Mantid behavioral diversity

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Sebcredible

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Hello!

So I'm a researcher that is curious about adopting the praying mantis as a model species for studying behavioral neuroscience. I've noticed quite a few interesting behaviors between different species such as threat displays, courtship dances, striking, and grooming. BUT I know there is often untapped potential within a community such as this one to explore other interesting aspects about how these animals behave.

So I'm crowdsourcing the question:

What amazing and consistent behaviors have any of you ever seen a mantid do? In what species? In what conditions?

I'm still an early career scientist (postdoc) but I see a lot of ways to grow and pair a passion with career by studying neuro in a praying mantis.

Looking forward to replies!

Cheers,

Sebastian

 
My Rhombodera fuscas quickly press flat against their lids when I startle them. Being leaf mimics this is to try and hide without being noticed.

 
Ive kept a lot of species and feel like mantids with the biggest personalities are Rhombodera and heterochaeta ;)

Some funny behavior, both very observant

 
Too bad you didn't ask this afew years ago. I had some Hierodula Multispina males that suddenly seem to experience thier own version of rabies!

They would fly into an all out rage and attack anything. They tried biting my fingers so I put a a qtip in thier mouth so they wouldn't hurt me or themselves. They chewed thier cage, my chair if they were on it, anything they could grab! I couldnt stop them. If it happens again, I will get it on Video and show you.

Sadly I ended up putting them in the freezer. I havent seen it in any other mantids I've kept.

 
Like many others who haven't posted, it would simply be way too much to write, explaining personality traits/quirks for so many mantids.

If you have something specific I would offer up a response of the ones I've kept; otherwise, I will simply state individuals even from the same species are often very different. As most mantids pick-up traits from the care they are given (sort of like being trained).

 
I see where you're coming from. I am interested in how others have commented extensively on animal "personality" as a result of handling. So this leads me to wonder, does anyone here thing that handling can do something like increase/decrease aggression? I'm really looking for anything interesting and anectdotal. For example I've realized leaf mimicry behavior in a way a mantis can almost shudder like a leaf when first handled by humans (T. sinensis). Same goes for swaying behavior before striking for prey (T. sinensis).

Similarly, do you think one can train a mantis to walk through a maze? associate a reward with a color? sound?

I know these questions may seem a little odd but it's the most common way I know to align what a mantis does with other animal models (like a mouse, or a fruitfly). I figure a good start is to align these similarities first. Then to use that as a foundation to build on the interesting things that only a mantid does, (for example threat displays, courtship displays, striking behavior, etc)

 
Also it helps if this behavior is something that didn't "happen this one time". similarly, please let me know if you used specific cues to get an animal to do a specific behavior. For example, this species only did this in the dark, or after eating, or before mating. etc.

 
My male adult D. lobata seems to be able to differentiate between humans and "dangerous" animals. I can never get him to threat-pose or fly away, no matter how many times I poke him. He'll only scuttle a couple of inches each instance I poke him persistently. However, if I put some prey item like a roach in front of him and it scurries near him and he's not hungry, the mantis will fly away or bolt away for a meter or two. He reacts similarly with mesopredators like cats or small dogs (~25 lbs), but not with humans!

Also, mantids seem to have a memory spanning 1-2 minutes. If I try feeding a mantis and they strike 1-3 times unsuccessfully as a food response, they'll lose interest and will react defensively against the prey if you try to bring it closer to the mantis. However, if you take away the food and try again in 1-2 minutes, the mantis will gain interest in the food again.

 
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Many adult females will wait in anticipation when feeding them, often sitting in only one spot to receive prey. However, the mantis does not use color association when selecting prey, as they are immune to most chemical defenses

 

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