# Pheromone release



## ismart (Jan 2, 2009)

Hey guys, one of our fellow members asked me what it looks like when a female mantis starts to release pheromones. So i thought the best way to explain it would be to show some pics.

Please post any pics you might have of any of your female mantids releasing pheromones.

Rhombodera sp.


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## Katnapper (Jan 2, 2009)

ismart said:


> Hey guys, one of our fellow members asked me what it looks like when a female mantis starts to release pheromones. So i thought the best way to explain it would be to show some pics. Please post any pics you might have of any of your female mantids releasing pheromones.


Nice topic, Paul!  Eager to see more pics or descriptions...


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## spawn (Jan 3, 2009)

I don't even know where to begin with this one...Christian wanna' fill in?


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## Rick (Jan 3, 2009)

How do you know that's what she is doing?


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## Orin (Jan 3, 2009)

Mature females of various species often bend their abdomen in such a way that it appears to be pheromone release, however, it seems odd that she'd be releasing pheromones and eating at the same time.


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## ismart (Jan 3, 2009)

Rick said:


> How do you know that's what she is doing?


I admit, i'm not 100% sure that is what shes doing. But after seeing about 10 different species of adult females that have not mated exibiting this behavor. It just seemed like that was what she was doing. I probally should have worded my post a little better. Maybe someone here has some real prof and can tell me what she is doing?



Orin said:


> Mature females of various species often bend their abdomen in such a way that it appears to be pheromone release, however, it seems odd that she'd be releasing pheromones and eating at the same time.


I see no reason she cant eat and release pheromones at the same time. She was exibiting this behavor when she was in her enclosure. I had taken her out of her enclosure and she stopped doing it. I gave her a cricket she settled down and started doing it again.


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## The_Asa (Jan 3, 2009)

Dang, I had one doing this just last night :lol: I guess I'll keep an eye out


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## Rick (Jan 4, 2009)

I guess I dont' watch mine enough as I can't really recall seeing them do this.


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## Orin (Jan 4, 2009)

ismart said:


> I see no reason she cant eat and release pheromones at the same time.


 Many times they'll hold the abdomen differently during feeding. Certainly it's not impossible.


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## Dinora (Jan 4, 2009)

here's a newbie question: do they use the pheromones just to attract a mate or are they communicating as well?


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## hibiscusmile (Jan 4, 2009)

Beats me what is going on, I really never notice, no time.. I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date!

No really, I really think that they do this and usually don't eat at that time, I have caught mine and they don't seem to want to eat at that time, I do notice that if the female is not ready, she won't put up with them, no matter how long they stay around.

When she is ready, she will open up to him and he will be able to mate, other wise he's just whistling dixie!


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## Peter Clausen (Jan 5, 2009)

I've seen unusual-looking abdominal movements in feeding females. We might not always notice it, but sometimes this movement results in them spraying out what appears to be excess liquids. I would imagine that they need to make room for the new meal.

I've also seen a sort of circling abdominal behavior in females that are fertilized and within days of laying the next ootheca. Imagining again, it might be practice for the muscular movements required during the laying process which is circular in movement for some species.

I don't recall seeing it in unfertilized females, but since they lay infertile ooths, they probably do it to.

The photos do appear to display the pheromone-release pose. Abdomen down, wings up. Though a bit more of a bend in the abdomen and raising of the wings is typical, I think.

I'm not sure how often they call in captivity. It's been many years, but I've read conversations of pheromone-saturation issues for captive mantises. In my experience, females that don't want to mate, don't mate regardless of anything I do. And sometimes it's the male.


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## Pelle (Jan 5, 2009)

Here's a topic with some information..

Click


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## Katnapper (Jan 5, 2009)

Thanks for the link, Pelle... interesting discussion!


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## PhilinYuma (Jan 5, 2009)

Dinora said:


> here's a newbie question: do they use the pheromones just to attract a mate or are they communicating as well?


Like many other "newbie" questions (and I am an expert on asking if not answering them), this has a much more interesting answer than I at first thought.

The message sent by the female (totally without her "knowledge" of course) is to attract a male and ensure copulation. In his book, _Praying Mantis Keeping Aliens_ (which you should get if you don't have it already), Orin makes the important observation that in captivity, the concentration of this pheromone within the confines of a room can become so high that conspecific males may become desensitized to its allure and lose their mating urge.

One researcher (http://www.usc.edu/CSSF/History/2007/Projects/S1907.pdf) investigated whether or not the obligate parthenogenic Brunner's mantis, Brunneria borealis, still produced sex pheromones. When a Mediterranean mantis female (Iris oratoria), which practices cryptic (on demand) parthenogenesis was placed in one arm of a Y maze and a conspecific male on the descending arm, the male advanced through the maze to copulate with the female. When a Brunneria borealis female was substituted, the male I. oratoria unfailingly took the escape arm of the maze, which suggests that the male, whose species would not normally encounter B. borealis in nature, was aware of an "alien" sex pheromone and actively avoided a possibly lethal encounter with a female of another species.

It is also worth noting that the females did not exhibit any specific pheromone producing posture, but that may be because it wasn't recognized as such -- the researcher was a California H.S. student. In either case, it neither confirms nor refutes Paul's hypothesis.

"Post-annum resumed hatching" mentioned in that report, by the way, refers to the phenomenon by which ooths laid and yielding nymphs in one season can produce more nymphs in the following season.


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## kamakiri (Jan 5, 2009)

Pelle, Thanks for the link.

I have an old _religiosa_ female that is exhibiting this behavior now, after laying 5 presumably fertile ooths then 1 small ugly ooth that I suspect is infertile. Her regular appetite has waned and now she spends a lot of time hanging from a lower branch (usually hangs on lid) in the pose shown in the linked thread.


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## Katnapper (Jan 10, 2009)

I happened to come across this abstract:

Edit: For some reason, the link is not working correctly. Here is the text:



> Calling behaviour in the female praying mantis, Hierodula patelliferaBeatriz Perez* 1
> 
> 1 Department of Biología de Organismos y Sistemas, University of Oviedo, Oviedo, Spain
> 
> ...


http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal...=1&amp;SRETRY=0


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## The_Asa (Jan 10, 2009)

But would that mean any males or only males of the same species? Also happened to see mine do it


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