Mantid love: X-rated for graphic violence
By Gary Raham
Writer and Illustrator
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Search the garden toward summer's end and you may find a large green or
brown mantid "preying" there.
Perhaps you have even purchased mantid eggs to release in your garden for
the biological controls of insects. Many of these mantids are foreign imports.
Chinese mantids reach lengths of nearly 4 inches. European mantids grow
up to 2.5 inches long and sport a green stripe along the edge of the wing
and a dark-ringed "eyespot" near the base of the forearm.
The imposing forearms of these predators, seemingly bent in prayer in front
of their faces, gives the European mantids their scientific name: Mantis
religiosa.
In reality, a mantid raises its arms in anticipation of its next meal,
which could be nearly any insect of adequate size to assuage her appetite
--including another mantid.
This brings us to the delicate subject of mantid love - or, more precisely,
mantid sexual behavior.
Slender adult male mantids, smaller than the female, usually feature brown
tones in contrast to the female's greens. They display rather slow, deliberate
care around prospective mates, often approaching from the rear and leaping
on the female's ample back when close enough. Females warrant this caution,
even though their substantial weight keeps them grounded while males can
fly, because a female may hunger for a substantial meal more than sex.
Sometimes she wants both.
Even attached and fully engaged, a male may literally lose his head servicing
his chosen female. The female can swivel her head in a disconcertingly
human-like gesture and decapitate her suitor. This may not even interrupt
the act at hand. One author states that "removal of the male's head, the
bit which the female eats first, releases the male's genitalia from nervous
inhibition from the brain and leads to incessant copulatory movements."
The smartest--or the luckiest--males avoid this circumstance, however,
leap off their temporarily groggy paramour and run quickly away. Such mortal
danger may insure that only the smartest males live to mate again.
Once inseminated, a female searches for a plant stem or fence post suitable
for making an egg case and laying her eggs. Usually she selects a location
1 to 4 feet off the ground and constructs a case that resembles tan foam
with the texture of a roasted marshmallow. Chinese mantids build round
cases; the Europeans flatten theirs on one side.
Depending on the depredations of wasps and other parasites, spring may
see a hundred mantises hatch from one case. They disperse quickly through
a weak spot along the upper midline of the structure. Otherwise, they exercise
their predatory instincts on each other.
The mantises stay solitary while they molt up to nine times, rapidly growing
from the status of McInsect snack to "king of the leaf." Finally, hormones
drive the sexes to each other where females practice a "hard love" surpassing
anything most males would care to contemplate.
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