Tenodera angustipennis

[Kris Anderson]

Species treatment for Tenodera angustipennis Saussure, 1869 completed.

The U.S. distribution of this species is confined to a significantly smaller range in comparison to its much more widespread congener, T. sinensis.  This same dynamic occurs in Japan, where T. angustipennis is found in adjacent habitats to the larger T. aridifolia. It is believed that the more consistent nymphal emergence times of T. angustipennis, its shorter duration of development and slightly different prey resources, due to its smaller stature, make this species less competitive against T. sinensis, thus restricting its ability to spread further beyond its initial area of establishment.  The relatively smaller stature of T. angustipennis also allows it to be preyed upon by T. sinensis, whose nymphs typically emerge sooner and develop earlier than T. angustipennis.  These factors cumulatively restrict this species to a more defined ecological niche within the United States territory in the same manner as within its native habitat when co-occurring with its larger, more developmentally diverse congeners. 

Follow updates for this project at:

“Praying Mantises of the United States and Canada”

https://www.researchgate.net/project/Praying-Mantises-of-the-United-States-and-Canada

 

[bugboymark]

I read through some of your research, Kris. Great and fascinating stuff!  Would be a dream job for me!  I found one of your hypotheses really interesting too.  You included a photo of a male T. sinensis attempting to mate with a female M. religiosa. Someone (on your research web page) responded that they felt visual cues were probably a factor. You know, female physical characteristics/morphology just looked good at the time!  The reason I liked your idea or theory, that similarities in pheromones between the two species could support this behavior, was that I witnessed something similar about 4 years ago. 

I live in the Chicago suburbs in N.E. IL.  The only "native" species I ever see in the area have been T. sinensis.  Go a little south, southeast, and west...and you start seeing S. carolina.  But except for a few pictures on the internet, I've never been able to find a live European mantis in my area.  I know there are populations not far from me...I just never see them anywhere (and trust me, I'm ALWAYS looking for mantises!   ).  So I have a big female Chinese on a flowering crab tree on the corner of my house.  I found her on my door screen, and dropped her in the low branches. It's not typical mantis habitat (trees), but I was feeding her enough grasshoppers, bees, wasps, and spiders so that she was content staying in one spot for a few days. One afternoon, I could see it looked like she was "calling".  So I've just given her another big spider, when I see something fly into the tree about 4 feet away.  I figured it was a grasshopper or katydid based on the size, but then I realized it was little adult male European mantis!  He almost immediately started navigating his way towards the female from 3 or 4 feet away!  He wasn't locked onto her visually.  He was moving his head around (and his antennae were really active).  Looking back and forth... but still moving in her general direction.  When he got within about a foot from the Chinese female, he finally "acquired the target" visually.  He began his stalk like he meant to try and mate, but stopped short when he was behind her about 4 inches away.  He never got any closer.  Froze there for about 15 minutes. Eventually she finished her meal and slowly walked off.  He did not pursue and abruptly jumped away like they do to escape. Draw your own conclusions, but from my perspective, the only thing that got him there WAS the pheromone trail.  What else could draw a random male European mantis, from a distance, on the wing, into a spot right next to a calling female Chinese.  I suppose it could have been some bizarre coincidence too...but based on how he was acting...I suspect not.  And oddly enough, when he finally had a chance to size her up, the visual queues were NOT sufficient enough to get him to actually attempt to mate!  Probably some jokes and analogies in there somewhere, but I'll leave that alone.

Anyhow...thought you might find that interesting.   

Mark 

 

[Kris Anderson]

Thanks for the information, Mark.  Yes, there does seem to be some sort of perceptual nexus in regard to mate finding/selection.  Pheromone signatures are certainly at play for long-distance location but visual ques seemingly take over once a potential pair are within reasonable distance of each other.  And, of course, some species use tactical responses or minute displays of some sort.  I think that these systems have worked themselves out quite well over the hundreds of millions of years but once humans start meddling with distribution ranges, mate selection for introduced species gets confused. The natural ranges for both Mantis religiosa (European) and Tenodera sinensis (eastern Palearctic/Indomalaysian) do not overlap...  but now both species are found here mingling among the likes of endemic Stagmomantis and others.  It will be interesting to see how this all turns out and what impact these introduced species have upon the native populations of mantises in the long-term.  We have already seen replacement of several Stagmomantis species from their native ranges in the likes of Utah.   

Kris

 

[Rick]

I was not aware of your research Kris. I plan to follow your project in the future. 

In regards to Tenodera angustipennis, I have found them in Eastern NC. I know of only a couple locations where this species can be found. I have found them copulating with T. sinensis in the field. I try to have all of our NC species at my table for the large Bugfest event but it can be difficult to find T. angustipennis in some  years. 

 

[hierodula]

I'll be following this research too, awesome to see this level of dedication!