Male to Female Nymph Ratios

[mantisboy]

After 2 years of breeding M. Religiosa I finally got 2 Ooths to pop so-to-speak. The first yielded about 60 nymphs, of which there was a dozen survivors after the first week. I decided to keep these 12 survivors and released the other 80 nymphs from my second Ooth.

The mantids are all L3 & L4s and it seems that the Male to Female ratio runs about 10 to 1.....is this common?

 

[ShieldMantid1997]

generally there will be more males in this species, but you might have gotten unlucky too.

 

[Rick]

generally there will be more males in this species, but you might have gotten unlucky too.

How do you know this? Do you have some data to pack up the claim? I am not saying I do not believe, just that I would find that to be interesting if true.

To the original poster, I am not sure if you could find sufficient research data on the ratio of mantis genders for ooths of a particular species. I can say in my personal experience that it varies with each ooth.

 

[happy1892]

Seems like you were just unlucky because I have not heard that there are usually that many more males than females.

 

[ShieldMantid1997]

How do you know this? Do you have some data to pack up the claim? I am not saying I do not believe, just that I would find that to be interesting if true.

My claim is based on past experience, i kept the labels of the deli cups from a year ago (i always keep them).

Ooth Number 1

Hatch total: 56 nymphs

After 1 month:

Males: 20

Females: 11

Ooth Number 2

Hatch Total: 63

After 1 month:

Males: 24

Females: 15

Ooth #3

Hatch total: 48

After 1 Month:

Males: 17

Female: 10

So maybe it was just me, wasn't trying to make a false claim, i probably should have included that it was based on my experience

That came out wong

 

[happy1892]

My claim is based on past experience, i kept the labels of the deli cups from a year ago (i always keep them).

Ooth Number 1

Hatch total: 56 nymphs

After 1 week:

Males: 20

Females: 11

Ooth Number 2

Hatch Total: 63

After 1 week:

Males: 24

Females: 15

Ooth #3

Hatch total: 48

After 1 week:

Males: 17

Female: 10

So maybe it was just me, wasn't trying to make a false claim, i probably should have included that it was based on my experience

That came out wong

Ummm.... after a week ain't they still L1 or L2?

 

[ShieldMantid1997]

Ummm.... after a week ain't they still L1 or L2?

One month sorry

Just edited it

 

[mantisboy]

Thanks for the replies.....in late August adult Euros are everywhere on my property and the ratios seem about the same. For every one adult female i find 6-10 males..perhaps for wild M. Religiosa it's just natures way of ensuring successful reproduction. It's been a great experience watching these little guys break free from the Ooth and go through their molts. Since I mated the parents I feel like they are all my little ones, I am releasing most of the males tonight.

At L1 I was feeding them Aphids (I have rose bushes), at L2 it was all fruit flies, now at L3 they can tackle house flies, and a few my L4s do well on BBs.

 

[Rick]

I wasn't trying to call you on a false claim or anything.

What instar were these mantids after one month? L2? L3?

But I wonder what the ratio would be if you could sex every mantis that hatched from an ooth. There may be more males after one month because maybe the survivability of males is greater for some reason. This likely isn't the true ratio of what is coming from each ooth but it is probably the more important ratio because the rest have died.

 

[ShieldMantid1997]

After one month they were L4/3

 

[angelofdeathzz]

Most species I've kept seem to have at least a 2:1 ratio of females to males, except Orchids which are the other way around, the last little group I had were 4 males 1 female, and of course the males matured way ahead of the girl so I got the males out to people that could use them for breeding.

 

[mantisboy]

I wasn't trying to call you on a false claim or anything.

What instar were these mantids after one month? L2? L3?

But I wonder what the ratio would be if you could sex every mantis that hatched from an ooth. There may be more males after one month because maybe the survivability of males is greater for some reason. This likely isn't the true ratio of what is coming from each ooth but it is probably the more important ratio because the rest have died.

It would make for an interesting study, but it would require a great deal of work isolating and feeding each nymph from multiple Ooths. Where is a Entomologist writing a PHD thesis when you need them?

 

[MantidLord]

Interesting. When I go out sampling mantids, for every 1 male European I find at least 4 females. There's even one small 10 X 4 feet area of waist high vegetation where I've only found females (about 10 females) and I've visited the spot several times, recollecting those females. In my personal collection, I have 6 females and 2 males. This isn't a lot or significant for data or anything, and I can (and will) collect some more males when the time comes, but so far in my experience, females seem to outnumber males. I'm not saying this is actually true, but data has been done suggesting that the male:female sex ratio leans in favor to the females later on in the season as males become prey for females (and other suitable prey disappears due to the approaching winter). Although for this to happen in July doesn't make much sense.

 

[happy1892]

Thanks for the replies.....in late August adult Euros are everywhere on my property and the ratios seem about the same. For every one adult female i find 6-10 males..perhaps for wild M. Religiosa it's just natures way of ensuring successful reproduction. It's been a great experience watching these little guys break free from the Ooth and go through their molts. Since I mated the parents I feel like they are all my little ones, I am releasing most of the males tonight.

At L1 I was feeding them Aphids (I have rose bushes), at L2 it was all fruit flies, now at L3 they can tackle house flies, and a few my L4s do well on BBs.

That is probably mostly because males move around a lot like into streets and lights and females stay where they are.Maybe the temperature effects if they become male or female from an egg or before they are L3 if they are not already male or female at that time.

 

[mantidsaresweet]

It would make for an interesting study, but it would require a great deal of work isolating and feeding each nymph from multiple Ooths. Where is a Entomologist writing a PHD thesis when you need them?

I agree completely!!

 

[frogparty]

2:1 male/female ration on all the ghost ooths Ive raised up.

I bought a 5 lot of orchid nymphs from Yen and it was 3 males 2 females

I bought a 10 lot of orchid nymphs from buginthebox and it was 8 males 2 females

just saying

 

[Rick]

It would make for an interesting study, but it would require a great deal of work isolating and feeding each nymph from multiple Ooths. Where is a Entomologist writing a PHD thesis when you need them?

Yep. I am currently assisting with a large scale ecology experiment involving tadpoles so I know what you mean.

Most species I've kept seem to have at least a 2:1 ratio of females to males, except Orchids which are the other way around, the last little group I had were 4 males 1 female, and of course the males matured way ahead of the girl so I got the males out to people that could use them for breeding.

Just because the males mature faster does not mean they cannot breed with those same females. I never found it to be an issue personally. The males live a long time.

 

[angelofdeathzz]

Yeah, I know there's a chance and was told the same thing by a friend, but she just molted to presub and the males were all over 2-3 weeks, so I didn't want them to possibly go to waste on a small hope? I have friends that have them in culture so getting a male when the time comes shouldn't be a problem, but thanks for the input on their longevity.