I. oratoria findings!!!

[joossa]

Hi everyone. I would like to report some interesting findings regarding my I. oratoria ooths.

Some of you might have read my previous post (quite some time ago) regarding the possibility of the ooths being infertile. Let me give you a quick run down of what happened. All of this took place in the high desert east of Los Angeles in Southern California. First, I caught a wild adult female I. oratoria last Fall. I kept her until she died. I attempted to breed her with another male multiple times, but the attempts failed. During her time in captivity she laid a total of 3 ooths around October 17, 2006. All these ooths were given a cold period and were placed in incubation thereafter. I kept them because I had hope the she was mated before i had caught her outside.

Time went by, but the ooths did not hatch. Some weeks ago I posted a topic on this board and Rick suggested that I cut a thin slice from the ooth and see if I saw "life". I did as told and reported seeing little compartments with a yellowish "goo". Hoping that they would hatch I kept them in incubation. This was back in early March 2007.

Well, I am happy to report that two of the ooths hatched yesterday. They were laid around October 17, 2006 and they hatched on June 11, 2007; about a total of 8 MONTHS! The number of nymphs from both ooths was very low. I estimate that there was only about 3 dozen healthy nymphs from both ooths. I should also note that those two ooths were the first to be laid. The one that was laid last has not hatched as of yet.

I believe that the small number of nymphs may indicate that I. oratoria is capable of parthenogenic reproduction. There was also a fairly recent study at USC that concluded that this species is capable: http://www.usc.edu/CSSF/History/2005/Projects/S1906.pdf. I have decided to keep the nymphs until they reach L2 or L3 then I will release them into the wild where I found the mother. Then, around late summer and early fall I will collect some more individuals and attempt to breed and will note differences in ooth size, hatch rate, nymph size, etc.

Hope you guys find my summary interesting and helpful for those of you that plan on keeping the species.

 

[Butterfly]

I had caught a wild S. Californica last Halloween. Her ooths were laid in November and one hatched on April 12th. I gave them no cold period, and got quite a few nymphs but am left with about 16 still alive.

I hear all the time that an ooth should hatch in 4-6 weeks but have never had that experience.

My Europeans ooths still havent hatched and they were laid before the others, I dont believe them to be fertile tho. Cut into one and it was dry as a bone.

Am glad your ooths were fertile as I remember you looking for a male quite a while back.

 

[Hypoponera]

You link goes to a brief summary. Do you have access to the full report? That might prove to be some useful info. Still, I'm not to sure about the "symbiotic bacteria".

By the way, who else is raising Iris oratoria?

 

[OGIGA]

I had caught a wild S. Californica last Halloween. Her ooths were laid in November and one hatched on April 12th. I gave them no cold period, and got quite a few nymphs but am left with about 16 still alive. I hear all the time that an ooth should hatch in 4-6 weeks but have never had that experience.

My Europeans ooths still havent hatched and they were laid before the others, I dont believe them to be fertile tho. Cut into one and it was dry as a bone.

Am glad your ooths were fertile as I remember you looking for a male quite a while back.

That's like 5 months. Okay, I guess I know what to expect now because my mantis just laid one.

 

[Asa]

Yes, mine take long too.

 

[Butterfly]

Yeah it stinks that it takes SO darn long. I wish I could hurry it up a bit but maybe by the time the nymphs I have now lay ooths the other ooths I had will be hatching. lol

 

[yen_saw]

The ootheca can take a long time to hatch, especially the species that overwinter, but it doesn't mean they are parthenogenic.

 

[Hypoponera]

According to tthe summary abstract, there were isolated females who produced oothecae. These oothecae had a very low rate hatchout with all surviving nymphs becoming adult FEMALES! I assume that the word "isolated" to mean unmated. If so, then parthanogenisis it is.

I'd really like to read the full report though. The summary mentions environmental causes for possibly inducing the parthanogenisis such as "symbiotic bacteria". Not too sure how that would work.

 

[joossa]

Unfortunately, I do not have access to the full report. It seems that the site only provides the abstract reports. Here is another report that backs up I. oratoria's parthenogenisis: http://www.usc.edu/CSSF/Current/Projects/S1907.pdf.

 

[jplelito]

I don't have the paper that supplies the data, but Mantis religiosa can apparently do parthenogenesis as well.

This is not surprising for an insect that eats its mate and lives at low density in the wild. Plus many other 'Orthopteroid' insects can do it: walking sticks, some grasshoppers, etc. Mantids are not so distantly related to these! In this case it probably does not involve bacteria, but that is just my guess. Here's why:

Miomantis paykullii can do it too. I keep a colony of these. You just isolate the female and she will lay ooths, and then these will hatch into small numbers of young, albeit weaker than normal. These will mature into all females, each capable of doing the same. See Adair, 1925. I have kept them for years and will try to publish the rearing data and all that when I have the time. I have a copy of the Adair .pdf file for this, PM me if interested.