The Praying Mantids (2001)

Edited by F. R. Prete, H. Wells, P. H. Wells & L. E. Hurd. The John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Maryland. 2000. Pp. xiv + 362. £58.00 (hardcover). ISBN 0-8018-6174-8. Those who have spent years breeding and rearing mantids have many questions to which answers have not been readily obtainable until now, and for the novice this book will be a treasure-house of information. The editors have happily combined the expert contributions to present a logical and lucid format, although the wealth of information provided serves also to highlight the many unresolved questions and puzzles still remaining. Our changing attitude to mantids through the centuries is discussed with much historical detail, from the symbolic role of the mantis in ancient Egypt up to present-day misinterpretations of mantis behaviour. The female praying mantis has had a bad press for several centuries, as the cannibal who devours her mate, before, during or after copulation. This misconception has been complicated by the many reports of the half-eaten male successfully copulating with the female who is in the process of eating him. However, in recent years this has been discovered to be an artefact of captivity in the majority of cases, resulting from unnatural conditions for both male and female, but the myth lingers on. The reluctance to accept that males are occasionally eaten through hunger or by chance, rather than by design, is apparently linked to the equally erroneous attitude that mantids usually eat only small insects, flies, etc., and that capturing large prey is unnatural. The ‘rare’ occurrence of mantids capturing and consuming larger insects and even small vertebrates, lizards, etc., is shown to be part of the normal behaviour pattern, and an area for further research. The appropriate psychological attitude towards mantids having been established, their position in the scientific world is detailed with an excellent introduction to their morphology and to the current taxonomy of the group, but also pointing out that ‘a great deal of work needs to be done before we will arrive at an appropriately detailed and entirely satisfactory taxonomy’. Aspects of mantis biology are discussed under three main headings, commencing with ecology and mating behaviour, although the ecological studies are based on only three species, Mantis religiosa, Tenodera aridifolia sinensis and Tenodera angustifolia. Experiments have shown that hungry mantid nymphs move around more and that larger mantids eat larger prey, and also demonstrate the ever-present problem of experimental subjects being cannibalized. These and other features of mantis biology will be recognized as true for the majority of species reared in captivity. The chapter on mating behaviour reviews the cannibalism of males by females within Mantodea and the associated costs and benefits, while indicating further avenues of research. The majority of results are based on studies of copulation during the day, because of the diurnal activity patterns of researchers, irrespective of potential mantis behaviour. Further work is also called for on the subject of female pheromone attraction of males. Although documented only in Acanthops falcata, several researchers suspect that sedentary females emit pheromones to attract actively flying males. That praying mantids possess tympanal hearing organs may still come as a surprise to many readers, although it is nearly 15 years since their discovery and published description. This hearing organ, their DK (‘Deep groove with Knobs’) ear or Cyclopean ear, is located in the ventral midline of the thorax near its junction with the abdomen, and is possessed by flying mantids in all but the four most primitive families, although not by brachypterous, non-flying females. Flying mantids use this ultrasonic hearing to protect themselves from echolocating, insectivorous bats, and although predator evasion is the prime function, further research on mantis acoustic ability is continuing. The studies of binocular vision and distance estimation, and the complexities of prey recognition in mantids, involve both mantis behaviour patterns and those of research workers with ‘small fly prey’ preconceptions. Discussion of prey capture begins with facetious, but fascinating, descriptions of how not to analyse behaviour, and concludes with the illuminating suggestion that before even reading any scientific literature on mantis predatory behaviour, first acquire and carefully watch a living mantis in natural conditions! Mantids have also developed characteristic and complex defence mechanisms, involving crypsis, ‘I am not here’; mimicry, ‘I am not palatable’; special resemblance, ‘I am not edible’; and behavioural strategies. Different behaviour patterns may be seen in the same species at different stages of development, from assuming cryptic postures or making escape runs, to displaying the threatening deimatic response seen in many adults. Discussion of these mechanisms is illustrated with a tantalizing selection of colour photographs. Finally, rearing and breeding techniques (we all have learned a little from our own mistakes, now all may benefit from the combined expertise available) and histological procedures, complete a book which is written with a superb combination of enthusiasm and expertise by the many contributors. Although some of the experimental procedures described may not appeal to the more general enthusiast, this book is a must-have for all those involved with mantids.