# Mantids in Science



## PeterF (Feb 28, 2011)

I need to write a paper for my Insect Behavior class. Basically it involves reading papers and linking them together into a review of the concepts.

I am hoping someones can suggest Mantid behavioral concepts that I could look into.

If you're into this kind of thing, then pointing me to specific papers is nice, but completely unnecessary.

An idea of the concept list I am working with so far:

Mantid evasion - detecting bat sonar.

Mantid learning (milkweed bug trials).

Strike triggering.

Crypsis (which isn't strictly behavioral, but the swaying of some species is and it could be tied in).

Threat display

Mating (especial dances if any)

I would like to do something with nutrition, but that isn't strictly behavioral. However there are ways that nutrition and behavior can be linked in context. Especially of interest would be prey type selection (if any) due to nutritional needs or satiation.

Do note I won't be doing any experiments or using personal observations. I am just looking for concepts that scientists have already researched. Sort of like a book report, only fancier.


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## sporeworld (Feb 28, 2011)

I'll reply from a selfish what-I'd-like-to-see-personally approach...

Why do they REALLY eat sweets (banana, jam, sugar water)?

Is communal living a selective breeding trait...? For instance, could we select docile Stagmantis specimens and selectively breed a communal generation for mass market...?

Does UV light really matter...?

Does coating food prey really matter...?

How is growth affected by temp &amp; food variables...?

Are fatty foods detrimental to health (ie caterpillars as a staple, vs moths).

Why or how does feeding crickets to some species negatively affect their ooths.

Does sound (like buzzing) have any affect on the mantids as a trigger (here comes food, look out for that wasp, etc).

How important are circadian light cycles...? What happens if you reverse the temp/light equation (day temps at night, night temps during daylight).

What REALLY triggers hatching in ooths...? If they hatch regularly in transit, it can't be completely light triggered.

If I cut an ooth in quarters and put each peice in identical humidities, but varying temps, will they hatch at different times...? What if I only vary the light cycles...? Or humidity...?

That enough to get some juices flowing...?


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## Hypoponera (Feb 28, 2011)

Your NOT required to do any experiments? I took Insect Behaviour and had to do the experiments. I studied prey selection preference. How does predator satiation affect prey size selection. Another idea would be to check prey size preference for "social" mantids and non-social species. I think the idea of prey size was connected with "social" mantid species by a member in the past. Afraid I don't have any papers to suggest for you though. I could send you the paper I had to write, but it would just make you laugh!


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## Rick (Mar 1, 2011)

The Praying Mantids would be a good reference book.


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## sporeworld (Mar 2, 2011)

I just watched Precarious' AMAZING Gongy hatch video again... And made me wonder if there has been any research on the effects of vibrations on incubating ooths. Gongy's in particular, seem to all pop out at the same time - I suspect from the vibrations of their cell mates (is that a pun?) wiggling around. Could this be triggered...?


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## dgerndt (Mar 2, 2011)

Sporeworld said:


> I just watched Precarious' AMAZING Gongy hatch video again... And made me wonder if there has been any research on the effects of vibrations on incubating ooths. Gongy's in particular, seem to all pop out at the same time - I suspect from the vibrations of their cell mates (is that a pun?) wiggling around. Could this be triggered...?


If that were true, then mantids wouldn't hatch days apart sometimes. I personally had an ooth that hatched over a period of three days. But, I could be wrong. It's worth looking into. Ooths have been known to hatch during shipment. Maybe the vibrations of trucks driving around causes them to hatch.


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## PhilinYuma (Mar 2, 2011)

Don't let Hyponera fool you, Peter! He is the only member I know who has degrees both in biology and entomology. It seems that what you are doing, though, is a literature review. Professors love to set these so that they can incorporate them into the bibliography at the end of their latest book or article!

Territorial behavior. Here is a rather unsatisfactory thread on the subject, since it contains no examples and no citations, but Christian Schwarz is a very well known mantis breeder in Europe and a systematist, and a search may produce something useful.

http://mantidforum.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=14227&amp;st=0&amp;p=94853&amp;hl=territorial&amp;fromsearch=1entry94853

Stress.I can find nothing on this topic in any of the few entomology books I own, maybe because it isn't recognized or hasn't raised anyone's experimntal interest. Worth checking out, though.

Bat avoidance. David Yager has written a lot on this, of course, and you will find it discussed in the Prete book. But then, you probably already knew that.

The Prete book does have two excellent chapters (12 &amp;13), though, on the different defense mechanisms used by mantids as they grow older.

Two problems with this book are that it doesn't have chapter bibliographies and that the vast majority of the references are over 20 years old.

If you are looking for an offbeat bibliography, Ramsay, G.W. 1990: Mantodea (Insecta), with a review of aspects of functional morphology and biology. _Fauna of New Zealand [no.]19._ DSIR Publishing. Wellington, New Zealand, has nine interesting pps of references that go back to the C19. You may have this in your library, but if not, I would be happy to loan it to you by Priority (or to anyone else who has been kind enough to share articles with me in the past!  ) Come to think of it, this may be available on Google.

Niche accomodation between mantids competing for the same area (i.e. different times of the year for hatching and different prey size).

Mantids of the same species (e.g. S. carolina) have been observed to present two color morphs when lurking in grass that has withered at the tips, brown morphs use the withered grass and green morphs the fresh base of the plant. Does this reflect a choice by which specimens gravitate to an environment in which they are cryptic, or do individuals change color to match their environment? I don't know the answer to this, but there is at least some literature on it.

I'm sorry, but that's all that I can think of at the moment, and I have to make orange chicken. If anything else comes to mind, I'll post accordingly.


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## PeterF (Mar 2, 2011)

Thanks for the offers and suggestions Phil. Ultimately, the info has to come from journal type publications. And recent is best (but older solid material is also expected).


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## PhilinYuma (Mar 3, 2011)

Peter J F said:


> Thanks for the offers and suggestions Phil. Ultimately, the info has to come from journal type publications. And recent is best (but older solid material is also expected).


Yes, ! had guessed as much. Actually, it is almost impossible to get any valuable information on mantids (or any other academic subject for that matter) that isn't in journal format.

I tried but failed to find an on line version of the Ramsay monograph.


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## ddyager (Mar 3, 2011)

It's unfortunately true about the older references. The trouble is that not enough people are doing mantis research these days. It's rare to find anything written except in journals.

I pulled together PDFs of most of the mantis papers from my lab for a new web site we've been working on: http://www.mantislab.com/some_papers_from_the_lab.html

If you're interested in mantis evolution, Gavin Svenson has published a great paper on that in the last couple of years (and created a new mantis web site).

Also Greg Holwell and his students in Australia have been doing interesting research on behavior of several species, including some bark mantises.

Good luck with the paper!

David Yager

__________________________________________________________________________________________

The Prete book does have two excellent chapters (12 &amp;13), though, on the different defense mechanisms used by mantids as they grow older.

Two problems with this book are that it doesn't have chapter bibliographies and that the vast majority of the references are over 20 years old.


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## MantidLord (Mar 3, 2011)

The Dr. David Yager? Wow. Could you please provide a link to Mr. Gavin's website as well as the title of his paper? Also, on the few studies being done on mantids, is it safe to say that the majority revolve around behavior and evolution?


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## PeterF (Mar 3, 2011)

MantidLord said:


> The Dr. David Yager? Wow. Could you please provide a link to Mr. Gavin's website as well as the title of his paper? Also, on the few studies being done on mantids, is it safe to say that the majority revolve around behavior and evolution?


Broadly looking over the papers available on ISI I would say that most of them are about mating behavior. And following that biological chemistry.


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## PhilinYuma (Mar 4, 2011)

Dr Yager's post was the most financially valuable ever to appear on this forum for those of us (most!) who have no academic affiliation. Each of those PDF articles would cost between $20 and $30 from an offprint company.

"Mr Gavin" is Dr. Gavin Svenson, whose website is here: http://www.mantodearesearch.com/PI.html

Dr. Greg Holwell moved from Macquarrie to the University of Auckland, N.Z. last year but is doing the same thing there. The work continues in Sydney (luv ya, Superfreak!).

And I am Dr. Phillip Rayner, B.A., M.A., PhD, but you can still call me Phil!


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## dgerndt (Mar 4, 2011)

PhilinYuma said:


> Dr Yager's post was the most financially valuable ever to appear on this forum for those of us (most!) who have no academic affiliation. Each of those PDF articles would cost between $20 and $30 from an offprint company.
> 
> "Mr Gavin" is Dr. Gavin Svenson, whose website is here: http://www.mantodearesearch.com/PI.html
> 
> ...


Can I call you Dr. Phil? :lol:


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## PhilinYuma (Mar 4, 2011)

Deby said:


> Can I call you Dr. Phil? :lol:


No.


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## dgerndt (Mar 5, 2011)

PhilinYuma said:


> No.


Fair enough. I figured as much.  (Love ya!) :lol:


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## PeterF (Mar 6, 2011)

Deby said:


> Fair enough. I figured as much.  (Love ya!) :lol:


Maybe if he understands the alternative is that you call him Philly Cheesesteak he'll be a bit happier about the "Dr. Phil" option.

(aside, Phil, if I haven't mentioned I am a displaced Yankee, can you explain why people out west here make "philly cheesesteaks" with nacho cheese from a can?)


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## PhilinYuma (Mar 6, 2011)

Peter J F said:


> Maybe if he understands the alternative is that you call him Philly Cheesesteak he'll be a bit happier about the "Dr. Phil" option.
> 
> (aside, Phil, if I haven't mentioned I am a displaced Yankee, *can you explain why people out west here make "philly cheesesteaks" with nacho cheese from a can?)*


As an adoptive Chicagoan, I was taught that you should serve Philly cheese steaks with Cheese Whiz, but I think that down here, folks tend to "make do and mend" to a point that a dish is no longer recognizable by inhabitants of the area in which it originated. But the problem is not peculiar to the Southwest. I have a recipe for "River Thames Chili' that calls for chutney and cumin --oh dear. I also have a disgusting recipe for jambalaya from Baton Rouge, where they should really know better, that calls for "a small can of mushrooms" and have seen, but mercifully lost, a recipe for Hungarian goulash that uses ground (shudder0 beef. Gut loading, no doubt.


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