Response to “An exceptionally preserved 110 million years old praying mantis provides new insights into the predatory behaviour of early mantodeans”
نویسندگان
چکیده
Hörnig, Haug & Haug (2017) published a description of a new specimen of Santanmantis axelrodi MB.I.2068, an extinct species of praying mantis from the Crato Formation of Brazil. According to Hörnig, Haug & Haug (2017), the discovery of this new specimen brought with it implications for praying mantis character evolution and predatory behavior; it is with these lines of reasoning that we find fault. More specifically, we point to four flawed assumptions in their study that led to their unsubstantiated conclusion that S. axelrodi employed their mesothoracic legs in prey capture.
منابع مشابه
An exceptionally preserved 110 million years old praying mantis provides new insights into the predatory behaviour of early mantodeans
Mantodeans or praying mantises are flying insects and well known for their raptorial behaviour, mainly performed by their first pair of thoracic appendages. We describe here a new, exceptionally preserved specimen of the early mantodean Santanmantis axelrodi Grimaldi, 2003 from the famous 110 million years old Crato Formation, Brazil. The incomplete specimen preserves important morphological de...
متن کاملPredatory pollinator deception: Does the orchid mantis resemble a model species?
Cases of imperfect or non-model mimicry are common in plants and animals and challenge intuitive assumptions about the nature of directional selection on mimics. Many non-rewarding flower species do not mimic a particular species, but attract pollinators through ‘generalised food deception’. Some predatory animals also attract pollinators by resembling flowers, perhaps the most well known, yet ...
متن کاملThe visually controlled prey-capture behaviour of the European mantispid Mantispa styriaca.
Mantispids (Mantispa styriaca) are predatory insects; on bright sunny days, they wait in ambush for insect prey. The prey is captured as soon as it is within reach by means of lightning-speed strikes with the powerful forelegs. The strikes can take less than 60 ms. The mantispid accomplishes this almost as effectively as the larger praying mantis, which occupies a similar habitat, even though t...
متن کاملStomatopods
What is a stomatopod? Stomatopod crustaceans are commonly known as mantis shrimp, because their preycatching (raptorial) appendages resemble those of praying mantises. They are strictly marine and are quite distinctive from all other crustaceans, having separated from them roughly 400 million years ago and having evolved on their own unique track ever since. About 500 species are recognized tod...
متن کاملAnatomy of the lobula complex in the brain of the praying mantis compared to the lobula complexes of the locust and cockroach
The praying mantis is an insect which relies on vision for capturing prey, avoiding being eaten and for spatial orientation. It is well known for its ability to use stereopsis for estimating the distance of objects. The neuronal substrate mediating visually driven behaviors, however, is not very well investigated. To provide a basis for future functional studies, we analyzed the anatomical orga...
متن کامل