Australian giant mantis
| Australian giant mantis | ||||||||||||
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Australian giant mantis ( Hierodula majuscula ), female with ootheca |
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| Hierodula majuscula | ||||||||||||
| ( Tindale , 1923) |
The Australian giant mantis ( Hierodula majuscula ) is a terrifying species . The females reach a body length of up to 10 cm, the males remain slightly smaller.
features
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The Australian giant mantis is one of the largest Australian fishing rodents. The wingspan of the fore wings is around 11 cm. All wings are wide and rounded. The fore wings are opaque , green, their veins are darker green. The hind wings are glassy and transparent and only green at the tips. The abdomen is pale green underneath with yellowish or gray-brown margins and spots that resemble wilted leaves in color. The two cerci at the rear end of the abdomen are blunt and hardly taper.
The head is triangular, the crown is broad and slightly arched, the green eyes are very large. The prothorax on which the fangs are attached is green. The coxes of the canine legs are also green on the outside, but black on the inside, lined with orange edges at the base and at the end. This coloring of the Coxen distinguishes the Australian giant mantis from all other species of its genus. Only Hierodula atricoxis is similar to her in this characteristic with the purely black inner sides of the coxes of the forelegs. The Hierodula pustulifera , which is similar in physique, has orange insides. The thighs of the fangs are colored yellowish orange on the inside. The limbs of the fangs have rows of pointed, oblique teeth.
habitat
The species lives in the coastal rainforests of Queensland in Australia . It was first described by Norman Tindale in 1923 under the name Parhierodula majuscula . The type specimen comes from the vicinity of the city of Cairns and is 9.5 cm long.
Way of life
The Australian giant mantis often waits motionless for hours in wait until a suitable prey comes near it. Then it grabs at lightning speed with its fangs and holds the prey. The moving parts of the body that interfere with the consumption of food, such as the head and legs, are usually eaten first. Their prey spectrum includes many types of insects including the Australian ghost insect and even individuals of their own species. The animals caught are often as big as the fishing horrors themselves, and they are said to have fallen victim to small lizards and frogs .
Only the slender males of the Australian giant mantis can fly over longer distances, the females with their massive abdomen are too heavy for that. Because of the dangers that flying males would be exposed to during the day, they only fly in the evening or at night. At dusk, however, numerous species of bats are also actively searching for prey in Australia . Many mantis, including the Australian giant mantis, have an auditory organ on their thorax with which they can perceive the ultrasound emitted by the bats . In response to the presence of hunting bats, the terrors try to avoid the location by zigzag flights.
The females send out pheromones as chemical signals to attract the males in the dark. These are picked up by special sensory organs on the males' antennae. When a male spots a female, it lands near him, but waits for a moment to anchor itself with its muzzle on the female's back and begin mating. If the male approaches from the wrong side or not fast enough, it could be grabbed and eaten by the female. If the male manages to fly away quickly after mating, it can mate with other females.
The females live for a year, the males can also reach this age, but are exposed to a higher risk in nature.
development
A ootheca Australian Riesenmantis which is applied by the female on the underside of a sheet can contain up to 200 eggs. The young fishermen hatch after 40 to 60 days. The young are only a few millimeters long. They moult numerous times up to sexual maturity. The different nymph stages are often conspicuously colored, in different shades of green, through yellow and orange to red. Only in the adult stage do they reach their basic green color.
Parasites
The parasites of the Australian giant mantis include various types of horsehair worms from the string worms (Nematomorpha) tribe . The larvae of these worms are very small and live in the water. They are ingested by insects that also develop their larval in the water, such as B. Mosquitoes and midges . After their further development into the flying insect, which is one of the prey of the fishing horror, the larvae of the horse hair worms can reach their final hosts, including the Australian giant mantis. The 15-30 cm long but only 2 mm wide worms grow in their bodies. When the fishing insect makes contact with water, the parasites leave their host within 15 seconds to mate with other species. It is likely that the string worms from the genus Chordodes influence the behavior of the Australian giant mantis, so that it visits the water when the parasites have reached a sufficient size.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Norman B. Tindale: Review of Australian Mantidae. Records of the South Australian Museum (Adelaide), 2, pp. 425-457, 1923, p. 449
- ↑ Species Hierodula (Hierodula) majuscula (Tindale, 1923) ( Memento of the original from October 10, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. in the Australian Faunal Directory
- ↑ a b c d Bug of the month - Rainforest Mantid ( Hierodula majuscula ) on MV-Blog from March 1, 2012 (accessed on January 31, 2013)
- ^ Louise E. Allen, Katherine L. Barry, Gregory I. Holwell: Mate location and antennal morphology in the praying mantid Hierodula majuscula. Australian Journal of Entomology, 51, 2, pp. 133-140, 2012
- ↑ Andreas Schmidt-Rhaesa & Reinhard Ehrmann: Horsehair Worms (Nematomorpha) as Parasites of Praying Mantids with a Discussion of their Life Cycle . Zoologischer Anzeiger, 240, pp. 167-179, 2001
literature
- Norman B. Tindale: Review of Australian Mantidae. Records of the South Australian Museum (Adelaide), 2, pp. 425–457, 1923, p. 449 (first description)
Web links
- Bug of the month - Rainforest Mantid ( Hierodula majuscula ) on museumvictoria.com.au (English)