size overlap and, consequently, diet overlap among nymphs of the 2 species. Thus, the differences in body size and phenology may be mechanisms that allow these species to coexist.

Lifetime mating opportunities and male mating behaviour in sexually cannibalistic praying mantids

I examined the number of lifetime mating opportunities and mating behaviour of males in two sexually cannibalistic species, the Mediterranean,Iris oratoria, and bordered,Stagmomantis limbata, praying mantids (Mantodea: Mantidae). Two approaches estimated the number of lifetime mating opportunities: direct observations of intersexual encounters in the field, and an encounter model. I collected behavioural observations, together with ecological data for use in the model, over three field seasons. The ecological data included an assessment of the feeding condition ofS.limbatafemales in nature; the females fed at a level comparable to females maintained on an abundant diet in the laboratory. As for the number of mating opportunities, individual males of both species encountered two or more females, as predicted by the model. I observed no male, however, in more than one copulation. This result could reflect individual variation in the times and places of sexual activity or an actual low number of mating opportunities in the field. Furthermore, a higher percentage ofI.oratoriamales encountered two or more females thanS.limbatamales, as the model indicates. Fewer mating opportunities could lead to greater selection uponS.limbatamales to ensure paternity at each mating, which can explain the longer copulation times observed forS.limbatamales. I considered two hypotheses about male behaviour in light of the number of lifetime encounters with females: male suicide and male reduction of the risk of cannibalism. Behavioural observations do not strongly support male suicide in either species. Certain male behaviours, such as the nature of copulatory position and, in captivity, mounting females from the rear, are consistent with the idea that males behave so as to reduce the probability that they are cannibalized during intersexual encounters. Moreover, maleI.oratoriapreferentially mount well-fed, fecund females in captivity. Taken together, these results suggest that the prospect of multiple mating opportunities has influenced male mating behaviour over evolutionary time.

Biology of the Bordered Mantid, Stagmomantis Limbata Hahn (Orthoptera, Mantidae)

The bordered mantid, Stagmomantis limbata Hahn, is more restricted in its range than is S. Carolina Johan. The latter species may be collected from the Atlantic Coast to California and as far north as Colorado, Missouri, Illinois, and southern Pennsylvania, but S. limbata has been found only in Mexico, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. These two species, although separated by very distinct structural characters, are similar in appearance and habits.