Sibylla pretiosa adults

[Precarious]

Something about the sheen of this species makes it hard to get good closeups. Most of my images ended up overexposed. :angry:

FEMALE

 

[Precarious]

MALE

 

[Precarious]

 

[myzticalboi]

Amazing pictures! Do you know what those three little gem balls on top of the head is used for?

 

[Precarious]

Amazing pictures! Do you know what those three little gem balls on top of the head is used for?

Thanks!

I don't know for sure but they must augment vision or at least sense light to some degree. Every mantis species that I've seen has them, as well as many other types of insects (flies, crickets, phasmids, etc.). In some they are less developed, but I've noticed they are more pronounced in the male mantids. I'd suspect they use them to see in the dark since males are generally more active at night while the females sit around releasing pheromones to guide the males to them. There must be some logical reason for the sexually dysmorphic size difference.

I'm sure someone here must know what they're for. I'm only guessing so I may be completely wrong.

 

[Ryan.M]

Stunning as always Precarious!

I was going to ask what those little gems were on mantid's heads too. My best guess would be a simple light sensing organ like you said. Hopefully someone has a definitive answer!

Cheers

 

[guapoalto049]

Nice photos as always! I'm pretty sure they are ocelli. These are single-lensed "simple" eyes that function to sense light and dark, as opposed to complex eyes with thousands of lenses.

I'm basing this on what I learned as a child, so over after a dozen or so years I could be wrong too!

 

[Precarious]

Nice photos as always! I'm pretty sure they are ocelli. These are single-lensed "simple" eyes that function to sense light and dark, as opposed to complex eyes with thousands of lenses.

I'm basing this on what I learned as a child, so over after a dozen or so years I could be wrong too!

You are correct!

Dorsal ocelli are light-sensitive organs found on the dorsal (top-most) surface or frontal surface of the head of many insects (e.g. Hymenoptera (bees, ants, wasps, sawflies), Diptera (flies), Odonata (dragonflies, damselflies) and Orthoptera (grasshoppers, locusts)). The ocelli co-exist with the compound eyes, thus most insects possess two anatomically separate and functionally different visual pathways. The number, form, and function of the dorsal ocelli varies markedly throughout insect orders. They tend to be larger and more strongly expressed in flying insects (particularly bees, wasps, dragonflies and locusts), where they are typically found as a triplet. Two lateral ocelli are directed to the left and right of the head respectively, while a central (median) ocellus is directed frontally. In some terrestrial insects (e.g. some ants and cockroaches), only two lateral ocelli are present: the median ocellus is absent. Note that the unfortunately labelled "lateral ocelli" here refers to the sideways-facing position of the ocelli, which are of the dorsal type. They should not be confused with the lateral ocelli of some insect larvae (see stemmata).

...

One common theory of ocellar function in flying insects holds that they are used to assist in maintaining flight stability. Given their underfocused nature, wide fields of view, and high light collecting ability, the ocelli are superbly adapted for measuring changes in the perceived brightness of the external world as an insect rolls or pitches around its body axis during flight. Corrective flight responses to light have been demonstrated in locusts[5] and dragonflies[6] in tethered flight. Other theories of ocellar function have ranged from roles as light adaptors or global excitatory organs, polarization sensors, and circadian entrainers.

Recent studies have shown that the ocelli of some insects (most notably the dragonfly, but also some wasps) are capable of form vision as the ocellar lens forms an image within, or close to the photoreceptor layer.[1][7] In dragonflies it has been demonstrated that the receptive fields of both the photoreceptors[8] and the second-order neurons[9] can be quite restricted. Further research has demonstrated that these eyes not only resolve spatial details of the world, they also perceive motion.[10] Second-order neurons in the dragonfly median ocellus respond more strongly to upwards moving bars and gratings than to downwards moving bars and gratings. However this effect is only present when ultraviolet light is used in the stimulus; when ultraviolet light is absent, no directional response is observed. Dragonfly ocelli are especially highly developed and specialised visual organs, which may support the exceptional acrobatic abilities of these animals.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simple_eye_in_invertebrates

Thanx!

 

[Termite48]

These are very revealing pictures of this gorgeous Mantid. You did a great job in getting the best representation of this under-appreciated species to the forefront. Thanks for the post and for the clarification of the little globe shapes called ocelli.

 

[Mr.Mantid]

Very nice Precarious!! *sigh* one day I'll be able to afford a dslr camera, one day

 

[Precarious]

These are very revealing pictures of this gorgeous Mantid. You did a great job in getting the best representation of this under-appreciated species to the forefront. Thanks for the post and for the clarification of the little globe shapes called ocelli.

Yes, this is another very cool COMMUNAL species! I really like when I can keep them all together in a nice tank. So much better than separate little cups.

I've got to post the pics of one of their nymphs hatching. They are so frail and thin they're clear. One of the cutest nymphs of any species too.

 

[ismart]

Awesome pics as usual!

 

[animalexplorer]

Beautiful sequence of images Henry! Alway love too see what you post next. These are really fun mantids to observe, they seem more active than most species.

 

[twolfe]

I was off doing a photo shoot at the beginning of June and missed this thread when it was posted. What a nice looking species! And communal is always good!

 

[agent A]

I find these guys hard to photograph, they r so skittish and don't like the camera, but cool anyways

I don't have mine anymore but maybe one day I'll give them another try

 

[gripen]

wow is all i can say!

 

[SilentDeviL]

Nice pic's wish my Camera was this good ....