DOI: 10.5061/dryad.nzs7h44xk
title: Plastic background colour matching in the springbok mantis

description: Within-species variation in colour phenotypes is widespread in animals.
 One mechanism by which such variation can be maintained is plastic
 background matching, where individuals plastically develop a similar
 colour to that of their surroundings. A few examples are known from
 insects that exhibit green-brown colour polyphenisms. But the extent to
 which plastic colour responses are shaped by other factors, such as
 genetic variation in plasticity or the interaction of other environmental
 cues, is poorly understood. Here, we investigate the plasticity of body
 colouration in the springbok mantis, Miomantis caffra—a species where
 hatchlings emerge brown in colour and typically change to green but
 sometimes remain entirely or partly brown through successive moults. We
 reared 350 mantises from 10 full-sib families on a green or brown
 background under a high or low temperature and a high or low humidity
 using a fully-factorial, split-brood design, and recorded colour
 phenotypes (all green, all brown, or mixed colouration) after 14 weeks of
 development. We found very strong evidence of developmental plasticity for
 background matching: the green background induced a higher incidence of
 the all-green phenotype, whereas the brown background produced more of the
 all-brown and mixed phenotypes. The all-green phenotype was also
 universally more common under higher humidity, and under higher
 temperature when the background was green. However, not all body parts
 showed the same level of environmental sensitivity: the steepest reaction
 norms were observed in the mid-legs and hindlegs, potentially reflecting
 the selection for disruptive colouration of the body outline in browner
 environments. Using model comparison techniques, we found little evidence
 of genotype-level variation in colour plasticity—a pattern likely the
 result of strong viability selection for camouflage. Our study shows how
 developmental plasticity in colouration can be triggered directly by the
 colour of the environment and indirectly by climatic cues associated with
 habitat colouration. We argue that this high level of developmental
 plasticity has likely evolved due to the diversity of habitats but the
 sedentary lifestyle of this sit-and-wait predator.
description: In a laboratory experiment with a split brood design that used
 full sib offspring from 10 families, we manipulated temperature (18 versus
 28 degrees Celsius), humidity (50% versus 100%), and background
 colouration (green versus brown) to assess the extent to which colour
 development in <em>Miomantis caffra</em> is environmentally
 induced. Fourteen weeks after hatchlings entered the experiment, we
 recorded the colour of each of 6 major body parts (head, thorax, abdomen,
 foreleg femur, mid-leg femur, and hindleg femur) as well as the colour of
 the overall phenotype (all brown, all green, mixed colouration).
description: *** --- # GENERAL INFORMATION ## 1\. Title of Dataset Data for: Plastic
 background colour matching in the springbok mantis ## 2\. Author
 Information Dr. Nathan W Burke Institute for Cell and Systems Biology
 Department of Biology Universität Hamburg 20146 Hamburg GERMANY Dr.
 Gregory Holwell School of Biological Sciences Thomas Building Extension -
 Building 110N 3A Symonds St University of Auckland Auckland Central
 Auckland 1010 NEW ZEALAND ## 3\. Date of data collection April to October
 2021 ## 4\. Geographic location of data collection Auckland, New Zealand #
 DATA & FILE OVERVIEW ## 1\. File List Data is contained in a
 single file: Mantis\_colouration\_data\_for\_publication.csv #
 METHODOLOGICAL INFORMATION ## 1\. Description of methods used for
 collection/generation of data: In a laboratory experiment with a split
 brood design that used full sib offspring from 10 families, we manipulated
 temperature (18 versus 28 degrees Celsius), humidity (50% versus 100%),
 and background colouration (green versus brown) to assess the extent to
 which colour development in Miomantis caffra is environmentally induced.
 Fourteen weeks after hatchlings entered the experiment, we recorded the
 colour of each of 6 major body parts (head, thorax, abdomen, foreleg
 femur, mid-leg femur, and hindleg femur) as well as the colour of the
 overall phenotype (all brown, all green, mixed colouration). #
 DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION ## 1\. Name of dataset:
 Mantis\_colouration\_data\_for\_publication.csv ## 2\. Number of variables
 13 ## 3\. Number of cases/rows 350 (one row per individual offspring) ##
 4\. Variable List A. 'background.trt' (categorical): Treatment
 variable for background colour (green versus brown) B.
 'temp.trt' (categorical): Treatment variable for temperature (18
 versus 28 degrees Celsius) C. 'humidity.trt' (categorical):
 Treatment variable for humidity (50% versus 100%) D.
 'phenotype.categorical' (categorical): The colour of the
 mantis's phenotype as a categorical response (all brown, mixed
 colouration, all green) E. 'phenotype.ordinal' (integer): The
 colour of the mantis's phenotype as an ordered response (1 for all
 brown &lt; 2 for mixed colouration &lt; 3 for all green) F.
 'head.change.presence' (binary): Whether or not mantises changed
 the colour of their head to green (1 for change, 0 for no change) G.
 'thorax.change.presence' (binary): Whether or not mantises
 changed the colour of their thorax to green (1 for change, 0 for no
 change) H. 'abdomen.change.presence' (binary): Whether or not
 mantises changed the colour of their abdomen to green (1 for change, 0 for
 no change) I. 'forelegs.change.presence' (binary): Whether or
 not mantises changed the colour of their forelegs to green (1 for change,
 0 for no change) J. 'midlegs.change.presence' (binary): Whether
 or not mantises changed the colour of their mid-legs to green (1 for
 change, 0 for no change) K. 'hindlegs.change.presence' (binary):
 Whether or not mantises changed the colour of their hindlegs to green (1
 for change, 0 for no change) L. 'mother.id' (categorical):
 Family-level identifier M. 'individual.id' (categorical):
 Replicate-level identifier for individual offspring