Interbreeding

[Pyroruby]

Is it possible? My Chinese mantis laid another ooth last night and it looks like another Stagmo ooth.

So, if two species closely related would breed, and produce a viable offspring, would that influence the type of oothe laid?

 

[Ntsees]

I've looked at your photos and the ooth. Your mantid might be a narrow-winged mantid and they do resemble the Chinese mantid. I recall Rick has a post on both narrow-winged mantid and Chinese mantid comparison.

 

[Pyroruby]

Ohhhhhh... I'll have to look them up. I never heard of them.

Thanks.

 

[Ntsees]

Found the post. Here you go.

http://mantidforum.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=15655&hl=%2Bnarrow-winged+%2Bmantis

 

[SirNovak]

So I am a biology major, and I am not stating any of this on mantids specifically, but as a basic principle of biology, it is possible to get two similar species to mate and produce offspring, hence how we get mules. (Horse + Donkey)

However, the offspring is never viably fertile, meaning, they won't be able to reproduce with each other, or with any of the parent species that created them.

Also you will probably notice a much larger mortality rate for them as well.

New species don't form from the mixing of two.... but rather the splitting of 1.

It would be a cool science experiment to conduct though, just to see if they would interbreed....

Hope this helps! Like I said, I'm not an entomologist, just a regular biologist. Haha.

-SirNovak

 

[Birdman]

Beg to differ, various species of birds hybridize not only between species but occasionally between genera and the offspring are usually fertile. This also occurs in reptiles so would imagine it is likely in insects as well........

 

[SirNovak]

Beg to differ, various species of birds hybridize not only between species but occasionally between genera and the offspring are usually fertile. This also occurs in reptiles so would imagine it is likely in insects as well........

Hmmm, never heard of that before.

I would imagine it's very rare though.

 

[Ranitomeya]

The phylogenetics of birds are in severe need of reorganization. Most birds have been described based on appearance and behavior and DNA analysis has revealed that some of the birds we thought were closely related were not and birds thought to be very different were in fact very closely related.

Hybridization in some types of insects is very unlikely even amongst closely related species due to variations in mating behavior and genital structure.

 

[Rick]

If the ooth in questions looks like an oversized Stagmomantis sp. ooth but the mantis looks like a Tenodera you have Tenodera angustipennis (narrow winged mantis). Check the armpits, should have an orange spot there instead of the yellow you see on the Chinese. It would be impossible for Stagmomantis sp. to breed with Tenodera species. Interbreeding may be possible between some closely related species but whether or not viable offspring are produced is a different story.

I have seen Tenodera sisensis and T. angustipennis mating in the field but have never come across a hybrid mantis between the two. This leads me to believe that despite being closely related there is some mechanism preventing fertilization. These mechanisms can vary as noted in the post above mine. On the other hand I have also seen Stagmomantis sp. males attempting to mate with Tenodera females in the field. This is obviously not possible simple due to the sizes of the two species. In captivity I have witnessed Tenodera and Heirodula mating but no offspring are produced from these two because they are not even in the same genus. So even if they can physically mate they are not likely to produce any offspring if not closely related. If this were not true and all mantids could interbreed we would likely only have one species of mantis.

This topic has been discussed in detail many times. I suggest doing a search on the topic for those old posts.