Colour change and habitat preferences in Mantis religiosa
نویسندگان
چکیده
A population of praying mantids Mantis religiosa L. was studied in a submontane habitat near Vicenza in Northern Italy. Sixtythree mantids were observed and studied in the field with the mark and recapture method to obtain ecological information about the coloration patterns, habitat preferences and strategies of this species. Additionally, a population of mantids was housed in artificial conditions to estimate the presence of colour changes in adults. A regular distribution of the coloration of the insects was found in the field during the changing of the season, and partial colour changes not linked to the substrate or the moult process were observed in artificial conditions. The basic structure of the preferred habitat of M. religiosa is described as a pattern of grassland and thorny bushes of the Rosaceae family.
منابع مشابه
Predatory 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 ‘six-eyed’ stomatopod
Stomatopods (mantis shrimps) possess one of the most complex visual systems in the animal kingdom. Each eye is capable of monocular distance judgement, colour vision involving eight or more primary channels and polarisation vision. This involves a series of eye movements unique among the crustaceans. Furthermore, each eye usually acts almost entirely independently of the other. Colour, in parti...
متن کاملAre web stabilimenta attractive to praying mantids?
Certain species of orb-weavers add extra silk structures, termed a stabilimentum or web decoration, to their webs. In the genus Argiope stabilimenta are silken structures of densely woven zig-zag ribbons. The adaptive value of these stabilimenta is still unclear and controversially discussed. In the course of time, many functional hypotheses have been proposed for silk stabilimenta. Because of ...
متن کاملThe assessment of the habitat preferences of the River prawn (Macrobrachium nipponens) in wetland using decision tree and generalized linear model
Four sampling sites were selected in different parts of the Anzali wetland watershed to predict the habitat preferences of the river prawn (Macrobrachium nipponens). A set of abiotic variables together with the abundance of the species were monthly measured at each sampling location during the 1- year study period (2017-2018). The results of Mann-Whitney test (given the non-normal data) showed ...
متن کاملDiurnal lighting patterns and habitat alter opsin expression and colour preferences in a killifish.
Spatial variation in lighting environments frequently leads to population variation in colour patterns, colour preferences and visual systems. Yet lighting conditions also vary diurnally, and many aspects of visual systems and behaviour vary over this time scale. Here, we use the bluefin killifish (Lucania goodei) to compare how diurnal variation and habitat variation (clear versus tannin-stain...
متن کامل