Mantid Hunting Skills and Senses

[samak]

Do mantids eat mostly during the day or night? Or both? Can they just as easily catch prey in the dark as in the light? How good is their sense of sight? What can they sense with their antennae? Is is for smell? Or do they use them to sense movement of other things around them?

 

[OGIGA]

I feed my mantids whenever I have time, which means I feed them in the middle of the night some times. I think they eat more during the day because they are pretty light sensitive in my opinion. I have no idea what the antenna is for.

 

[yen_saw]

Most species of mantis are active during daytime but some species are more active suring evening/night time. But they will feed given the chance regardless of either day or night. Mantis has a good eyesight which it depends on to prey, don't believed they can chase the food in total darkness.

 

[ABbuggin]

Their attenna as in all insects are mainly used to help with eyesight. Basically a sense of smell, picking up vibrations from other insects, sensing wind, and smelling water...the list could go on. Attenna are like a bunch of senses in one package.

An easy way to tell how good the eyesight is for an insect is to look at their attena. The longer their attenna the worse their eyesight because they rely more on their attenna vs. their eyes (cave crickets). And for shorter attenna better eyesight because they rely more on their eyes vs. their attenna (dragonflies) (exception of mantids although they have long atenna their eyesight is outstanding... I guess they awesome eyesight and all of the benefits of atenna too!)

Hope this helps

AB

 

[Christian]

In males, the antennae are used to perceive female pheromones as well. That's why the usually have longer or more pectinated antennae.

Regards,

Christian

 

[ABbuggin]

Good point Christian...forgot that one!...kind of important!