# Parthenogenesis



## Meiji (Jul 27, 2008)

Rob Byatt said:


> ...Some mantids are capable of parthenogenesis when normally they reproduce sexually. There have been instances of it in _Sphodromantis viridis_ and _Miomantis_ spp. However the hatch rate is usually very low and often the nymphs are weak.I always keep hold of ootheca that are from unmated females just in case they hatch, but only if it a species I've not kept before or having little success with.
> 
> Hope that helps !
> 
> Rob.


I'm starting this thread with a quote from Rob's almost 2-yr old post above. I was just reading about Parthenogenesis in _Sphodromantis viridis_ and _Miomantis_ spp. If anyone is interested in the article it is at http://mantodea.myspecies.info/sites/manto...ust%201996).pdf. Anyone care to share personal experiences?


----------



## Orin (Jul 27, 2008)

In the past I kept generations and huge number of both species and never had an infertile eggcase hatch. I've heard the reports before though I wonder what the real success rate or truth is. (Of course B.borealis, the only natural species to produce this way hatches fine.)


----------



## The_Asa (Jul 27, 2008)

I have kept the species, definitely not as much as Orin or Rob has, but I also have never had an infertile eggcase in any mantis hatch.


----------



## collinchang635 (Aug 13, 2008)

Could a tropidomantid or ant mantid ooth hatch without mating?


----------



## idolomantis (Aug 13, 2008)

I Like Mantis said:


> Could a tropidomantid or ant mantid ooth hatch without mating?


no


----------



## collinchang635 (Aug 14, 2008)

idolomantis said:


> no


   My Tropidomantid laid four ooths alread without mating with a male.


----------



## idolomantis (Aug 14, 2008)

then you have just useless ooths.


----------



## jplelito (Aug 14, 2008)

I do not know about Ant mantids and such. But I do know that _Miomantis_ can reproduce parthenogenetically for many many generations - I have kept a colony in my laboratory of only females, as well as a group which I 'kept' sexual having both males and females.

However there are costs to this. The females dwindle over time, becoming shorter, smaller, and with increasingly variable number of nymphal instars. They make fewer and fewer offspring, too. Crossing them back to normal males is possible but also over time, the resulting fertility gain will get smaller too. I ultimately lost this line in my lab simply due to it becoming too much work to maintain a few very fragile mantids in light of my other graduate work, but some of my last females were the sixth and seventh daughters in line without ever having mated.

If anyone out there has any _Miomantis _I would love to get ahold of some and start this project again, I can probably do some DNA work on them in the future now. In the meantime I will try to get my results out into a journal somewhere so you can all get the whole story. (which of course is too long here).

Just so that everyone does not go crazy about this, though - I have tried it with many other mantid species and it does not work, or works only very rarely. I can confirm that _Mantis religiosa_ also does this, but only three times and none of them ever made it to adulthood (actually, none made it successfully through the first molt! (The parents were females I reared myself, kept separate from males, etc.) Besides the parthenogenetic offspring are inherently more fussy to rear and really - who needs a FUSSIER _Mantis religiosa_ or _Tenodera_?! (_Tenodera_ also does not reproduce without mating in my experience). Even in _Miomantis_ there are problems - some females born from females who did not mate cannot themselves reproduce without mating - and most of the females produced from a normal sexual cross cannot reproduce without mating either. I suspect it is either inherent/recessive in only some individuals or there is some other trigger I have yet to figure out.

What else have others seen with regards to this? I am curious especially from the admins and such who have been rearing mantids for a long time.


----------



## mrblue (Aug 14, 2008)

thats really fascinating, thanks for sharing. i have never kept any species that are known to produce this way so have never experienced it.


----------



## Meiji (Aug 14, 2008)

jplelito said:


> I do not know about Ant mantids and such. But I do know that _Miomantis_ can reproduce parthenogenetically for many many generations - I have kept a colony in my laboratory of only females, as well as a group which I 'kept' sexual having both males and females. However there are costs to this. The females dwindle over time, becoming shorter, smaller, and with increasingly variable number of nymphal instars. They make fewer and fewer offspring, too. Crossing them back to normal males is possible but also over time, the resulting fertility gain will get smaller too. I ultimately lost this line in my lab simply due to it becoming too much work to maintain a few very fragile mantids in light of my other graduate work, but some of my last females were the sixth and seventh daughters in line without ever having mated.
> 
> If anyone out there has any _Miomantis _I would love to get ahold of some and start this project again, I can probably do some DNA work on them in the future now. In the meantime I will try to get my results out into a journal somewhere so you can all get the whole story. (which of course is too long here).
> 
> ...


Thanks for sharing this cutting-edge mantis info.


----------



## collinchang635 (Aug 14, 2008)

What is a Miomantis? How aggessive is it and how big does it grow until?


----------



## mantidsandgeckos (Aug 15, 2008)

Miomantis is a small mantis.Common name is egyptian mantis


----------

